Chaos in the Castle

@ katahdin

Charles was surprised that it took her so long to respond to him. Though, perhaps she was taking a nap or something along those lines. Well, it didn't matter what she had been doing, it had given him enough time to calm down... Well maybe calm down was a stretch but at least Charles did not feel the need to throw anything anymore, which was a definite improvement. However, Charles had been working on packing and unpacking his bag for the last hour while he debated actually running away for a couple of days. While he didn't want to get punished, he refused to just stay by and get forced into some marriages. So what was the likelihood that he wouldn't get punished? Probably zero. If that was the case, Charles might as well try to hit a home run while trying to get his freedom back instead of half-assing it and failing.

So when he saw Maisie's text message, Charles decided to pack up the rest of his things. He proceeded to lock and then put a chair under his door, wanting to make it as hard as possible for anyone to bust in. Then he made his way to the window and climbed down it. If Maisie could do it, Charles figured that he could as well. Once on the ground, he searched around the castle until he was positive he found Maisie's room. At which point, he climbed up and knocked on the window.

@ Sweet.Persephone

Maisie had hoped that he'd text her back with some sort of witty message that would cheer her up, so she couldn't help but feel disappointed when it didn't come. She'd started to drift off to sleep, worn out by her infuriating parents and her tears, so she was startled out of bed when she heard the knocking at her window. She sat up quickly and looked over, her eyes widening as she saw Charles at her window, quickly wiping the last of her tears from her eyes as she hurried over to open the window for him, quick to grab his arm to help him in.

"Charles? What the hell are you doing?" She asked softly, not wanting to raise her voice too loud in case someone were out in the hall and could hear her. "Just because I'm crazy enough to climb through windows doesn't mean that you should.."

@ katahdin

As Maisie assisted him out of the windows, Charles offered a strained smile. "Well who said I wasn't as crazy as you?" He asked while getting onto his feet. Charles shifted the backpack on his shoulders before dropping it down on the ground besides the window. "I wanted to come talk to you but couldn't use the hallway as my room is currently barricaded." Before Maisie could ask him about that, he continued on. "I was serious about going camping in the woods for a few days. To be honest my parents have pissed me off to a new degree and I want to show them how serious I am about not going through with this marriage. Even if it means facing the punishments that they have already told me about."

He let out a sigh. "I am sure it will be a lot worse when I finally come back or if they happen to find me but." Charles made a slight face of displeasure. It would certainly be better to come back on his own terms than to be dragged back. "Anyways, do you want to run away with me? Not permanently, of course, but a couple of days to put the hot irons to their feet. I understand if you rather not and stay here. I can take all of the heat and hopefully it will help us both."

@ Sweet.Persephone

Maisie blinked a little as he dropped his backpack onto the floor, looking between it and him in confusion before he began to explain his plan and his reasoning. "I.. It's a bit odd, asking the person you don't want to marry to run away with you to protest that marriage.." She teased with a little smile, but nodded. "But I'll go with you. Our parents are being ridiculous, and I'd rather have a few days of freedom than just sit around and let them get away with this shit."

As she spoke she'd started to move over to her closet, pulling out her own backpack and then a bag which contained her tent. "You have to carry the tent, though. And we'll have to bring extra blankets, since I only have one sleeping bag." She explained, tossing the sleeping bag onto her bed before grabbing her backpack to pack some clothes and a few other necessities in it, turning to him. "Do you want me to sneak into the kitchen to get us food and some bottles of water? There's a spring in the woods we could go to that has drinkable water, but bringing some with us isn't the worst idea."

@ katahdin
“We can just lie and say we weren’t together as long as we aren’t caught together,” Charles told her with a chuckle. “And even if they do find us, we can just tell them that we both had enough of their bullshit and wanted to get away from them. Which is true. And if that doesn’t work out, we can just run away without each other next time,” Charles have her a little wink.

As Maisie started to get packed, Charles grabbed the tent and a few extra blankets. “Yeah, I can carry this stuff. As for food and water it would be a good idea for you to go to the kitchen and grab something. I do know how to hunt but I can’t promise that I’ll catch something with my bare hands for us to eat. Better safe than sorry. Especially since I think we want to be out there longer than just a day.”

