[Scaltoth Jungle] Tolerating Uncertainty

[Vega]

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40th Saun, 717

"You know, I once 'eard that true exploration requires toleratin' uncertainty, Arlo Creede," Vega shot him a grin as the Scaltoth Jungles came into view. The suns of Saun were beating down on them and the pair of them had made their way here with a vague plan to explore. Whilst their planning was vague, they were as prepared as they could be; there was still a lot of uncertainty to be had. "Do you reckon that's the case? I still say we should 'ave asked Huw if he wanted to come along. Chipper soul like 'im, we'd have not got a word in edgeways, we wouldn't 'ave." Vega's family were a bunch of true bigots and although she hadn't said the word 'sorry' to Arlo, she'd apologised in a number of different ways. Or at the very least, she believed that she had. There was the early morning cup of tea which had actually involved waking him up. Then, she hadn't cooked which was a bonus no matter which way you looked at it. She'd even been moderately nice to him. Or, at least, not as horrid as usual.

That all counted, she was sure.

Still, there was the jungle and Vega looked at it critically. "It looks big. Dark, damp. humid an' hot. You know that, aye? So, I got you this. Call it an early birthtrial gift." With that she handed him a bag with three large ish jars of green sand. "It's always cool. Like the orange one is always warm, that one's always cool." With a grin she handed him a bunch of small green berries. "An' this is insect repellent stuff. Just rub it on our skin and it make the bugs leave us alone. See how useful I am?" Vega was quite pleased with herself, it had to be said. But then, she usually was.

"A'right, so we've got everythin, an' we're gonna bake, but what can we do? You ready to go in?" Vega considered as they continued on their approach. It was incredibly hot, they were both wearing clothes which took that into account, although how much they helped, Vega really wasn't sure. "Will it be a dif'ren' kind of 'eat in there? I was talkin' to the guy Friel, him who owns that shop, the 'Spirit of Adventure'. Have you been in there? He's intense. Soulful eyes, sort of thing. Nice bloke. Any'ow, I was talkin' to him an' he said that it's even 'otter in there than normal cos of the volcano runnin' underground there." She sighed a deep, heaving sigh as she thought about that. He'd been very friendly, she said, and given lots of information. He'd sold her this stuff, too, that she'd bought for them.

"They're not really yer birthtrial gifts. Your ma told me about yer birthdate, so I got you somethin' an' brought it with us. If we're still alive, you can 'ave it then," It was a cheery thought, or so it seemed.

"So, Friel warned me that there's rumours about tribes in this place, head 'unters an' whatnots. Wild crazy animals an' lots of int'restin' plants. I reckon we've got enough food to last us four trials in there, more if you ever stop eatin'." Where he put it all she did not know he was lean and lithe and quite how that might be was beyond her. "Come on then, trouble. Let's see wots cookin' in here, shall we?" Vega asked the last with a cheery grin.

Off Topic

6 x jars of green sand = 12gn
Lemongrass and clove insect repellent. Not priced, so I've deducted 5gn
Deducted from ledger

[Arlo Creede]

"Well then I'm thinking I might be the most seasoned explorer on Idalos," Arlo had shot back as the walked, side by side towards whatever the jungles of Scalvoris had in store for them. "Contrariness is its own lack of certainty. And I've got you." He wasn't sure any of them really liked him, Arlo had concluded regarding her family. But he'd never said anything since though he'd prefer they did, it wasn't them that dictated his sense of self. It would just make things easier on Vega, was all. "Maybe he'd have just as soon seen me gobbled up by a giant snake?" he suggested. There was no telling what they'd come across deep in the jungle. He'd just as soon that giant snakes weren't one of them. Headhunters, cannibals or whatnots either.

He'd dressed in lightweight, light colored clothing. But in spite of the heat, sufficient and sturdy enough to prevent snarls and pitfalls from tearing away at any exposed skin. And Arlo was as well armed as ever. In fact better than usual, since he'd purchased a pistol crossbow to supplement his larger one. And his rucksack was filled with any number of things, including plenty of water and food that he'd prepared and preserved in case they were out longer than they intended to be.

