Jay and Aldous find the lost puppy!

Jay breathed a sigh of relief as the village came into view. He had gotten terribly lost trying to get to Clover town. "How do you miss an entire lake!?" he angrily thought to himself.
Jay shook the thought from his mind as he entered the collection of tents. His stomach growled and he frowned. "First things first I guess..." as he approached a small group gathered in hopes of trade. As he got closer Jay could hear the soft sobbing of a woman followed by her angry shouts.

"... fault for taking him with you, he is still just a pup and hasn't been properly trained!"

"Well he had to learn sometime"

"Excuse me."

"You should have done that here in the village! He doesn't even come to his name yet."

"Uh excuse me."

"Hm? Oh, hail traveler. What brings you here?"

"I was would like to trade for some food and get some directions to Clover town."

"Oh why sure but, uh, first..."

The woman just glared at him and tapped her foot rapidly creating a small cloud of dirt.

"... I have to organize a party to find our dog."

"Oh? Well I would be more the happy to offer my help." :)

Jay's stomach growled.

"Heh... But maybe I could..."

"Ahaha really? Well that would be fantastic! I will go find my friend and you two can work together."

Before Jay could say another word he was off. Leaving him to stand alone with his wife as the few other in the group left to go about there day. Her mood still seemed sour but she smiled sweetly at Jay. "Thank you for helping us young man. Please, follow me to our tent."

"As always, Ms. Cauvery, your  soap is one of the finest I have ever tasted. A heart-warming delicacy, truly worthy to drink by the hearth," Aldous licked his lips to prolong the lingering taste of his last sip, before closing his eyes to allow his smell to take over, the tingling wafts of the soap in his hands reaching deep into his lungs. He liked to take things slow like this when he had the chance and when you have the Hunting Village's speciality A Phoenix's Broth, taking it slow is one of the best ways to enjoy it. (Despite the name, according to Karl Hohen's Fiore Delicacies, it was actually chicken soup, in reality, though the roughness of the Spooky Forest from where these chickens originated had toughened them up, making their meat a chewy affair.)

"Oh, I'm glad. I was so worried that I-" Aldous noted that the girl, sitting across the square-table, quickly caught herself from saying something that no doubt had something to do with the fact that the soup was a little redder than usual. Perhaps too much blood was added into it? Aldous could only guess as he eyed Abraxis right beside him. 

The bicycle seemed to have no problem with the taste, for while Aldous was still on his first bowl, the bicycle had burnt through five and was going onto his sixth one without any sign of respite. As expected from him to be unable to appreciate the finer and gentler details of soap-drinking. All Aldous could do in response was sigh to the side and drink his share. "I must thank your father for his wonderful hospitality. I still cannot believe that he had remembered my help three years ago."

"Dad always stressed to me about fulfilling what you owe. You don't know how excited he was when he learned that you were coming for a visit," Ms Cauvery grinned, a cheeky one that had not changed over the past three years. 'How old is she now? Eight years old?' Aldous thought to himself, a little pissed at himself for missing all of those birthdays. However, if there was something that had changed, Aldous noticed that the usually scruffy little girl was now wearing a white kid-sized qipao with pink flowers embroidered around it and the mop of hair that he had expected was now enslaved in a braid that now laid on her left shoulder. When she saw him notice it, she smiled, her set of white teeth dazzling against her dark chocolate-brown skin. 'Surprising. She looks like she's going to a wedding or something. What's the special occasion?' He wanted to ask about that, but part of him pulled that question back out of some strange urge that he could not quite discern.

"Well, Ms. Cauvery, your father has easily paid any debt that he might have owed me, even though he had none," Aldous said instead, focusing on downing his soup a little more quickly now. Then, just as he was about to finish his bowl, Aldous noticed from the corner of his eyes, shadows growing from underneath the large family tent that he and company were in. "I think your parents are here, Ms. Cauvery." Aldous smiled as he said that, hiding his little concern brewing from the hurriedness in the approaching steps and the unmistakable sound of hushed voices arguing side-by-side. 

