[PRP - Honesty/Loyalty] 🌟 Lost in Space (Paladin x Live and Let Wine)

[Syrcaid]

Live and Let Wine sat next to Paladin on the bus all the way there.  It felt good to have a partner in crime on this trip. They spent their time listening to the bus monitor yelling for kids to stop shouting, screaming, and throwing wads of paper at each other - as per usual. She was dreadfully bored the entire way to the planetarium and natural history museum. She looked at the brochure, looked through the worksheets, looked through the print-outs for the "journal" they were supposed to piece together and turn in later.  So much paper to cut, draw, and write on! "Did anyone tell us which part of the museum we were doing first?" she looked to Paladin. "The place is HUGE!"

@Nym

[Nym]

Paladin had to admit that having a friend was... nice. Even if both were fairly quiet during the ride -- he didn't mind, actually, as it gave him ample time to review the packet their teacher had given them to fill out. Live had the same idea it seemed, as she began to pluck through her worksheets with him.

"I believe the starry night exhibit." Something was said about it, at least. He turned towards her, canting his head softly. "Stay together, then? In case we get lost?"

@Syrcaid

[Syrcaid]

"Absolutely, we stay together," Live nodded in agreement.  "I feel like we're the only ones who actually want a good grade on this crazy trip.  "I can't find a map, did we get a map?"

Live looked around to find the teacher or the chaperones.  They were all either embedded in their seats with a million other kids or yelling over the sound of the bus and the laughter to try and give some kind of instruction.

"I can't hear a thing they're saying.  Even if they are telling us where we're going, it's no use.  We might as well try to find a group that looks like they know where they're going and stick with it."

@Nym

[Nym]

Did they get a map? Paladin glanced about their papers, head shaking a 'no' towards Live. He too was frustrated, straining to hear anything over the chatter and failing spectacularly. He bit back a huff, turning towards his partner in his seat. He felt the need to reassure her, even if he wasn't sure what he'd say to do so.

"I'll do my best to make sure we get where we need to go," he insisted, nodding faintly and feigning confidence. For the first time he wasn't sure if what he was saying was true, but....

---

They had made it to the museum and left the bus together, with Paladin leading. The class had poured into the entrance and teachers had urged the students to look at their papers, to which Paladin dutifully did, muttering their objectives under his breath. He wasn't paying attention to the students around them, or what the teachers were saying -- he only had eyes for his assignment.

"Apparently we need to actually draw a map as we go through," he murmured, voice lowering so only Live could hear him. Drawing was not his strong suit.

@Syrcaid

[Syrcaid]

"WHAT!??" Live cried to the heavens, the outrage rang through the tall and quite spacious entrance.

Phonies all turned to look and see who could have said anything, but only for a fraction of a second before they all scattered again like leaves to the wind. She was too upset to be embarrassed at her own outburst.

"This is INEXCUSABLE! RECKLESS! CARELESS!"  she shook her hooves at anyone who went past them.  "Who does this to a person?! I don't mind drawing anything, but throwing us into this unknown wilderness of... of..."

She finally took a serious look around.  The entrance split into a different opening every which way.  There were signs, but they didn't help you figure out where you were so much as just told you where you'd go if you went a certain way.  Her rage went inward, her ears going flat.  Even her eyes narrowed.  She could just SPIT.

"...A 'real treasure trove of science and ancient history'," she read it off a poster on the sign board next to her.

She pulled out her worksheet and floated the pen over it with her unicorn magic.  "...Day 1, they've left us to die," she said as she drew the box that represented the entrance.

@Nym

[Nym]

She shrieked and he jumped, catching a sound of surprise in his throat. "What?!" He echoed, although fairly quieter and with more confusion than her own outrage. It was then he realized- they were alone. What? How did- was he so absorbed in his papers he hadn't seen everyone passing by? Realy? His eyes followed where hers did and then scanned the crowd. Oh no.

"Are we-" How upset was Live? He checked her, noting her drawing and haphazardly joining. She was upset, wasn't she? With him? No. Maybe. It was uncertain, but her own frustration was not as unclear. He didn't like seeing her upset, honestly, and it lead to the kneejerk reaction of trying to find the first thought that would cheer her up.

"It's okay, I know where we're going."

What? No he didn't! What was that? He had never lied before, but it wasn't a lie if it wasn't meant in a malicious manner, right? Was it truly deceit, if he intended to relieve her of her worries? Noooo. Not at all.

@Syrcaid
[/quote]

[Syrcaid]

"I'm not letting you out of my sight!" she declared, scootching closer to his side.  "This place is crazy with people, who does this to a body?  Not a teacher in sight, this is ludicrous!"