The green sand was interesting. He even opened the lid on one of the jars and dipped a finger in to test its temperature. "It makes an odd sort of sense doesn't it. Where there's warm sand, there must be cool sand to counter it. Thank you," he said. "This'll come in handy but there's no need to make anything of my birth-trial. It's just another trial." More useful than most, he'd teased her with a grin when she handed him the berries. There'd be bugs. There wasn't a chance that there wouldn't be.

He wasn't much interested in whether it was damp heat or dry heat. They'd been over that before after all. What caught Arlo's attention though was that Vega all of a sudden seemed much more interested in those things now, than she had been when he'd mentioned it. "What does that mean? Soulful eyes," he said with a curious frown. It was a strange thing to say, was all, and so far as he was concerned was the only reason struck him as unreasonable. 'Well it seems like this Friel claims to know an awful lot about adventuring, for someone spending his time behind the counter."

Still, he hoped those rumors about headhunters and cannibals were just that. Rumor. Then again, hadn't they come to see what they could see? If it wasn't something well worth it, then better they'd remained back in camp and avoided swatting off the biting flies. "Let's go then," Arlo said with a grin as he picked up a trail that would lead them into the thick of it. And it was strange the way that open ground so quickly transitioned into damp and close quarters, with trees that stretched up to the sky, with leaves rustling due to any number of mysterious creatures scampering through them.

[Vega]

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Contrariness was its own lack of certainty and he had her? Vega snorted. "You wish you did. You couldn't handle me, kiddo." But if her family would rather see him gobbled up by a giant snake, then that was up to them. Vega knew, or believed she did, what she felt and so she was clear. "Well, I know who I'd rather spend my trials with out of you an' that bunch of losers. They're jus' jealous cos I like you more than them is all." Vega's smile was more or less genuine, but her family and their opinion of her and her mixed blood bothered her more than she'd let on to most anyone. She didn't really talk about it with Arlo, but she also didn't lie to him about it.

When he said that she didn't need to make a thing about his birth-trial, Vega rolled her eyes. "I promised your mother. Shurrup." That was that as far as she was concerned, but when he tormented her that she was more useful than most she grinned and gave him a gentle shove. "You name me one person more useful than me?" He was going to say Lyova, of course, but Vega was ready with a counter argument about being physically, actually, there. That surely made her more useful even if Lyova was very useful indeed.

What did soulful eyes mean? Vega shrugged. "I dunno, it's what I've heard folks call human eyes like that. You know, all big and ... I dunno. Stupid lookin', if you ask me. Like a deer. A proper one, I mean. Big an' a little bit watery an' not too bright. Soulful." Romance, it seemed, was dead. "Anyhow, Soulful Eyes told me that a jungle is normally 'ot, but that the Scaltoth is even 'otter, cos of the volcano runnin' underneath it." She shrugged.

"Apparently, so some irritatin' young boy I met told me, you lose most of your warmth out of the top of yer head in the cool. I guess the same might be true for feelin' hot? So, does it start at the bottom of yer feet an' crawl all the way up? So, is being hot in yer feet the worst?" If being cold in your head made you coldest, she wondered, did that mean that being hot in your feet made you feel hotter than anything else? It made sense in the jumble that was Vega's thought processes and even seemed almost logical. As for how long Friel spent behind the counter, rather than adventuring, Vega nodded. "Yeah. I can't think of nothin' worse, you know. Imagine bein' stuck in one place trial in an' trial out. Not jus' that, but watchin' people go an' do what you want to do. Helpin' them even but not doing it yerself. Nope." Vega shrugged slightly and grinned. "No wonder he was weird."

Still, no time for worrying about inconsequential people, the jungle was there in front of them. Vega grinned in delight at Arlo as they made their way; this was always an exciting moment for her. It was within less than a bit, though, that they'd gone from wide open space to closed in, hot and humid jungle. Vega kept an eye out, looking around at the plants and the strange foliage. "I heard that there's tribes in here. Soulful Eyes told me, anyhow. Do you reckon we should keep an eye out for tracks?"

