[IC] Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

[EliteCommander]

At first, the Argonian girl wasn't sure that Sabine was speaking to her, but after a few seconds, she noticed that Sabine's eyes were firmly on her. She had to think for a moment to recall what she knew about the Redguard, but became more relaxed once she remember. "Oh, uh, I think his name is...Kanratu. He has been in Stormhold for...a month, maybe? I don't remember hearing him play before that. He plays Redguard music and likes to tell stories of his adventures to children. I think he makes most of them up, but they are still entertaining stories." She remarked.

"What? Nothing's wrong. Just you stopping me from dealing with that scum." Lorag retorted unconvincingly as they started walking away, completely ignoring the conman despite his protests. He didn't want Fendros' sympathy, or anyone's for that matter. In his mind, it wasn't as if Fendros could even really understand what was going on. Lorag said not another word and instead just looked around at the crowd, hoping to find trouble. He wanted Fendros to drop it, but honestly did not expect that to happen.

[Muttonhawk]

So he had stories as well as music? Hopefully he would have one to tell later. "It's very beautiful music. Do you listen to him very often?" Sabine asked the girl. Sabine didn't really think hard about what she asked, she just wanted to talk if this girl was willing to. The question was the first one that came to mind.

Fendros was not having any of Lorag's excuses. He stopped them both and his tone became cross out of impatience, "No. No, Lorag. You are not fooling anyone." Fendros chopped his hand across the air in front of him, "Forget the conman. You are acting out of character all of a sudden, and something's wrong. If you don't tell me, you'll have to explain to everyone else why you decided to bring attention to ourselves over a matter of pride with some cheap street swindler. Even you wouldn't that normally, I know it. So tell me what's really wrong." Even if Lorag was technically a higher authority in the pack, Fendros wasn't going to ignore the issue if Lorag's personal safety was on the line.

[EliteCommander]

Lorag huffed. "You would do well to remember your place, boy. Don't think I won't stomp your face into the ground if I think it deserves it." He threatened before turning away for a moment and looking out over the crowd. He was quiet for a good ten seconds. He gave no real indication of what was going through his mind, but whatever it was seemed to calm him at least marginally. As much as he would have welcomed a fight, he did at least acknowledge that he didn't want to cause any issues in the pack without a good reason. Without so much as turning to face Fendros, he finally spoke up after the long silence.

"I didn't know what day it was until I overheard a drunk mention it back in the tavern. It was about two weeks ago that I hit my thirty-third year." He said in a neutral tone.

The Argonian girl shook her head lightly. "Oh, no, not really. I just stopped on my way back from getting a book. I like stories, but I prefer...true stories. His music is nice, though. I usually give him a coin if I stay, but I don't have any more right now." She commented.

[Muttonhawk]

Fendros' previously cross face softened to something more neutral. He knew that offering Lorag sympathy would probably just irritate him, so it took a few seconds to even come up with a response. "...So it is that," Fendros said, mimicking Lorag's tone, "You're afraid of growing old, aren't you? Is it that you've started to notice it?"

Even though she probably should have saved the few coins she had, Sabine looked about herself and found another coin in her purse, then held it forward towards the girl. "You can give him one of mine if you like. I wouldn't want him to yell at you for not doing so." Given how odd it seemed to Sabine to not trade names yet, Sabine did so before the girl could respond, "Also, what is your name? I'm Sabine."

[EliteCommander]

Lorag shook his head slightly, still not turning to look back at Fendros. "I don't expect an elf like you to get it. You've got, what? Three, four hundred more years before your body even starts to slow down. I've got nothing more after now. I'm as strong as I've ever been, but I'm never getting better. Every year I'm alive, I'm going to have to fight a bit harder just to try to keep up with what I used to be. I'm not a mage like the Alpha who'll just get stronger as time goes on, I'm just going to get slower, and weaker. You know, when most Orcs his their prime, they go looking for the best fight they can get until they die a real warrior's death. I can understand it too; what's the point of being alive if you're just going to watch yourself rot away and die anyway?"