She was so angry as she shook her head and scribbled onto her work sheets and shuffled about in The Purse.  She pulled out a camper's compass.  "I'm not taking any chances."

Live swept the compass about trying to find north and then back to their position a few times.  She had no idea what she was doing, but she found out where north was.

"If things get dire, I bet I've got a few flares in here," she muttered, only HALF joking.  "Pick our destination and I GUESS we'll fill out the papers for it."

@Nym

[Nym]

Paladin glanced down at her as she slid closer, nodding stiffly. Yeah -- he got this. He'd make sure they were both safe. Easy enough!

"O-okay." Still, he was a bit nervous. He hadn't expected her to firmly cement into his side, as if he was reliable. Was he? He hoped so. She pulled a compass out and his head cocked to the side, a low breath of air escaping him.

"I don't think we're going to need that." He made a sound as close to laughing as he was letting himself get, face twitching into undeniable amusement as she said something about flares. She was definitely worried. Now where to take the two of them? He glanced about, then back at his pamphlet, and then back at Live.

"Let's head to the exhibit about the types of paints that were used," he decided, nodding to the immediate room before them. It seemed the most likely where the other students had gone, anyway!

@Syrcaid

[Syrcaid]

"Right, Paints..." she jotted down on her paper.  "Why do we still use paper?  What happens to all these scribbled sheets when it's all done?"

She thought about her parents and how their receipts, packing slips, and invoices were all still paper.  Seemed wasteful, in a world where machines were just as easy to obtain as groceries.  Maybe she was just angry, but this whole ordeal could have been way simpler with a tablet and-!

"An app!  What we need is an app!" she almost felt mad with the possibility of power.  "Even gas stations have apps now, what if this place has an app?  This can't possibly be the Stone Age, I'm going to at least give this a try."

She opened The Purse and dug around for the hand-me-down tablet her mother gave her and immediately sent it sniffing out for WiFi.

(OOC: I was thinking maybe using an app might be considered "cheating"?  Maybe they could have some kind of discussion on it for Honesty? XD!)

@Nym

[Nym]

Paladin frowned; she had a good point. Still, rules were rules, paper waste or not. He tucked his packet under his arm to help guide the two of them to the nearest doorway out of the absolutely congested entrance lobby, barely catching onto what she had said until he spotted the tablet.

"Wait-" he attempted to intercept, gently touching the edge of her tablet to catch her attention. "That's cheating, isn't it? We're meant to figure it out on our own, using the guides and our eyes. If we used a tablet it negates the purpose of us making a map ourselves, doesn't it?"

While he loved the idea of not being lost, Paladin also didn't want to earn their grade with dishonesty, although it would be the teacher's fault for just leaving them behind, wouldn't it? Ugh, this wasn't a well-thought-out field trip.

"At least we're together; we can get this done if we rely on each other."

@Syrcaid

[Syrcaid]

Live hadn't thought of it that way.  She'd been so wrapped up on being lost.

"I forgot that it'd probably mess up our project," she put the tablet back in her purse.  "How about we save it for emergencies?  Like, if we're genuinely lost I can send a text out to my mom by way of a life line.  The paper has a definite time to get back to the bus, at least.  It says 'Lunch at Noon at Snack Station' and 'Buses Load @ 3pm'."

She looked to the clock.  "We've got two hours of fumbling about until lunch time," she nudged Paladin lightly with one shoulder.  "I guess we look at Paints and then work our way from there.  If we can't find the lunch line before that, I'm sure we can ask someone.  Who knows... maybe we'll find someone WE ACTUALLY KNOW."

She laughed and sorted out her papers.  "I hope they like maps with lines that aren't straight."

@Nym

[Nym]

He was relieved she saw his side, nodding in approval and agreement.

"Sounds like a deal," he answered, raising his eyes to glance around them. Signs everywhere, perfect.

"Looks like Paints is that way," he gestured to the west of them. "How did you want to split the duties? I could lead, you paint. Or we could switch turns each room."

@Syrcaid

[Syrcaid]

"I can paint, that's fine.  What good is a horn with magic if we can't use it to help us out?"  Live said, shuffling papers to find the first one.  "Here it is, paints!"

She picked out a few shades of... what else?  Wine purple and pinks.

"I trust your judgement! Let's get this show on the road before we really run out of time," she announced.  "I feel like you're more responsible, anyway, I'm liable to get all flustered all over again.  With you leading, I'll have my head elsewhere like drawing these ridiculously odd shaped rooms.  Whoever thought to make this display a hexagon is being really extra, even for a museum."

@Nym