Other than that, Vega was content to walk with him, keeping on looking at what was around them. The heat was enormous and within a very short space of time they came to a tree which had been struck by lightning in the recent storms. It was a burned out charred husk, yet all around it was completely fine. Vega made her way over and she knelt down, motioning to him to do the same. "Does that look well weird to you?" Around the tree in a perfect circle of three inches was scorched earth. But outside that, the grass was perfect and untouched. The circle was also perfect in shape. Vega looked at him and then a grin lit her face as a flunny flew past them, fluttering and then moving on.

[Arlo Creede]

She said it didn't bother her and that she didn't care. So far as her family though, Arlo knew it wasn't true. Who didn't want their family's approval? He couldn't begin to know everything that was going on in Vega's head. In fact, he'd always thought that the ability to know what was going on in other people's heads would be more a curse than a gift. Especially a woman's. But he knew, because for someone who didn't care, she spent an awful lot of time denying it. "Well if soulful eyes said it," he teased as they began picking their way through the snarls and shadows carpeting the floor of the jungle, "then it must be true." Come to think of it, she was going on an awful lot about soulful eyes too. And for reasons he couldn't quite figure, Arlo didn't like it.

It was the name, probably. "What kind if name is Friel anyway," he muttered. "Sounds like a round of cheese. The kind you serve with fancy wines you can't pronounce." But if it was hotter because the part of the volcano that was underground, was also under the jungle, well, it might be some sort of explanation. "All these trees, the thick growth. Maybe it traps the heat in a way that an ordinary forest doesn't, and causes all this dripping." The beads of condensation he meant, much like he'd just swiped off a leaf that was as big as an elephant's ear.

But feet? Head? He shrugged, an indication that he hadn't the slightest idea. No scientist, him. Not a bit. But there it was, old soulful eyes again and Arlo frowned. "Probably." Tracks wouldn't be easy to spot however, considering the amount of growth on the ground. 'More likely," he said in that case, "We should probably watch out more for broken off branches, signs that someone has passed through recently." If there were tribes, they'd be far more in tune and more comfortable in their surroundings than he and Vega were. Better at moving unheard and watching unseen. And with that in mind, he kept his pistol crossbow loaded and his short bow too. The first stored at his hip, the second in his hand.

The tree though, that was something to ponder. "I've seen plenty of trees struck by lightening," he said. "Burnt, split down the middle, reduced to splinters. But that ring at the bottom. Can't make any sense of that." But then looking up just in time, he grinned at the sight of what flew past them. "See? Told you. I bet old soulful eyes hasn't ever snagged himself one of those. Wanna try?" he asked.

[Vega]

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What kind of name was Friel? Vega looked at Arlo and raised an eyebrow. "I dunno, a stupid human name, I guess. What's got you so prickly?" As for cheese and wine, she told him, well she didn't know. "The only cheese I've ever had, other than that you've served up, was a stinky vile thing which smelled worse than Huw's feet after a ten-trial in a cabin without a wash. Is that a Friel cheese?" Vega gave him a grin and shook her head. "I don't know what you're mutterin' about, Arlo Creede. Is it cos you don't have doe-eyes? They're stupid, honestly. Girls who like that kind of thing, they're shallow and silly. You'd get well bored." There was something going on with him, Vega was sure; she was growing more and more sure that it had something to do with a girl, too. Maybe this lady friend of his, although he insisted she was married or maybe, Vega thought more likely, someone at the university. Either way, he was being weird and twitchy.

Weird and twitchy, that was Arlo right now and he seemed to have something specifically against Friel.Or soulful eyes. Or all men. Immortals only knew, in truth, men were such complicated little creatures and Arlo was more complicated than all her cousins put together. So, when the conversation turned to the heat and how unnatural it was, she could only agree with his assessment . Dripping was right, the place was humid as anywhere she'd ever been. As he wiped off a leaf, Vega grinned. "A pair of them'd make good ear flaps for my hat, d'ya reckon?"