@ Sweet.Persephone

Maisie laughed at his wink, shaking her head as she finished packing, managing to tie her sleeping bag onto her backpack and shoving a pillow into her bag for good measure. "Of course, we can just tell them that we ran into each other when we were running, and figured sticking together out in the woods would be safer than going our separate ways. Or I can say that you followed me." She teased, returning his wink as she brought her backpack over to his, tugging on a raincoat.

"Alright. Come here, I'll show you where to go with the stuff once we're in the garden while I sneak into the kitchen to get food." She said, grabbing his hand to pull him to the window, pointing out different spots that he could hide throughout the garden on the way to the woods where they'd be camping. "There's an old stone wall there where we can meet once I've got the food. Sound fair?" She asked, turning to look at him with a little smile. She was excited to be able to spend time with him and maybe actually get to know him, since she felt like they could be friends if their circumstances weren't so frustrating.

@ katahdin

"Sounds fair," Charles told her with a nod of his head. He made sure to keep a mental note of all of the places that he could hide to get to the old stone wall. There was no reason to hurry and risk getting caught since Maisie still would need to grab food from the kitchen. Which meant that he had time to go through his own things one last time before meeting up with her.

So Charles dropped his bag to the floor and opened it up again. "I'll meet you there then. I am going to go through my things one last time to make sure I am not missing anything." He rummaged through it for a few moments before determining that he did bring everything that he needed for a trip in the woods for a few days. They just needed food and water which Maisie was going to take care of. "Just so you know, I left my phone in my room in case they track it. You might want to do the same." With that said, Charles pulled his bag back on and headed over to the window.

@ Sweet.Persephone

Maisie nodded, lingering in her room while Charles double checked his things. "I'll drop the tent down to you once you're on the ground, ok? Oh, and be careful because halfway down there's a loose brick and I wouldn't want you to fall." She smiled, staying by the window to watch him climb down, and once he'd given the ok dropped the tent down to him. "Alright, see you in a bit." She called before disappearing back into her room.

It was nearly a half an hour alter when she finally got back from the kitchen and began to climb down out of her window, quickly sneaking through the garden with her things until she reached the rock wall where Charles was, offering him a faint smile. "Sorry for taking so long, I had to wait forever for the servants to leave so I could grab stuff.. Oh, I also have a pint of your ice cream that you asked for in a little cooler, but you'll have to eat it today or else it will melt."

@ katahdin

"That sounds perfect to me." Charles said in response to her having grabbed some ice cream for him. "Now that we are both here, lets get going before they figure out our rooms are empty. We wouldn't want to be caught before it barely even started." He grabbed one of the bags of food that Maisie had managed to grab from the kitchens before he made his way to the edge of the woods. Although it was dark, Charles stayed low to the ground and made sure not to move too fast, not wanting to attract the guards on the off chance they were close by.

When they were a few feet deep into the forest, Charles stood up a bit more. It would be harder for people to see them through all of the trees. "Which way should we go?" He asked as he turned to Maisie. "You mentioned a river or a pond or something of that nature?"

@ Sweet.Persephone

Maisie nodded, adjusting her backpack before she quickly followed him toward the edge of the woods, occasionally glancing over her shoulder to make sure they weren't being followed. She figured they'd have until morning before anyone notified that they were missing, and after checking the weather before she knew it was supposed to rain tonight, which meant that their tracks should be covered and delay any search parties.

She straightened a bit as they got further into the trees, nodding as he asked her about the spot she'd mentioned earlier. "A spring, yes. We'll have to pick a spot to set up the tent on high ground because it's supposed to rain later tonight and into tomorrow, but being near the spring will mean fresh water and a place to swim if the weather gets warmer." She explained, gesturing for him to follow her.

It took an hour or so to get there, but Maisie led them to the spring she had mentioned, pausing at the edge with Charles. "Here we are.. I suggest we cross now and set up the tent over on that ledge, since the water is low right now." She said, pointing out a reasonably flat spot to set up the tent that would also keep their camp from being flooded in the rain.

