Chaos in the Castle

@ katahdin

"The fish is looking pretty good. It should be done in a couple of minutes here." As he spoke, Charles glanced over at Maisie with a bit of an awkward smile on his face. He set his forearms down on his knees as his body seemed to lean forward a bit. "I haven't looked at the food back yet but I think some rice would be good with the fish." His eyes glanced down at the fish for a long moment. It was a decent size and enough for both of them to get a decent meal, but with the addition of rice they would actually go to bed completely full.

With that thought, Charles stood up and headed over to the food bag and pulled out the bag of rice that Maisie had brought along with them. Once he sat back down in his chair, he turned the bag over and started to read the instructions. Charles couldn't say that he actually knew how to make rice but he was rather sure that he could figure it out.

@ Sweet.Persephone

Maisie nodded a little as he spoke, rubbing her hands together to warm them up and watched him walk over to the food bag to grab the rice. "It smells pretty good. Who would have thought that you'd know how to catch and clean and cook a fish." She offered him a little teasing smile as he sat back down. After watching him read the instructions for a few minutes she smiled, grabbing a small metal pot from the bag and a bottle of water.

"We'll have to guess on the right amount of water, but we should be able to figure it out. May I?" She asked, holding her hand out for the bag of rice. "I figure since you're in charge of the fish, the least I can do is make the rice." She explained, eyeballing the required measurements for the rice and water before setting the pot on the coals of the fire to boil. "I'd say in about twenty minutes we'll have ourselves some rice. Do you need me to do anything in the meantime? If the fish is nearly done you could go bathe while we wait for everything to finish cooking, that way you don't have to be wandering around by the water in the dark."

@ katahdin

"I know how to camp and survive in a forest." Charles responded to Maisie "Well... I guess I shouldn't just say forest. I know how to survive in general, don't you?" He glanced up at Maisie, his eyebrows furrowing together as he looked to her. "My parents made me take all of these survival lessons in case I ever got kidnapped or had to run away and hide or something. Like they were overly concerned that I was going to end up in some kind of hostage situation or kidnapped for money." After he said that, there was a long pause as Charles' face turned to a long look of confusion. "I mean, you're parents were too, right?"

When Maisie held her hand out for the bag of rice, Charles was happy to hand it over to her. He didn't really know what he was doing with the rice so to have someone else figure it out seemed like the better option. Though as she mentioned him going to take a bath, Charles glanced up at the sky. The sun was beginning to set and he figured he only had half an hour before it was dark. Charles nodded and moved onto his feet. "Yeah I probably should, I wouldn't want to be the reason our tent is dirty or reeks." He joked lightly before going to his bag to grab some new clothes.

@ Sweet.Persephone

Maisie blinked a little as Charles explained that his parents had made him take survival classes, shaking her head a little. "Not really.. I went to camp a few summers in middle school and high school, but I.. I spent most of my time as a kid at home with tutors, so I wasn't really out and about in public a lot." She explained, shifting a bit to tend to the rice, looking down sheepishly. "I mean, my parents were over protective and everything, they just did things differently.. It's also not like I could really do survival training as a kid, either."

She offered him a little smile as he joked about stinking up the tent, rolling her eyes teasingly. "I won't be the one stinking it up, either. And I hope you don't mind flower scent soap, it was all I had."

@ katahdin

"I think your parents were probably more so working on you never being in that situation whereas my parents seemed so positive that it would happen that they needed to prepare me for it." Charles than gave her a bit of a shrug at the thought. "Even so, I suppose all of that survival stuff is working out in our favor now, right? I don't think they ever thought I would use it against them but..." He let out a chuckle. "Well I suppose we are trying to survive their bad judgement. Anyways, I am not worried about smelling like a flower." With that, Charles started to head out of camp.

Once he made it down to the pond, Charles stripped and used the remaining light to wash himself off using the soap that Maisie had offered him. Though Charles did stay int he water a bit longer after the sun had set, so when he started to make his way back into camp, it was already dark.

@ Sweet.Persephone

"It's.. it's a bit more complicated than that, but yes, I think you're right." Maisie murmured, offering him a little smile at his statement about them surviving their parents. "That's a decent point." She laughed, nodding a little as he headed off to bathe. While he was gone she tidied up their camp while everything finished cooking, making sure that what was hanging up to dry was drying properly, and that everything was neat and tidy, as well as finding two decent sized rocks that they could use as seats by the fire, not wanting to sit on the ground.

She'd started to grow a bit worried when Charles didn't return before dark, but trusted that he was alright and just taking his time, and so she divided up the rice and the fish for them on the two plates she'd brought and grabbing some silverware. She was relieved to see him when he returned to camp, finishing tying her hair into a braid as she smiled at him. "I was beginning to get worried I'd have to come find you. How was your bath? You're just in time for dinner, too. It looks delicious, thank you again for catching the fish." She smiled.

