Bring in the clowns.....

[Vega]

10th Vhalar, 719

"Arlo! Look! I got a new hat!" Vega exclaimed, as Arlo emerged from the treeline. She looked at him with an expression which warned that she liked this hat. "Last time I got a new hat, you said that I looked silly," granted it was the elephant-ear-flaps and the rainbow colouring which had caused that, but still. "An' there was no need to be personal. You said, an' I quote, that some people jus' don't have hat-type heads." Was it him who said that, or her? Honestly she couldn't remember, but she wasn't going to let a small detail like the truth get in the way of a good opportunity to torment him. "Do you like it?" She gestured to said item, "It's got a brim, an' it's at a jaunty angle, an' it's got fruffles!"

"Fruffles" - a Vega-ism if ever there was one - were her name for the apparently decorative bits of stuff on it. "The woman in town what makes them told me there's a proper name for them, but I weren't really listenin' an' I think fruffles is good, innit?" She grinned a wide grin at him. "I went shoppin' with Fi, an' bought some fabric for makin' stuff, an' a nice warm coat," which she was also wearing and which, of course, matched ...."an' my new hat!" Vega liked Fi, her cousin Huw's wife. "An' what was really good was that her two useless fluff-head sisters didn't bother us none, either." She was less keen on Sian and Lily, it was fairly obvious. "I'm righ' glad they're both too tender an' delicate to be shoppin'. It were great fun."

Adjusting her hat, Vega moved over and kissed him. It was an unusual greeting for her, she was more likely to thump, usually, but she was very pleased to see him, it had to be said. The weather was turning and her cheeks were red with cold, although of course, temperature and Vega were a strange thing. Between her father's curse, which left her permanently warm, and her Defiance magic, which caused a strange wind to whip around her, she'd as much bought the hat to keep her hair from flying around madly as any other reason. Having kissed him, she grinned amiably, and looked at him with an odd expression in her swirling eyes. Colours mixed and she was amused and ~ she knew he knew ~ trying to keep a straight face. In the constant battle that was their relationship, Vega believed she'd just scored a point.

"But I've been thinkin', Arlo. An' there's somethin' we need to change, I think. I mean. A'right, for instance, have you seen the bracelet Huw bought Fi? It's beautiful." Vega didn't care about jewelry, never had. She treasured the bracelet Arlo had given her, the ring from the Lightning Knights of Rharne - and she wore a long necklace with a number of items on it. But each of those was useful, she didn't - as a rule - bother with fancy for the sake of it. "An' the useless twins have got diamonds drippin' from their bootie, they're that decked out. An', so, I decided, it's time we got respectable. So. I've got myself a hat, an' you a job."

Looking at him, Vega nodded her head. She was half-fooling him, she thought - he knew that she was up to something, yet equally he was suspicious. That would do. "Don't thank me, it's quite alright. I've bought you a new suit to wear, an' we can do somethin' with your hair..." She looked at him and could contain herself no more, her face burst into a grin. "Arlo! There's a travellin' circus troope in town! An' they're gonna be here for a while - said we can join up if we want. Do you wanna?"

Then, of course, because she couldn't manage to go a whole conversation without doing so at least twice, she thumped him.

[Arlo Creede]

While Vega had been off somewhere or other, Arlo had taken the opportunity to do some hunting, out on his own. He'd had plenty of opportunities, the woods were teeming with life so he could afford to be choosy. A large fat hare had finally had the misfortune of crossing his path, and to the son of Cassion, it had looked like dinner. A thick hearty stew no less, so he'd bagged their evening meal, cleaned much of it on the spot and had headed home. Nothing she did, or turned out to be these trials was a terrible surprise. Unpredictable had become a strange reflection of itself oddly, so to spy her waiting there for him, dressed in what his mother might have called a go to meeting dress, brought a grin to his face, but didn't bring him up short.

He'd have teased her mercilessly under ordinary circumstances, just for the sake of it as she often did him. But instead, it occurred to him what a very fine picture she made in the clearing. And as hats went, she'd chosen particularly well. "I'm not sure I told you that the last hat made you look silly," he quipped, grinning as he put the rabbit into cool storage for later. He was referring to the knitted elephant eared hat he'd gotten her of course. "I seem to remember saying that it suited you." And she'd probably knocked him about for it too.

"This one though suits you...Gives you a roguish appeal. I like it," he declared, leaning in to kiss her. "And the coat." Better the women though go off shopping together than him be pulled along. Especially if they'd been shopping for silken and frilly things. It tended to take the trial through, and somehow he always ended up holding their purchases and handbags. "You're up to something," he added then after eyeing Vega's grin a trill or two. It was that gleam in her eyes, it always made him suspicious.