"Oh, thank you." The Argonian girl said in an obviously surprised tone as Sabine handed her a coin. She felt nervous in taking the coin, but did not know if it would be rude to refuse it. For the moment, she held on to it, as most people waited for him to be between songs. When Sabine asked her name, she readily gave her Jel name, but for a human, the particular combination of words was almost unpronounceable. "I know my name is sometimes hard for outsiders to say. You can also call me Reads-Many-Tales. It is an, uh...accurate name.".

[Muttonhawk]

There was a moment where Fendros looked down and wished Lorag wasn't correct. With all his life ahead of him, Fendros frankly found it unnerving to imagine his body deteriorating in only his third decade. Those thoughts made him wonder what he would do in such a short time. What he always wanted to do, he thought, or as close as he could manage. In that way, it was understandable that most Orcs would strive to die fighting. Fendros moved his eyes up to Lorag again, continuing to repress sympathy for the sake of his own mood and hopefully keep him open about this. "Was there anything you wanted to do, then? Are you..." Fendros paused, and the certainty wavered in his tone, "...are you going to look for a warrior's death as well?"

Sabine smiled when Reads-Many-Tales introduced herself. "I like reading as well. But, I don't get many books. I mostly read about alchemy." Sabine's smile faded, she didn't quite want to leave the conversation hanging, so she quickly thought of another question. "You said true stories. You mean like history?"

[EliteCommander]

Lorag let out a sound somewhere between a huff and a chuckle. After a few more moments of silence, he finally turned around to look at Fendros. "With the places we're going, and the things we're doing, I don't think I'll have to go looking." He remarked before walking wordlessly out of the alleyway. He glanced back to Fendros, waiting for him to take the lead to get whatever he was after.

Reads gave a somewhat enthusiastic nod. "Yes, I love history. And law, and all the different kinds of old ruins of lost civilizations out there. I started out reading stories and fiction, but reality just seems so much more interesting. I just wish I had more gold for books, or even better, I wish I could be a scholar. But that...is a little out of reach." She explained, her tone becoming a bit less upbeat at the end.

[Muttonhawk]

Raising his eyes to look up at Lorag, Fendros took on a legitimately worried expression. As far as Fendros was concerned, Lorag had admitted that he was going to die soon. He didn't know how to react to such a thing, or whether there was even anything he could do at all. He needed to think. He started to walk out of the alley and resume their search for books or advice. The silence between them was palpable in the air.

Searching through the market stalls did not yield much. There were plenty of books, but not a single one on babies or children. Before long, Fendros surmised that it was probably a more specialized subject, so perhaps they would have better luck in a larger bookshop. They found one nearing the middle of the market, with a sign above with some Jel script around a scroll. Walking in, they found none other than an Altmer woman behind the counter writing in a ledger. She looked up at Lorag and Fendros curiously, but didn't greet them. Fendros walked up and placed his hands on the counter, "Greetings. I've been looking around all day with no luck. I was wondering if you had any books in stock on the subject of nurturing children. Babies to be precise."

With a slight surprise in her smile, the woman stood up taller than them both. "I believe your bad luck ends here, I have some books on the matter. Is your wife expecting?"

"Actually, the birth was a few days ago. I thought we would be able to get advice from friends, but travelling around Black Marsh...well, Argonian children are raised differently."

"A Dunmer family travelling around Black Marsh. My, that's a new one. My congratulations to you, all the same." The woman walked around the shop to a particular shelf and pulled out two dusty books, then brought them to the counter. "This one is a primer on taking care of the health of an Altmer baby. It may not completely carry over, but you might find it useful for a Dunmer child. This other one is written by an Imperial nanny, it is more to do with raising children through their first decade. I believe it to be quite versatile."

"Thank you," Fendros took the second book and skimmed through the first few pages. This bookstore owner didn't seem unbearable like most Altmer, even though she sounded just as foppish as any of them. Regardless, some credit must be given to any High Elf that would make a life in an Argonian city. So far, this nanny's book seemed useful.

The woman turned to Lorag while Fendros took a look through the books. "Can I help you with anything, sir?"

Sabine smiled and pointed to where Meesei was standing, "You would like Meesei, she also likes history and old ruins." Sabine considered taking Reads to Meesei, but first, she angled her head to one side curiously, "But, why can't you be a scholar?"