@ katahdin

"Alright, it's already dark now anyways so it'll take more time to set up the tent as it is." Charles told her as he glanced over the flat spot that was pointed out. He thought about it for a moment, looking over the creek to see the best way to pass and once he found an area that had plenty of large rocks to use, Charles started to make his way to the other side slowly. There was one point where he had to catch himself to stop from falling.

Once on the other side, Charles walked to the flat area and dropped his back on the ground. He stretched out his shoulders before grabbing the lanterns, turning them on and setting them down so they could see. Once there was an adequate amount of light, Charles took the tent that had been attached to his bag and started to open it up. "Okay lets see what we are working with here."

@ Sweet.Persephone

Maisie followed along behind Charles, unable to help but laughed a bit when he nearly slipped and fell into the stream, and once on the other side helped set up the few lanterns they'd brought, setting their bags off to the side so they had plenty of room to set up the tent. "It shouldn't be too difficult. I've put it together by myself before, so with the two of us we should be done in no time." She offered him an encouraging smile before they set to work.

As promised, it didn't take too long for them to get the tent set up, Maisie walking around and double checking that they'd secured the stakes properly so it wouldn't blow away before she grabbed her bag with the sleeping bag, kneeling at the front of the tent so she could spread it out on the inside without getting it dirty. "Like I said before, we only have the one sleeping bag, but I have extra blankets. Which means we can either trade off who gets the sleeping bag every night, or I can unzip it and we can use it sort of like a matress, and then share the blankets between us. It's your call, though." She explained as she tossed the blankets and pillow into the tent as well, grabbing one of the lanterns and kicking off her shoes before climbing into the tent to hang the lantern from the top so they could see.

@ katahdin

"I didn't bring a sleeping bag with me but I did grab all of the blankets from my room." Charles told her with a grin. "So you can just use your sleeping bag. It is yours after all. I think I should be fine with all of these blankets." As he said that, Charles pulled out a three blankets that he was able to stuff into his bag and threw them into the tent on what he considered to be 'his side'. He then kicked off his shoes as well before climbing into the tent with all of his things and zipping up the front behind them.

"This should do nicely for the next couple of days." Charles said before he laid down on all of the blankets he had just thrown in. His eyes glanced over the tent for another long moment before glancing over at Maisie. "We are going to want to do some work tomorrow morning, like getting enough wood for a campfire for a few days. Plus I am going to want to walk around to see what kind of food I can get for us just in case something happens to our current stockpile." He let out a long hum. "Maybe I can set up a trap if the people they send to look for us get too close."

@ Sweet.Persephone

Maisie laughed a little as he threw all of the blankets into the tent, setting her bag on her side and the bags of food in the corner where they'd be safe before she sat on her sleeping bag. "Alright. It can get cold, especially if it rains, so if you change your mind let me know. There's no use in us freezing to death just to avoid our parents." She teased, sliding into her sleeping bag and spreading her extra blankets over the top before she settled in, rolling onto her side to face him as he spoke.

"That sounds good to me. The rain might make it hard to start a fire for a while, but we should be able to at least find some dry wood to use for when the weather clears up." She explained, scrunching up her nose as she smiled when he suggested making a trap for anyone who came looking for them. "I like that idea."

@ katahdin

"Even if it is raining, we are going to need fire at some point. Even if it is just to boil the creek water or to heat up some of our food. So we are going to have to find a way and some time to do it despite the weather we are currently having." Charles told her before he let out a small sigh. "We are just going to have to hope that it decides to cooperate with us a bit." A hand ran through his hair before he moved on.

"Yeah, I brought some items I thought I could use to set something up. It'll be rudimentary but we just need for it to give us a warning or indicate that we aren't here so they head somewhere else. I'll figure something out tomorrow." Charles sat up in the tent and pulled off his shirt before throwing to where he laid his backpack. He then laid back down on the blankets and shifted until he was comfortable. "We should get some sleep."