But yes, he'd noticed the jewels, and quirked a curious brow in response. "You want gems to drape round your neck?" he asked. After all, if she did, he'd be more than happy to oblige. He'd just always assumed that it was other things that appealed to Vega. But then...what? "A job?" he asked suspiciously. 'I"m not respectable enough? What do I need a job for?" What did he need a suit for, for that matter? He had one or two already, and had worn them once, maybe twice and no more. "Nope," he said when she mentioned his hair. He liked to think that some of his Cassion given physical strength was housed in his curling hair. Immortal's forbid he should cut it.

"A circus?" Clearly Vega interpreted fancy and respectable differently than some others did. His own mother had always been curious about the traveling folk. Fascinated, enchanted even. While many of the so called finer ladies in town had hugged their bags closer and gripped their children's hands tighter when that lot was around. Arlo wasn't really sure they needed the money. But he suspected that it wasn't why Vega was asking. It just sounded like fun, and Arlo grinned. "Alright, you're on. I suspect between the two of us, we've plenty of skills and tricks to impress them into hiring us."

[Vega]

10th Vhalar, 719

He liked the coat and the hat? Vega's grin widened when he said that and, rather than another thump, she bumped shoulders with him. "Steady on, Mr Creede, you'll 'ave me all big headed. I'm righ' glad you like them, though." She frowned slightly then, and added a snippet of information. "When Papa saw us, he looked at me an' said 'Eva, I believe you're finally growing into your teeth.' I mean, that's just downrigh' cheeky, innit?" He father could have told her whatever he wanted, and Vega would adore but still. "I mean, I do have a good set of gnashers, we know this. But growin' into my teeth? I blame you an' yer Papa for your bad influence." But her? Up to something? Vega shook her head and her grin widened. "I have not a clue about wotever you migh' mean, Arlo Creede. Picked on I am. Picked on an' mistreated. It's well sad."

There was very little in the world that Vega enjoyed more than tormenting Arlo and, just for a short while he wasn't entirely sure and almost mostly believed her. She did her very best to maintain the pretense of serious as long as she could, but Vega knew herself too well to think she'd keep it up for long and his expression when she suggested he get a hair cut was too much for her. But, she'd enjoyed it while it lasted and her grin widened when he agreed that yes, they would go and catch up with the circus. However, on one thing, Vega disagreed with him most wholeheartedly. "Impress them into hirin' us? It's the other way round, Arlo." Taking hold of his hand, she started to tug him along. It was a strange thing she did, always stopping just long enough for him to pick up this or that, but yet being demanding enough that he was needing to rush. "They'd best impress us, an' if they do, then they might be fortunate enough to have us perform for them." There was very little wrong with Vega's self-esteem, it had to be said.

Once she'd tugged him out of their camp, Vega entwined her fingers around Arlo's and she grinned at him. "You doin' a'right?" Rharne was an odd place, she knew, and it was full of lots of memories for Arlo. Vega didn't fuss around him, she new he'd hate it and she'd be Immortals-awful at it anyhow. But she also loved him and so, she kept a quiet eye. Or, quiet-ish, she supposed. Anyhow, they walked along and Vega suddenly said, apparently from nowhere. "I'm still not dreamwalkin', Arlo. An' it's been like, a full arc now, or more. I think maybe I jus' can't do it no more." In truth, Vega didn't mind that too much. Swirling eyes glanced at him, though. "I don't want you worryin' over it, an' I know you've been checkin'. I don't remember much o'my dreams, these days," that was no bad thing, either. Since the time in Scalvoris, Vega had suffered from disturbed, nightmarish dreams. Her father's curse didn't help, adding an element of fever to them."But I often spot a little short fella in a funny hat swingin' his legs an' lookin' like he's about to get into mischief." He'd been shorter than her when they met, she considered, looking at him almost-disapprovingly. Almost.

The circus came into view and it wasn't large, but it was more of a travelling troupe really. Their caravans were well cared for, their animals too and as the young couple approached, a tall, burly-looking man walked up to them. "You came back!" He said to Vega, who grinned. "And you weren't making him up!" He offered an amiable hand to Arlo. "Brent. This here's my crew. Your wife tells me that you can tumble a bit, and you're a teller of tales. That right?" He nodded to Vega. "She's a feisty soul, isn't she? I didn't believe there was any man brave enough." Many women might have been offended at that, but Vega was - genuinely - delighted and her beam showed it.

"So, what do you reckon?" Vega said to Arlo, lifting an eyebrow. "Do we wanna be bothered with this lot, or should we not afford them the luxury what is our company, an' the marvel what is our talent?"