Also, from the third set of foot-falls, someone else is with them.

Mr. Cauvery entered the tent first and held the door open for his wife and guest. "How could I have forgotten you were here the whole time Aldous? I did a whole lap around the village before I remembered!" he said laughing at himself. Mrs. Cauvery entered next wearing a frown, clearly less than amused. "Daddy!" little Ms. Cauvery shouted as she ran to meet him and hug his legs tightly. "We have another guest honey, why don't you serve up another bowl of soup for him hm?" Mr. Cauvery said as her patted her head. As she san off to do as she was bid, Jay entered the tent. Mr. Cauvery gestured at a wooden seat by the table for him to sit at. Jay gave a short nod and sat to the left of the other member already seated since the one to his right was already occupied by a... bike?
How strange for a bike to be seated at a table Jay thought to him self but didn't dwell on it.

Mr. and Mrs. Cauvery sat opposite of Jay and Aldous. Mrs. Cauvery poured some tea for every one as Mr. Cauvery introduced his now two guests to one another. "Jay, this is Aldous. He is a good friend and has done much for our family. Aldous, this is Jay. We met this morning in the middle of an argument between myself and the wife. I have uh... lost... our dog in the spooky forest and he offered his help." "I would like to thank you again for doing this for us. Li'l Scruffs means a lot to our daughter." finished Mrs. Cauvery.

Just then little Ms. Cauvery returned with a bowl of soup for Jay, Aldous, her father and mother and the bike. Jay bowed his head in thanks and started to eat pausing only long enough to wonder why the bike was being served food.

OOC: I think from here on, you can take care of Mrs and Mr. Cauvery, while I control the daughter.

When Mr. Cauvery came in, with his face brightening up at the sight of Aldous, Aldous returned with a smile, shaking his head affably at his comment. "Ah, I wished I could have joined you, Mr. Cauvery; I was looking forward to running around the place, but some exceptional cooking made me not wanting to move an inch." Holding tight onto her father's legs, the little cook in the house beamed a shy smile, bashful under the praise.

But when Mrs. Cauvery entered with her deepened frown lines, Aldous sensed that something was not quite right. A hunting trip gone wrong? Someone has been injured, perhaps? Aldous wondered about the possibilities, but an itching feeling that it had something to do with what Ms. Cauvery likes begun to take root in his mind when her mother sent her away to fetch more soup for the stranger who came in through the door after her.

Brown-haired, blue eyes and a little on the lean side, Aldous noticed the pale robes draped around the thick-jawed man, prompting him to reflexively observe the magical particles around him. As the little atoms of magic danced and sung around this new person, Aldous had his suspicions confirmed. 'A mage.....' Aldous looked at him from head to toe. 'Can't see any sign of a guild tattoo. Perhaps another wanderer? Or maybe a dark one?' Aldous did not dare jump to conclusions, but from the atmosphere of the person, calm and clearly not the extremely talkative sort, Aldous felt that the likelihood of the former was a bit larger.

"Jay, this is Aldous," Aldous smiled at Mr. Cauvery's introduction, giving a polite nod towards Jay, while at the same time, cringing in his own mind at the sound of Purgatory giggling, the intrusive entity joking, "Oh, looks like we got a little birdie? Do you think if I throw him off the side of a cliff, he'll spread out wings and fly?" Aldous was not amused one bit. "Nice to meet you." was all he could smoothly manage while juggling the tasks of suppression and silencing in his mind.

"I have uh... lost... our dog in the spooky forest and he offered his help." As he listened to Mr. Cauvery's explanation, Aldous slightly jerked up at this particular sentence, a little careful to keep his voice down so that Ms. Cauvery in the next room would not be able to hear. "Is it Scruffs?" Aldous asked, knowing that as hunters, there are many dogs around the village and the Cauvery's own one, Ghost, had a litter of puppies recently. Scruffs was the first one that Aldous had gotten to see: a little energetic ball of white fur, botched with brown spots, sharp ears like his mother and with black irises brimming with both curiosity and playfulness (a stricter man might say that these are the ingredients for disobedience, though Scruffs was just a puppy).