When she asked about the heat going through their feet or head, though, he got all grumpy again, frowning like it was a stupid question. "Well, I dunno, I'm not studying' at the University and 'anging out with girls that like posh cheese all the time like you are, you big grump," Vega bit back at him, not really understanding just what was causing the frowning face on her companion and choosing to tease him in an attempt to break whatever grump he was in. But he made a fair point about the lack of tracks and she nodded. What he said made sense and so she turned her gaze to the tree line, looking for broken branches.

Since they'd separated,Vega had become a lot better at hunting and so she looked, but her attention was taken by the tree struck by lightning and the strange circle around it. He hadn't seen anything like it either? That was strange and she was busy looking at it when the flunny caught her attention. Her grin transformed to a smile of pleasure at the sight of it and she just shot him a glance when he was still on about soulful eyes. When was he going to learn that he was worth a hundred men like that and stop fretting over whatever it was that he had on his mind, she wondered.

"I reckon you're better with a bow than me, you know. But, I got pretty good and I'm willing to give it a go." With a flourish that was entirely over the top and how Vega imagined nobles did flourishes, she gestured for him to take point. However, when they turned their attention to the flunnies, there was a fluttering group of them, some larger and some small. There were maybe a half dozen fluttering around and Vega looked at Arlo and sighed. "I'm a wuss. I can't shoot baby flying bunnies, Arlo. I mean, I could if we were 'ungry, but we aren't. An' those are just too cute to shoot." Her expression to Arlo was apologetic and amused all at once. He was going to torment her, she didn't doubt, but in this particular moment it was fair enough.

[Arlo Creede]

"Who says I'm prickly?" Arlo wondered aloud when she said it. He wasn't prickly. She, so far as he was concerned, was strangely fixated on some local shopkeeper with...according to her, soulful eyes. "I'm just curious, is all," he'd maintained. She must be referring to blue cheese, he'd told her. "Mold," Arlo said. "That's what makes the blue bits in it. Better than casu marzu, which translates literally to putrid, rotten cheese. It's got maggots in it," he added offhandedly. "If friel is actually a type of cheese, I'm thinking it would be a local variety of Casu marzu."

As for the enormous leaf, Arlo grinned and shrugged. "Fine flaps," he agreed. "Or shelter for a little person hoping to get out of the rain." All banter aside however, more and more he was thinking that they ought to be focusing more on their surroundings. He'd already known that oddities abounded on Scalvoris. But as dangers went, this place was possibly one of the more dangerous. Too many things unknown. Things that could be just an arm's length away, but hidden by snarls of vine and foliage.

"I'm not a grump," he shot back over his shoulder, "and there aren't any girls in my classes to hang around with if I'd wanted." Still, he grinned and laughed. I didn't say it was a cheese. I said it sounded like one." As for the flunny? She said she wouldn't, couldn't, but having loaded and readied his bow, Arlo was already tracking one of the things, prepared to fire. But after a trill or two of indecision, he cursed under his breath and lowered the bow. He couldn't either but wouldn't admit it. "They're not very good eatin' anyway," he said, and was ready to move on.

But just a trill later, as he gestured for Vega to take the lead, something off to the side caught his eye. Just a flicker of movement through the trees at first, then a flash of red...then, spitting out a curse he lunged out of the blue at Vega, grabbing her round the middle and pulling her to the ground with him. And just a split trill, so close that the breeze it made might've raised a hair or two, a crude spear sailed past and lodged itself in the nearest tree. It thudded, it twanged, and there was a red feather dangling from the business end. It was that, ultimately, that had caught his eye.

[Vega]

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"I say you're prickly. Cos you are. Moldy and stinky of mood, like the cheese. An' as for maggots, that's gross. But it's a bit 'arsh to say that a bloke is like somethin' maggot filled cos yer in a funk." Vega raised an eyebrow at him. "For all you know, or I do fer that matter, Friel's a perfectly nice bloke. You're bein' unfair." She wasn't entirely sure that he wasn't lying about the maggots, come to that. However, he was insistent that there was no girl at the university which was causing his mood. "Is that why yer grumpy?" Vega asked with a good natured grin. At least he was laughing, she thought. Whatever it was that was winding him up and causing him to grouch was not so bad that he couldn't have a laugh.