Brent, it must be said, looked rather surprised. Vega, however, was quite serious.

[Arlo Creede]

"I'll have you all big headed?" Arlo had teased, eyes wide and expression incredulous as if it had never occurred to him that she could up that particular game. Of course, the opposite was true. Vega might be sufficiently bold, brave and confident when she needed or wanted to be. But to his mind, it didn't nearly approach any sort of arrogance. His estimation of her on the other hand, couldn't have been higher, and came from a place of loving her. But she didn't need to know it. As for her father's comments, an amused snort burst out from deep in his chest. Arlo really did like that man. And his father did too. It had occurred to him more than once that the pair were as thick as thieves, and always conspiring together.

As for the circus, their skill sets both separate and together, amounted to a traveling ringmaster's fondest dream. That sort could be suspicious however, and not always easy to get on with. "Well I'm sure if they'd known about our exceptionalism before now, they'd have been beating down our door." As for dreaming, he did look in on Vega when he dreamwalked, now and again. On the other hand, if she had been doing it, she might not have liked what she saw. "Don't worry about it. You'll either start walking again, or you won't," he assured Vega as they headed away from camp. "It's not what it once was anyway. Broken, shattered, limping. A shadow of it's former self. Needs fixing, that's for sure."

As for him and being back in Rharne, he smiled and squeezed Vega's hand. "It's...strange, I guess," he admitted. "My mother loved the area. She had her favorite places and though I don't mean it literally, sometimes it feels like her spirit is lingering nearby. It's not such a bad thing. It might be more difficult for Jonas," he added, then shrugged as the big top came into view. "Not much of a big top is it?" he said, grinning again. "More like a caravan top gone soggy and drooping in the weather."

But the man who approached them seemed much bigger than the operation he was running. "What did she say about me," he asked, joking as he extended his hand in greeting. "Anything less than glowing praise, I flatly deny it. The other stuff, Immortals honest truth. Arlo Creede," he added, introducing himself. "I can spin a tale or two," he confirmed, and added, "and am something of an acrobat. And you've met my wife, so you already know I won't flinch away from a bit of danger. Got a tiger that's gotten his tail yanked? Bring 'im on." Not really. He really didn't want to be stuck in a ring with a man eating cat that had a grudge to settle. As for Vega's question, "Why not? It'll be a lark, and we've got a winter's worth of time on our hands."

[Vega]

10th Vhalar, 719

Having ignored his query regarding her big-headedness, Vega couldn't help the thump she gave him for the snort. "Shurrup. Me an' my teeth are quite happy with ourselves, thanks." They wandered together and she frowned slightly at his explanation of Dreamwalking. "I thought it were fixed now? What you mean, Creede? Or is it that yer sayin' that, without me it's not the same no more an' in fact yer a broken man?" She grinned at him wickedly. That would be it, she was sure.

Her hand in his had squeezed gently as they spoke of his mother, although when Arlo described the "big top" as looking soggy and weather-beaten, Vega dug her elbow into his ribs. She had a sharp elbow and unerring aim, it seemed. "Don't be so judgemental, Arlo Creede," she teased. Brent was a cheery sort and he and Arlo shared some banter. That worked well as far as Vega was concerned, and she was certainly happy that they both seemed so positive.

"Come then!" Brent was obviously happy and took them to introduce them. It was a small group, there was no doubt and rather dilapidated as far as the decoration was concerned. But it was more than that. There was an air of tired among the performers, there was no enthusiasm, energy or buzz. Brent did his best to keep himself loud and enthusiastic, but there was no hiding it. They were given a caravan to stay in, a tiny place which Vega immediately set about cleaning. She couldn't cook to save either of their lives, but she was very much the 'keep everything organised and tidy' sort. Usually. Mostly. Brent had mentioned to them that there were other, larger and better funded troupes and they had lost some good people to 'batter offers' from those larger troupes.

"So, what're we gonna do about this then?" Vega asked. She gestured around and it was obvious that she meant outside their tiny caravan. "I mean, we can put our back into it an' make it look better, but that's jus' surface stuff. An' unless we get these people up an' sorted, it's all jus' puttin' gloss on rot, which righ' flibberties my gibbet. So. What do you reckon we should do?" There had to be things, Vega knew. "I mean, my singin' an' music playin', especially the fiddle, it's not bad now. An' I can play the piano, an' the harp, an' the gittara." Where she'd picked all these up, she didn't mention. "Whatcha think, Creede? We gonna be helpful?" She grinned at him. "It might irritate the other folks enough that they come make trouble." And yes, she sounded half-hopeful.