[EliteCommander]

Lorag's mood had scarcely improved, though by this point, he at least was not actively looking for trouble. He stuck behind Fendros, staying quiet and out of the way. When the Altmer spoke to him, he managed not to pass on his frustration in his tone. "No, just my friend here." He answered simply.

It seemed like Fendros had found the book he was looking for, and Lorag was more eager than ever to get back to the tavern for a drink, so he approached him somewhat impatiently and eyed the book he was reading. "Will that book work for your kitten? We need to get back so I can...watch over our stuff."

"I don't have the gold." Reads explained. "There is no place in Stormhold I can study, just a guild for mages, but I am not good with magic. The only place I can think of where I could become a scholar without being a mage is the college in Lilmoth, but it would be expensive to go there, and I might not even get in. Fishing isn't that bad though, and living with my parents, I do have enough gold to buy one or two books every month." She said, at least a bit more cheerfully.

[Muttonhawk]

"Well, this one ought to do, but the other one..." Fendros picked up the book on Altmer child health and flitted through it. Unfortunately, the few things that weren't specifically for Altmer seemed fairly fixated on elven children. Fendros closed it and looked up to the shop owner. "The nanny's book is good, but...how do I put this...um, do you have anything like this one, but for a Khajiit cub?"

The Altmer looked confused, "Why a Khajiit?"

"Because the child is a Khajiit." Fendros felt more odd saying that than he thought he would.

There was a couple of seconds before the Altmer broke into a smile of realisation. "Ooooh, I see. My apologies, I thought you were the father all along. I was confused. Nevermind, I'll have a quick look."

Fendros looked awkwardly to one side. "Actually it's...nevermind."

"Now, the closest I have is a book written in Ta'agra. Will that be a problem?" The woman produced an older looking book from a high shelf.

"No, I think that will be fine." Fendros couldn't even speak Ta'agra, let alone read it, but Ahnasha could. If it was anything like that Altmer book, it would be helpful.

The bookshop owner brought both books on top of one another and gave a friendly smile. "That will be five gold for the nanny's book, and ten for..." The woman re-read the unintelligble script on the front, "...Kitten Rearing, I believe is the translation."

"Of course, thank you." Fendros said with less enthusiasm than he could have shown. Fifteen gold was all he had. Lorag and Fendros left the bookshop with what they set out for, so they started back towards the Tavern. Fendros would have asked Lorag if there was anything he wanted to see or buy, but he seemed impatient to get back anyway. On the way back, Fendros felt the need to remark, "Lorag, I know having your body slow down would be difficult, but...if you do anything, please don't throw your life away. We all need you still, regardless of your strength."

Sabine lowered her gaze sympathetically, "I see." It seemed to do just about anything in these cities, you needed gold. It was unfair in Sabine's eyes. She looked up again and smiled more hopefully, "I think you could do it if you tried. My sister lived in Morrowind, in Vos, and she always wanted to visit Thorn. It was hard for her, but she was able to open a shop there. She is very happy now. Maybe if you gather gold for yourself, you could do it." Sabine hoped she was being helpful. Giving encouragement was not something she had done much before.

[EliteCommander]

Lorag grunted, then gave a chuckle. "Hmph, you're worried I'll throw myself onto someone's sword or something? Like I said before, I don't really expect you to understand. You can go ahead and calm down; a warrior's death isn't a suicide. I'll end up fighting to my bloody and glorious end, whenever that may be. If I end up dying, it'll be because there was no way I could have lived." Lorag's explanation, at least to him, was meant to be reassuring, though Fendros might disagree. Regardless, he considered the matter closed enough to head on into the tavern.

Reads shrugged her shoulders. "Maybe." She responded simply. By no means did she appear offended by Sabine's advice, but she didn't seem to take it to heart. It was likely she had heard similar advice from other before, so it didn't really have any meaning to her. The Redguard finally finished his song, so Reads broke away for a moment to place the coin Sabine had given her in the plate along with the other tips. Walking back, she looked at Sabine while glancing back to the road. "Well, I should get home now. Mother surely has chores for me by now. Have a good day, and thank you for the talk."

Kaleeth laid in the bed with her arms wrapped tightly around Janius. Her mind was certainly off of her village now, and would hopefully stay that way for quite a while. Even when they weren't mating, Janius had a way of keeping her mind of off her home. Unfortunately, it was only ever really a distraction. She had been so close to her family that she wasn't sure if she would ever completely be rid of the homesickness. It was definitely better now, but it wasn't gone.