Her face showed her surprise, though, when not only did he not torment her, but he lowered his own bow. Vega glanced at him and shook her head. "You know, you surprise me sometimes. I know I'm bein' a wuss," it evidently did not even occur to her that he felt the same way. He'd told her about them, had eaten them too. It meant he'd shot them, she figured. "Thanks, Arlo." She didn't like saying it, in fairness, but it was important to where it was due. She figured that she should also try and be at least a little reassuring about what she'd decided she knew was bothering him. "An', you know, I don't really think yer grumpy. Not really." She bumped her shoulder against his and smiled; an attempt at reassurance "an' you know. It's 'er loss. It really is." She said no more than that, but it was important that he knew that she was on his side, because she was. Although, whoever the girl was in question, Vega hated her on principle. Which was because she was upsetting her friend, and that was the bottom line. So she told herself and so she completely believed.

A frown settled on Vega's face as she thought about that, taking point as he gestured for her to. Then, without warning and for no reason that she knew, Arlo's arm were around her waist and Vega was on the floor. There was a spear, she saw, poking into the nearest tree and vibrating there as they lay on the floor tangled up together. Vega was facing him and she looked confused as she realised that they were laying on the ground, but then as she took note of the spear, her eyes widened and she turned back to look at him with something to say.

She never got the words out.

Two men stepped out of the clearing. Both of them now holding bows and pointing at the pair. They sported well-fitted loincloths and ribbons braided into their hair, but nothing else. Even their feet were bare.

"You!" The taller one of the two spoke. His common was very poor. "You come. Take to camp. We give you to women," that bit seemed directed solely to Arlo, but the next was to them both. "Then we cook you!" Laying on the floor, tangled up together, Vega looked at Arlo and raised one eyebrow.

"Did he just say cook us?" she signed to him. Carefully, not wanting to get them into more trouble than they already were, she slowly got up, keeping her hands raised. Until they were both standing, there was no point to moving and fighting this pair, so she waited till then.

[Arlo Creede]

Moldy and stinky of mood? Arlo would have insisted again that he wasn't, except she'd have insisted again that he was. He'd merely shaken his head again and shrugged. "I didn't say he wasn't nice. I only said he's got a stupid name. Is what why I'm grumpy? Which I'm not," Arlo reminded her again and then glanced back at her and frowned. Her loss?

Rather than explore something that had a tinge of irony to it, one he wasn't prepared to look at too closely, he opted to simply utter, "Thanks," when between the two of them they decided not to fire on the flunny's, and leave the odd little things to do whatever it was flunnies did. Of course all that was forgotten once the two of them ended up in a heap on the ground, a spear having just missed one or the other of them by a hair's breadth. The thing had planted itself deep in the nearby tree by the sounds of it. That would have hurt.

It was the least of Arlo's immediate concerns. He'd only been joking about the cannibals and hadn't thought for a bit that they might actually exist. And somehow 'give you to women' didn't sound nearly as interesting as it might have under different circumstances. 'specially when the pair of scantily clad savages followed it up with 'then we cook you'. Yeah, that's what they'd said, his expression, nearly nose to nose with Vega seemed to suggest. And she knew as well as he did, surely, that they couldn't let themselves be taken where there were others besides these two. Not if they were to have a fighting chance. They'd have to act soon.

With that in mind, before she rolled over to get up off the ground, he rattled off a quick message in sign. Play along. Act fast. Vega stood up alone and Arlo grunted as he pushed himself up to one knee, grimaced and yelped and made a show of struggling, faltering when trying to stand. "Can't," he ground out as he half stumbled, half crawled towards the tree where the spear had landed. "Up! You hurry get up!" one of them shouted at him and helplessly Arlo grumbled, "I twisted my foot, give me a trill."

He was betting that the pair didn't want to kill either of them here on the trail. Rather guessing they wanted to take their captives alive. That seemed to be the case, since the leader of the pair seemed to be running out of patience, but hadn't put an arrow through him yet. Probably wanted to engage in some sort of ceremony...or something.