When Mrs. Cauvery affirmed his question, Aldous was in the middle of a deep frown, smoothing his fingers over his chin in deep thought, his mind already pulling out mental maps of the area around them as he begun to cross-reference information from various books about hunting dogs and the Spooky Forest nearby. He was forced to slow his mental processes down as he wiped his frowning away at the sight of a little girl carrying a tray of heart-warming soup. As the table was laid out with soup, Aldous noticed from the corner of his eye that Abraxis was about to take centre-stage.

"Oi, what are you looking at?" Abraxis snapped at Jay, the bicycle clearly a little put-off by the staring he was giving him. "You got something to say about me, punk? See something you like?" The bicycle ended the last sentence with a teasing chuckle, while Aldous to the side could only cover his face with his hands as he let out a practised sigh of embarrassment. While the family on-site had endeared themselves to the Abraxis' rough ways, Aldous had always found it unproductive to give Abraxis an excuse to continue such untidy manners.

"Don't mind Abraxis. He's just a little.....unique." In the midst of him assuring Jay that he had done nothing wrong, Aldous twisted the last word with a little sarcasm, though it sailed right over the head of the vehicle in question. "Oh thanks man, never thought you had it in you!" Abraxis then turned towards Jay, which must be quite unnerving seeing as when Abraxis turns towards people, the bicycle bends his frame as if it was flesh and the lack of expressions (or a face for that matter) was also another factor. "Abraxis, the one and only!" The bicycle boasted, before oohing at the soup before him and slamming his bell mouth into the depths of heavenly broth.

At the same time, as Abraxis dived into his soup with as much class as a penguin (He felt it was an insult to penguins to think that way), Aldous also picked up his soap, but as he was drinking mid-sip, he found his eyes turning towards Jay across the table. "Do you like it?" Ms. Cauvery asked Jay, her eyes gleaming innocently. While she was still here, her parents were noticably tight-lipped, looking a little uncomfortable as they tried their best to meet her eyes and not look suspicious. Aldous understood why. If she were to find out her puppy was gone, Ms. Cauvery was the type to go out on her own in a valiant but highly dangerous attempt to find him. Aldous realized that they were in a little of a pinch with here around. Hopefully, Mr. Jay here was just as aware about this.

OOC: Looks like we will have to think of a way to get Ms. Cauvery out of the picture. Distraction?

It took all of Jay's self control to not stare gape jawed at "Abraxis" the bicycle as it spoke to him. "It... talks? Not only that it moves." Jay thought to himself. His eyes darted from Aldous to Abraxis as the prior explained the other. After a brief moment of stunned silence Jay replied to Aldous "It's nice to meet you too." Deciding to ignore the bike entirely. Jay quietly ate his soup he was served. It tasted very good to his empty stomach even if he had to put effort into chewing on the meat chunks. Having now finished his soup Jay reached for the tea he was served. As he did he heard the soft spoken question from the little girl who had served him.

Jay let loose a broad grin and said, "Why yes I did. It was so good I could eat a hundred bowls. If only I could actually hold all that much in my stomach." As intended this seemed to amuse Ms. Cauvery. Even so the atmosphere in the room was tense. Mr. and Mrs. Cauvery exchanged worried glances between themselves and their daughter. It seemed that they were hoping to keep the lost dog a secret. Something Jay did not entirely agree with but would respect all the same.

"Were you the cook responsible for such good food?" asked Jay. Ms. Cauvery nodded with a smile. "Well why don't I reward you." Jay reached into one of his satchels and presented three colored marbles, one red, one blue, one green, and handed them to her. "If you like I could show you a fun game I like to play with those outside." After saying this he looked up towards her parents for their approval. "Alka go on, it's ok." said Mrs. Cauvery allowing herself a smile.

Jay stood from the table and pushed his chair in. He let the girl lead the way outside and made sure to step far and wide of the bike as he exited the tent.