@ Sweet.Persephone

Maisie nodded a little in agreement, tugging the blankets around her a bit tighter as she settled in. "This ledge that we're on might provide enough of an overhang underneath to where we'd be able to set up a little fire.. We'll have to check in the morning, though." She offered him a little reassuring smile. "I'm sure we'll figure something out."

She nodded again as he explained what he might set up a trap for, stifling a little yawn as she rubbed at her eyes, offering him a sheepish smile. "Sorry, not yawning at you. I think your plan sounds good, and if there's anything I can do to help, please let me know." She offered, tugging her pillow closer as she shifted a bit more as she watched him settle into his own spot, nodding in agreement when he suggested they sleep. "I agree... If you get too cold, just wake me up, or take one of the extra blankets that I have here.. Since you're the one who knows how to hunt and fish and set traps, there isn't much use in you getting sick." She offered him a smile, reaching up to switch off the lantern before settling down for the night, drifting off to sleep to the sound of the rain hitting the outside of the tent.

@ katahdin

Once the light in the tent has been turned off, Charles was quick to fall asleep. And it was not until the sun started to rise in the sky that he moved from his spot in the tent. Thankfully, the man had brought enough blankets to sleep comfortably through the night. But as the light started to creep in, Charles woke.

His head turned over to see that Maisie was still sound asleep, so he was careful and quiet when he headed out of the tent. After zipping it up behind him, Charles stretched out. He then headed to the creak, stripping himself down to his boxer briefs so he could gave himself a quick wash with the fresh water.

@ Sweet.Persephone

Maisie slept past sunup, but when she heard Charles opening up the tent and climbing out she stirred, letting out a soft little groan as she tucked her face into her blankets as she realized that it was morning. Despite wanting to sleep in, she knew that they'd need to really get their camp set up, and luckily it sounded like the rain had stopped, so with a sigh she sat up and slipped out of her sleeping bag, taking a few minutes to tidy both her and Charles' sleeping spots before she climbed out of the tent, stretching her arms up over her head with a yawn.

"Charles?" She called after a moment, realizing he wasn't immediately near the tent, and turned to wander back toward the creek, assuming that he might have gone down to get some water or something. She blushed though when she saw him nearly naked, quickly covering her eyes with her hand, although she was mid-step and nearly slipped on the slippery moss-covered ground. "Sorry to intrude, I didn't know where you'd gone.. And knowing our parents, for all I knew they could have sent someone to kidnap you." She teased, peering out at him between her fingers after a moment. "Is it cold? I also brought some soap, if you want. And there's a little pond and a little waterfall downstream, if you'd rather have a real bath."

@ katahdin

At hearing someone behind him, Charles was quick to turn around and look. Though at seeing Maisie, he immediately started to relax again. “It’s okay. Besides, it’s good to know that you would actually go looking for me if air were to mysterious disappear,” Charles told her joking. Though at looking at her again, he cleared his throat. “You know, you don’t have to uh.” At seeing the light blush on her face, Charles stopped for a moment before starting up again. “It’s not necessary, or rather you don’t have to cover your eyes...since I’m still wearing pants...kinda,”

Charles shook his head at himself before back to the water and cupping it in his hands to wash his face. “Yeah it’s a bit cold. But I don’t need a full bath today, maybe tomorrow. I just want to waste the time since we have some things we need to do. Like traps and fire, maybe food.”

@ Sweet.Persephone

"Of course I'd look for you. If you disappear, who's going to help me carry everything back?" Maisie teased, blushing a bit brighter as he cleared his throat, although she lowered her hand after a moment when he said she didn't need to cover her eyes. "I figured it was safer to do so than to not.. I didn't know if you'd get mad that I snuck up on you or not.." she explained, carefully moving over to sit on a rock near the edge of the water.

"I'll help you find fire wood after this, if you'd like. It seems to be pretty dry up by the tent, and since the weather isn't bad I think it wouldn't be too hard to build it up there." Maisie explained, grabbing a rock to throw into the water out of boredom. "I can get a little fire pit set up while you get some wood, if that sounds reasonable, and while you're working on traps I can heat up a can of soup or something that I grabbed from the kitchen."