@ katahdin

"I should have gone to bathe earlier but instead I decided to just come back in the dark. Though as you can see, I am perfectly fine and certainly a lot cleaner as well." Charles told her with a large smile on his face. He moved over to sit down at one of the large rocks that had suddenly appeared at their campsite before taking his food and beginning to relax. "It was no trouble," Charles responded with a little smile on his face. "It's better than eating nothing or draining our supplies, right?" He asked her as the grin along his face started to widen.

Charles then started to dig into the rice and the fish that he had caught. He had to say that it wasn't too bad. After all, it was a very fresh fish. Though, Charles certainly couldn't say it was five stars since it was just cooked over a campfire and there was no seasoning to it. His eyes glanced around the woods for a moment, noticing the firelights that were buzzing around them. The longer they sat out there, the darker it was becoming. Despite the fire that brought some light and some heat, they would have to turn in soon enough. "Now that a lot of the work is done, we can spend more of the day tomorrow relaxing."

@ Sweet.Persephone

Maisie smiled up at him as he sat down, giving a little nod as well as a teasing smile. "You smell wonderful." She laughed, taking her plate and digging in, humming a bit. For not having any seasoning on it, it was pretty good. Much better than having to eat soup for however many days they were going to be out here.

Once about halfway through her meal she paused for a minute to watch the fireflies that were buzzing around their campsite, smiling a little as she watched them buzz around. "I've always liked lightning bugs.. When I was little I couldn't go outside much, but I'd watch them from my window and I always thought they looked like stars.." She murmured softly between bites, nodding as he pointed out that they'd be able to relax tomorrow. "That'll be nice. We can work on the campsite too, but there's less pressure."

@ katahdin

“We should probably figure out how long we plan on staying out here for. I mean...we are going to have to go back eventually. Plus no reason to do too much work on the campsite if we plan on going back sooner or later.” Charles cleared his throat a bit before taking another bite out of dinner. “We might even want to consider going back on different days to make it seem like we weren’t together at all,”

Charles gave her a bit of a shrug at the thought. “If we did that you should go back first. Both because you don’t have any survival skills but also because they’ll be happier to see whoever comes back first. By the time I come back, they'll be over it and just angry but when you come back they’ll at least be happy for a few moments that you’re alive,”

@ Sweet.Persephone

"That is true.. I can't say that I look forward to going back, though. It's kind of nice out here." Maisie pointed out as she finished up her dinner, setting the plate on the ground before moving to grab a few logs to add to the fire, not wanting it to go out.

She looked over at him in surprise when he suggested that she return first, frowning a little as she shook her head a little. "Are you sure? I don't mind taking the brunt of it, really.. And I can survive on a can or two of soup for a day or so if you head back first. Besides, maybe if you go back first your parents will get sick and tired of waiting for me and they'll give up on the marriage thing and take you home." She suggested with a little smile, even though she doubted it would happen.

@ katahdin
“I am quite sure. It makes more sense anyways as I know to care for myself out here more than you and I would not want you to get hurt out here by yourself. Besides I think it might be my turn to take the brunt of it as they were already mad at you for running off,” Charles set his plate down now that he was finished with his food.

“And I doubt they’ll do that. The longer I hide the less patience they’ll have for everything and even if they plan on canceling the engagement they won’t leave until you are found.” Charles ran a hand through his hair. “We’ll figure it out.”

@ Sweet.Persephone

Maisie let out a sigh as he spoke, nodding a little as she moved over to sit down again, hugging her legs to her chest and resting her chin on her knees. "I suppose you're right.. I just.. I wish things were different." She frowned, staring at the fire for a bit before sighing as she stood and stretched.

"I'm going to head into the tent for the night.. I might have a thought about how to get out of this marriage, but it's not really something I want to do unless absolutely necessary." She sighed, offering him a weak smile. "I'll go run down to the stream to brush my teeth, but I'll be back in a minute." She said, grabbing her toothbrush and the toothpaste she'd brought before heading down to the stream, doing her best not to slip and fall in the dark. She returned to the tent a few minutes later, giving a little wave before heading into the tent and settling into her sleeping bag.

@ katahdin

As Maisie mentioned that she knew a way to get out of the marriage, Charles' interest peaked. Though he decided not to ask, both because it seemed Maisie did not want to talk about it but also because she ran off before he really could. A light sigh left him as Charles found himself alone. He decided to tend to the fire a bit and once he saw Maisie head into the tent, Charles made the decision that he would wait for her to settle before following her in.