"Well, he certainly does not like me," Abraxis chimed in an amused voice once Jay had left the tent, and thankfully to Aldous, out of earshot. "Practically ignored me. Was I coming on too strongly?" Abraxis asked no one in particular, giving out a rather ungraceful burp as he smacked his lips for any more of the soup that he had devoured seven bowls of.

"Perhaps you might have tried, I don't know, just saying 'Hi' and 'Nice to meet you.' ,"Aldous chided him without much thought put into it, his focus instead bearing down onto the most urgent matter at hand.

"Bah, that's too generic. He'll lump you along with the rest of the meatbags who said the same thing." While he had to agree that Abraxis was unfortunately correct, Aldous had no time to argue with the bicycle; turning towards the Cauvery's as they looked on at the door, undoubtedly grateful for Mr. Jay's assistance in distracting Ms. Cauvery. Aldous himself was beginning to find himself more inclined to like Mr. Jay; he seems like a sharp one. But enough about him, to the matter at hand. "Is there any way I can help search for Scruffs? Any way?" Aldous offered, an old habitual pang to ask for a reward throbbing inside him, but he crushed it out with a will.

OOC: Taking control of the parents for now.

Mr. Cauvery sighed, a little hesitant to start talking, so his wife immediately took the reins, a trait that Aldous had always admired.

"This old doorknob was already getting a search party going. He talks of running laps around the village, yet he barely managed to get a decent number of people. Perhaps if we bring old Ghost along, the mum in her might help us find the pup faster," She then scowled at her husband, expecting him to continue. He did, stammering along as his face flushed in embarrassment.

"B-But....," Aldous noticed Mr. Cauvery nervously glancing at him, barely able to stare at him straight. He smiled in assurance, prompting the man to continue,"with our current party, we lack the numbers s-sufficient to conduct a safe search through the Spooky Forest. We can search the rest of the surrounding area, but..."

"I see," Aldous perfectly understood what they were asking for him. At the mention of the Spooky Forest, Aldous could feel Abraxis gazing nervously at him. All Aldous could do was to give a small but assertive nod towards the bicycle, who just gave out a resigned sigh. There was good reason behind Abraxis' hesitation; the Spooky Forest was the site of a job that Aldous had botched, badly. When he barely managed to get out of there, he was unconscious for the rest of the journey, taken by Abraxis to the nearest hospital he could find. Even a year after, the scars from that encounter still pulsed with each exertion to this day. Worse of all, in that same job, he had a partner; Aldous still did not know what fate had in store for her.

But, Aldous stated to himself, he can't just let old fears get to him just yet. Not when a life is at stake here. "We'll do it," Aldous told the Cauverys and when he saw their mouths burst into a comforted smile, suddenly the scars did not hurt so bad.

Outside:

"So how do we play?" Alka excitedly asked, literally running circles around Jay excitedly as they walked, unable to cap her patience.

"So how do we play?" Alka excitedly asked, literally running circles around Jay excitedly as they walked, unable to cap her patience. Jay smiled to himself, it warmed his heart to make others happy. "Well first, you will need to place the marbles on the ground any way you like." Alka did as she was told, placing the red marble to her right, the blue to her left, and the green between them. "Now, I'm going to use my magic to light them up and I want you to do your best to remember the order I do this in. And each time you get it right ill add on to it. Try and go as long as you can ok?"

Alka seemed slightly confused at first but not for long. As soon as the marbles glowed green, then red, then red she caught on. Alka pointed to them in the order they flashed. Jay congratulated her and then repeated the pattern with additions at each stage.

Green, red, red, blue.
Green, red, red, blue, blue.
Green, red, red, blue, blue, red.
Green, red, red, blue, blue, red, green.

Alka seemed to hesitate now, second guessing herself. But she was still correct up until now.

Green, red, red, blue, blue, red, green, red.
Green, red, red, blue, blue, red, green, red, blue.
Green, red, red, blue, blue, red, green, red, blue, green.