Instead of shooting him, and whatever the second one was doing, the more vocal of the pair stomped towards Arlo intending to yank him up off the ground. But before he got there, Arlo was already in the process of appearing to pull himself up by using the spear, planted so deep in the tree that it only flexed under his weight. Enough, apparently, that just as the savage approached, Arlo leaned back with the thing in his hands, bent and flexed it and then let go. It reverberated with a loud twang, then landed with a solid thump to the savage's forehead, sending him stumbling back, arm's flailing, onto his backside and seeing stars.

"Oops! Sorry!" Arlo shouted, doing his best to sound apologetic, but at the same time hoping that Vega was able to make a move. If she was? He had every intention of whipping out an already loaded pistol crossbow and putting it to use.

[Vega]

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The sound of the spear as it embedded in the tree told just how much that would have hurt had it connected. There was no doubt in Vega's mind; Arlo 'had very probably just saved her life by that tackle. Of course, laying on the floor all tangled up together meant that they couldn't just fight. She signed to him and then he replied and she didn't have time to reply, though she was sure that he would know. Give him to the women and then cook them both. "An' what're you gonna do with me as you give 'him to the women?" Vega didn't really want to know, but as Arlo pulled himself up. She was pre-warned and so she didn't believe that he had hurt himself, but she'd have to admit that he was a good actor.

"The women decide what we do with you before we cook you,"

Vega raised an eyebrow and began to do the one thing which came easiest to her. "Look, he's injured. You can't be serious. You live somewhere where the women are in charge? Well, bloody 'all, wot sort of a man are you? It's silly, that's wot it is an' look, you can't be pointin' that thing at us, gerrof, an' don't be gettin' on my nerves, cos you know, it'll flibberty my gibbet somethin' chronic. Also," It was all just words, of course, just words that she spoke to annoy and confuse, to get under the skin of the two who were there.

The one not approaching Arlo frowned, then frowned some more. He was in the process of turning to Vega to say something when Arlo used the spear he was holding on to in the weirdest way Vega had ever seen. It didn't snap in half, for which she gave a swift prayer to Xiur, thanking him for their good luck and she moved.

In the time since she and Arlo had first met, Vega had undergone a fundamental change in how she moved. She stepped to the side, her movements fluid and her sword was unsheathed as she stepped. Her stance was relaxed, or seemed to be, her blade moving towards the one not on his bottom. Vega was fully prepared to put the sword against his neck, but the man was moving, releasing an arrow aimed not at her, but at Arlo. Vega saw that and, her movement was a slice. Her sword flashed and rather than a lunge which stopped at the neck, Vega sliced through the bow of the barbarian in front of her, stopping the arrow from being released. Her sword sliced through the bow, foregoing the strike she was going to make to ensure that the arrow wasn't released. The barbarian's eyes widened, his hand reaching for the knife at his waist.

Whilst Vega was fighting this one, that meant that Arlo was able to deal with the stunned, but still moving towards him (albeit from a sitting position) leader of the pair.

[Arlo Creede]

Arlo hadn't exactly planned out in advance what he would do. Not so much as the spear itself was concerned. He'd been planning on the fly and mostly he'd wanted to distract at least one of their would be captors. Divide and conquer, so to speak. So it had been impulse planning that led to him using the spear that way. Any other time he'd have celebrated the results with a little gloating for good measure. No time for that. And Vega asking what sort of man was the other one? That could go well or badly, he'd think. It was the same sort of fly by pants' seat tactic that he himself had used.

Nonetheless, both tricks had worked and the temporarily dazed state of the first fellow gave Arlo the time he needed to release the safety on his pistol crossbow, aim and fire. At close range, the thing was a powerful weapon and since he was using it to kill and not just cripple, he'd aimed squarely between the man's eyes and released the trigger. He couldn't have missed at that range and the bolt caught the man in the process of straightening back up with his own bow. He dropped like a stone on the spot, the bolt having pierced his skull and embedded itself there.

He knew that Vega had been busy with the other one. But just in case she needed the help, he reached for another bolt, loaded it and turned to see how she was faring. After all, he'd never fire blindly or on impulse. If she was in close quarters, she didn't need to be dealing with friendly fire in the process.