[Arlo Creede]

Dreamwalking in general wasn't the same as it had been before. But as for Vega's presence in the dreaming beyond? "Of course it's not the same when you're not there," he said, in such a tone that it made the question itself seem a silly one. "I'd gotten used to seeing your mug there. Big head and teeth or no," he added with a grin, teasing her. Still, Lyova was always keen on slipping off into the dreaming. And he was uncommonly fond of his little diri friend. And so he indulged her all the same.

"Nice to see you're still all knobby knees and pointy elbows," he quipped, following a good natured grunt when Vega jabbed him in the ribs. It wasn't true, but he said it anyway. "Comforting, knowing that some things never change." All that aside, so then, it appeared that Brent had jumped on board and made circus performers out of them, and with Vega's hand in his, he happily followed along. Of course Brent might just be putting on a brave front, judging by what they witnessed along the way. By the looks of them, the other performers didn't necessarily share in his enthusiasm. Apart from that, even the rest of it looked faded and frayed round the edges. The caravan they were given to stay in, wasn't much better.

So what could they do about any of it? He frowned and shook his head. "If the others rose up in protest against our involvement," he figured, "at least they'd seem a lot more lively than they do now." It could only be an improvement. "Even the ratty old tiger we passed by on his chain looks bored. They can't hope to excite an audience, given their lack of enthusiasm. Seems to me they've gotten themselves in a rut that they can't get out of. Same acts, trial after trial, town after town."

Made them lazy, Arlo thought, and uninterested in changing the course of things. "It bleeds off them. The audience feels it and stops coming, bigger more exciting shows fill the void. They need an infusion of new," he said, and shrugged. Maybe Vega and himself were that something new. Maybe their mere presence would be enough. But just as likely it would cause resentment. "We can't do one man or woman acts. We need to get them involved," he suggested.

[Vega]

10th Vhalar, 719

Vega stopped wiping down the counter she was currently scrubbing, and she looked at Arlo with an expression of what seemed like irritation on her face. This was not a new expression for the rambunctious Mrs Creede. Arlo could - if he was artistically inclined - probably fill a sketchbook with the many variations of 'irritated' Vega had. This one, though, was not directed at him. "I dunno, Arlo," Vega flapped her rag at him, almost to remonstrate. "It's like this counter, innit?" She pointed to him, and then back to the counter. "It's an arc or more o' grime, an' more'n that, it's not jus' grubby, it's a total lack of care." Vega seemed personally affronted by this. "An' you know, someone put a lot o'time an' effort into makin' this carvan it's well nice in terms a'workmanship an' stuff. Underneath all this grime." Yes, definitely something personal.

"This is like if someone made a righ' beautiful ship an' then it got left to rot. It's well gnarled, it is. So, yeah, fair dos we need to sort these people out an' get them with a bit of a knock on'th noggin'." And then, in a rare moment of self-awareness, Vega looked at her husband and admitted a weakness. A fault. She sighed slightly. "I migh' not be the best person to do that you know. I'm sure you've not noticed," she said, a twinkle of mirth in her swirling eyes, "but sometimes, I'm not the most subtle of people, an' I have a bit of a tendency to open my gob an' somehow, for some reason, obnoxious comes out." Surely, no one who had ever met her would deny this, Vega thought and she gave a good-natured grin to Arlo. It was more than alright with her, that grin told him.

"So, can you do yer storytellin' mojo an' get the downlow on this lot?" Vega asked, waving her arms around in a 'mojo' movement. "You know. Once we've got an idea of what's goin' on, then we can try an' involve them. I mean, frankly, they need to get up an' have a little pride in what they're doin', don't they?" She considered it for a moment and shrugged. "An' maybe it's about pride in themselves, or pride in this place. I dunno which one has gone but we need to do somethin' about it. So come on," she flung a cushion at him, with a cheeky grin. "Yer the people person of the two of us. Whatcha gonna do?"

In the spirit of being helpful, Vega added, "If there's any children, I can talk to them."

[Doran]

Vega:

Knowledge: -
Loot: -
Wealth: -
Injuries: -
Renown: -
Magic XP: -
Skill Review: -
Points: 15

Arlo:

Knowledge: -
Loot: -
Wealth: -
Injuries: -
Renown: -
Magic XP: -
Skill Review: -
Points: 15

- - -

Comments: I love Arlo and Vega and how they constantly tease each other.

Their threads are very entertaining to read!

Vega’s excitement in this thread is almost tangible. I just wish you had finished it though.

I wanted to see Vega and Arlo join the circus!

Anyway, enjoy your rewards!