Alka had stopped. She had gotten the first seven of the last sequence correct and was doing her best to remember the last two. Jay could tell she was determined to get it right. It was at this moment Jay looked around to notice Aldous and Abraxis were outside the tent watching. "Maybe big brother can help you out hm?" He said with a jerk of his head in their direction. Alka looked up and stared at Aldous for a moment, pondering to take the suggestion or not.

"So, we'll be on our way, Mr. and Mrs. Cauvery," Standing back up onto his feet and quickly downing the last drops of his soup, Aldous gave a deep respectful bow towards the couple. "Give my blessings to the search party; they'll have a much wider area than us to cover." He then noticed the empty bowls strewn across the table and, reminded of his manners, Aldous bowed again. "Thank you for the hospitality. Come on, Abraxis."

"Oh, okay," Abraxis reluctantly peeled his eyes off the kitchen door, his hunger evidently still unsated. "Many thanks for the meal, old man, old lady," Aldous could only pout as Mr. Cauvery gave a bellowing laugh, apparently unfazed by his own insult, while Mrs. Cauvery screwed her eyes up and gave Abraxis a rather unamused death glare.

Once outside, Aldous noticed that Mr. Jay was playing a colour-memory game with Ms. Cauvery, the girl apparently having fun, until the length of colours begun to exceed eight. When the little girl begun to hesitate between and within answers, Aldous felt himself pity the little girl. He had to give her credit for trying so hard; not even he was sure that he could remember the sequence of colours at the moment. That was the problem with having spent a year reading an entire library: he had flexed his memory such that he had to rationalise information in a logical manner before he could remember it solidly. A random sequence of colours was not exactly logical.

"BIG BRO!" Alka called out towards them, apparently having been encouraged by Mr. Jay to seek out external help. However, "Big Bro" was not referring to Aldous.

"Oh, what's up, Alka?" Aldous could only grin as he stepped aside to make way for Abraxis, who was already trundling himself excitedly up towards them. "Oooooh, prettttty." Aldous slapped himself in the face at Abraxis wide-eyeing the coloured marbles, their shades changing before his eyes into a new shade of light. Who better to connect to children than another child? At the same time, Aldous noted Mr. Jay's glowing marbles. Light, huh?

"Can you help me? I'm....." Aldous felt his usually hard face gentle at the sight of Ms. Cauvery looking a little embarrassed at asking for help. "OF COURSE! ANYTHING FOR MY LITTLE SIS!" But Abraxis' cheerful and excited voice shocked her out of her shyness. A little startled at first, the little girl then cheekily returned the widening smile on the bicycle's bell lips, as the two begun to stare intently at the marbles.

Green, red, red, blue, blue, red, green, red, blue, green, red.

Green, red, red, blue, blue, red, green, red, blue, green, red, blue.

Green, red, red, blue, blue, red, green, red, blue, green, red, blue, red.

Green, red, red, blue, blue, red, green, red, blue, green, red, blue, red.

As the game continued, Aldous was sitting on a rock at the sight, watching with amusement at the childish duo take on the next set of colours, with Abraxis filling in where Alka hesitated and every time they got it right, they cheered like children getting a showering of candy. At the same time, Aldous watched for how Mr. Jay reacted to it. After all, this man was going to be joining him in the Spooky Forest.

"Hey, Alka. Tell you what! Why don't we go for a rollercoaster ride around the village? You and me, free of charge! Front-row seats!" When the game was done and Mr. Jay had concluded it, Abraxis spun around Alka, showing off his chair towards her, undoubtedly tempting her with his offer.

"Really?!" Aldous could not thank Abraxis enough for doing that, as he watched the little girl hop onto the chair and playfully holding onto the handrails, her legs cutely too short to reach the peddles, though she tried to peddle in the air anyway. Abraxis shared an off-hand look with Aldous, who nodded in grateful acknowledgement, before the bicycle went screaming "ALRIGHT THEN! LET'S GOOOOOO!" and left the last word hanging as he went speeding away in a cloud of dust, the excited yells of Alka on his seat heard over the grinding of Abraxis' glowing wheels.