About half an hour later, Charles made his way into the tent. He settled down into his plethora of blankets and fell asleep.

@ Sweet.Persephone

Maisie was sound asleep when Charles came into the tent, but she was only asleep for a few hours before it grew extremely cold, cold enough to wake her up because of her shivering. She blinked a little in the darkness as she tugged her blankets and the sleeping bag closer around her, taking a few minutes to think over what she could do when she heard Charles stirring next to her.

"Ch-Charles..? A-Are you awake t-too?" She whispered softly, voice chattering from her shivering. If she was cold in her sleeping bag, he must be frozen half to death under the blankets he had. "I-I didn't think it would get this cold.."

@ katahdin

Charles had woken up in the night as the freezing cold air creep into their tent. As much as he tried to get himself warm again from the blankets that were wrapped up around him, nothing could bring the heat back into his bones. He going through the ways to warm up in his head when Maisie's tired voice broke the silence. His head turned over to look at her, taking a long moment to respond before he finally did so.

"I am," He said as he slowly sat up from his makeshift bed. "We..." Charles let out a small huff, seeing the air in front of him change from the heat of his breath. "We need to huddle together to keep warm. It's so fucking freezing." Charles said as he pulled his shirt off over his head. "We can warm each other up."

@ Sweet.Persephone

Maisie was relieved to hear that Charles was not only awake, but that he had a plan, nodding a bit as he said that they could huddle together for warmth. "O-Ok.." Normally she probably would have teased or joked around, especially when he took his shirt off, but she was too darn cold, so instead she unzipped her sleeping bag so that she could drape it over them both, along with the rest of the blankets that they'd both brought.

Scooting closer to meet him in the middle, she spread the sleeping bag over them first since it was the most insulated, and then helped him with the rest of the blankets before she practically burrowed into him, nose cold as she pressed her face into his chest. "Y-You're warm.." She murmured softly in relief, snuggling closer as they finished settling in.

@ katahdin

As Maisie started to bury her small body into his, Charles could not help but let out a little shiver. For as much as he was cold, it felt like Maisie was a Popsicle. Even so, Charles knew that this would work in the long run. So he buried his body under the sleeping bag and the blankets before wrapping his arms around Maisie tight and pulling her in close to his chest.

His hands slowly ran up and down her back, trying his best to warm the woman up, and therefore, his self. "I know." He murmured as she mentioned how warm he was. Charles may not feel warm but he knew his body temp would still be enough to get some heat into Maisie. Not wanting to feel the chill on his face any longer, Charles moved his head into her hair, pressing his face against her. "Just give it some time, we will be warm soon." He assured her.

@ Sweet.Persephone

Maisie hummed sleepily as he began to rub her back, her own arms wrapping around him to rub his back in return, her fingers gently tracing patterns on his shoulder blades. "If I go back before you, who's going to be here to warm you up if it gets this cold again?" She murmured teasingly, smiling a little as she felt him tuck his face into her hair.

Just like he'd promised, within ten minutes they were warmed up, but given how cold it was she wasn't about to move away from him. Especially given how much she actually liked being curled up in his arms. "We can sleep in too in the morning, right?" She asked after a while, sounding like she was ready to drift back off to sleep, but she didn't want to go to sleep if Charles was still awake, especially if he was still cold.

@ katahdin

"I wouldn't get much sleep as I would probably be huddled around a campfire if it was just me." Charles said with a little chuckle. His lips brushed against the top of her head as he spoke softly into her. "But I would be able to stay warm... but it something to think about, tomorrow."

It did not take too long until Charles was able to feel some warmth again. At least enough to be able to drift back to sleep easily. But his mind was getting too focused on how Maisie's fingers were tracing patterns into him...about how soft her hands were. He closed his eyes tightly for a moment, trying his best to get those thoughts out of his head. "Of course we can sleep in." Charles whispered back. One of his hands that were rubbing against her back was now moving up and soon he was lightly running his fingers through Maisie's hair. "We should sleep."

@ Sweet.Persephone

"This is nicer, though." Maisie murmured softly, letting out a pleasant hum as he began to run his fingers through her hair. She knew she shouldn't be thinking about how nice this was, let alone admitting it, but it was true. And she had a feeling that she would get the best night's sleep in a long time like this. But at least Charles seemed to be enjoying this too, so at least he wouldn't be able to tease her about it in the morning.

"Mmm, ok." Maisie sighed, her breath warm against his chest as she shifted and snuggled closer, her fingers stopping their tracing as she began to drift off. "I'm glad we're friends, Charles.. I like you." She confessed softly before finally letting sleep consume her, curled up in Charles' arms.