It won't take long for him to circle the village, so Aldous immediately stood up once they are out of sight and walked up to Mr. Jay's side, the smile on his face dissipating and his frown lines deepening as he begun to get serious. Granted, he should be friendly to the stranger, but Scruffs has been out there for quite some time, so they cannot afford to delay with pleasantries. "While the village search party search the rest of the surrounding area, we are going to look for him in the Spooky Forest," Aldous flatly stated, without elaboratin who the 'him' was, having expected Mr. Jay to understand. "You ready to go, Mr. Jay?"

Jay was surprised as the bicycle responded to the "big bro" and not Aldous. Did this little girl really look up to such a rude personality? He was worried for a moment until it let out a child like squeal at the colorful marbles. Well it seemed enthusiastic enough, maybe he had miss judged it. Jay continued the game going up to an eleven long sequence, then twelve, thirteen, fourteen. The combination of these two was impressive and put a smile on his face. It made him happy to bring joy to others the same way his foster mother would. But soon the game had gotten very long and Jay had to concentrate on the pattern to make sure he was consistent.

Then suddenly Abraxis halted the game by offering the little girl a ride around town. Jay was about to return their attention back to the marbles but thought better of it. The game wasn't for him it was for her. And he had a job to do. Jay smiled and waved farewell to Alka happy to have brightened her day.

As soon as the pair was out of sight Aldous approached Jay with a serious demeanor. "While the village search party search the rest of the surrounding area, we are going to look for him in the Spooky Forest," Aldous flatly stated. "You ready to go, Mr. Jay?" It seemed this job was as important to Aldous as it was to the client. Jay understood why after seeing how close he was to the family. It seemed to him Aldous was of good character and resolved to get to know him better. "Yes I am Sir. Since you're the one with the plan I'll let you lead." Jay pondered briefly if he should take back the marbles left in the dirt and return them later, he wanted to make sure Alka didn't forget about them. He decided against it and followed Aldous.

Sir? How preposterous to think of him as being the senior here. Aldous wanted to point out to Mr. Jay that he did not have to call him "Sir", but instead, he kept his mouth shut and begun to walk towards the entrance of the village. As they passed through the main centre of the village, Aldous could see a tight group of young men and women, with some dogs passing between their legs. It must be the search party and no doubt those are their sniffer dogs, ready to sniff out for traces of Scruffs and lead their handlers to him. He softened his demeanour, giving a smile, and gave a polite wave towards as he and Mr. Jay passed them by. Some of them waved back, with the more familiar faces giving them thumbs-up as a sign of good luck, while others looked at them sceptically, not out of suspicion but out of concern whether just two mages would be enough for the Spooky Forest. Aldous felt a little worry of his own rising through his stomach but he pushed it back, knowing that he cannot fail again.

Not this time.

When the two finally reached the outer borders of the village, beyond its wooden walls, Aldous noticed a cloud dust at the right, bordering near the very side of the wall, with the cheering of a child as she rode a certain bicycle around the village. Looks like Abraxis won't be coming along for a while.

"C'mon, it is going to be quite a hike, three kilometres at least. I know just the place in the Spooky Forest to start the search," Aldous called out to Mr. Jay behind him, first pointing towards the horizon ahead of them, where you could see a tiny border of trees the size of his fingernail, but Aldous knew that they were much larger than that. Knowing that Scruffs had gotten quite the head-start, Aldous broke into a jog, his years of wandering coming to mind, as he headed straight for Spooky Forest.

OOC: You reply with any reactions and further input you want to give and then I will start the next thread in the Spooky Forest.

"Aye!" said Jay with a big grin on his face and saluting Aldous. "I'm glad to help where I can." Jay followed Aldous easy enough, his life style and training had conditioned him for this. He wanted to ask more questions but recognized now wasn't the time. Kicking up a small dust cloud in their wake from the dry land the pair made their way towards the forest.

Continued here: https://www.fairytail-rp.com/t6595-jay-and-aldous-find-the-lost-puppy-continued#92683