She heard scratching at the door from Leaps trying to get out, but it would probably be best not to let him bother the tavern's patrons. It was hard enough to carry him around without the townsfolk taking notice. Luckily, most people did not know what a young wamasu looked like, and he was still rather small. It would be years before he became too big to reasonably take into a town. After giving up on the door, he wandered around the room for a few minutes to satisfy his curiosity, then jumped up on the bed with them. Kaleeth laughed when he climbed up onto Janius, who he seemed to have a certain affinity for. He was a bit larger than before, and his claws a bit longer, but they still did not break the skin when he climbed on Janius. Kaleeth scratched behind the holes that served as Leaps' ears, something that she found he enjoyed rather well. "You know, I like Leaps. I hope we can keep him when he grows up. I feel kind of guilty we killed his mother, but I think you're his mother now." She laughed.

[Muttonhawk]

Fendros clapped a hand onto Lorag's shoulder and chuckled along with him. Even though Lorag's insecure behaviour about the issue was strange, perhaps Fendros' view of it was an overreaction. He nodded as his smile faded, "Thank you, Lorag."

The walk back to the tavern had some levity to it from then on. It was this complacency perhaps, that made them a target for a group of five thuggish Argonian men that cut off their passage down the now suspiciously clear road. The lead one swung his arm forward and revealed a mace from behind his back and gave them a malicious grin. "Those ordinary clothes you have don't fool us. A Dunmer with the balls to come to this district of this city with a Orc bodyguard has to have some coin. Cough up, kaoc, or we feed you to the river."

Fendros' eyes looked over each of them and cursed his luck. They were surrounded, but thinly so. However, perhaps this could be an outlet for Lorag's frustrations. Fendros put his hand on his sword and scabbard and lowered himself to be ready. "You think you're going to get away with murder? You have your whole life ahead of you, you don't want to do this." Fendros suspected that his words were not going to change the situation here.

"Oh, trust me, I do. Last warning." The other four revealed similar bludgeons and began to tap them against their hands.

There was nothing more to say to talk them down. Fendros pulled out his sword and held it forward to one half of the men. At least his books were tucked away in a bag. "I think I could take three, Lorag, but, after you."

"Goodbye." Sabine waved and watched Reads depart. Hopefully she would find her way to scholarship someday. Before she forgot, Sabine also dropped a coin into the Redguard's money box. "Thank you for the music." Sabine said to him. The Redguard simply smiled and nodded to Sabine in gratitude, then began to play yet another song. Sabine didn't have many coins, so she decided to turn to Meesei and motion to depart. "Where should we go now?"

Janius made a quiet grunt as Leaps' claws dug at his skin. At least they weren't making him bleed yet. "It would seem that way, yes," Janius replied, scratching the hatchling under the chin, "but if we do keep him, I don't think he'll be climbing up my skin forever. Hello there, little one," he said to Leaps endearingly. Before glancing at Kaleeth, "It's probably because I've only ever seen dogs and horses as animal companions, but I've never seen a wild lizard with so much personality. How intelligent are wamasu anyway?"

[EliteCommander]

At the same time as Fendros drew his blade, Lorag drew the hammer from his back. He gave the leader his best threatening gaze as he dropped into a fighting stance. "Hey, geniuses, you know what a "bodyguard" actually does, right?" He warned. From what he could see, all of the thugs were using maces or other blunt weapons, which was especially annoying. He wished they were knives, as they wouldn't be near as useful against his armor, but that might have been why they were using them. Regardless, since a mace required a solid swing to be effective, he could think of a way he could use that to get to a better position. He didn't like that they were surrounded, so he wanted to remedy that.

Without any sort of warning, Lorag suddenly rushed forward and shouted. "Fendros, follow!" Lorag shoulder charged forward, barreling straight over the leader and clotheslining another with the haft of his hammer as he ran past. The thugs didn't have time to rear back for a proper swing, so he was able to punch trough them without injury. Once he was on the other side, he stopped, then turned to face the five thugs, who were now all in front of him. As Fendros had ran behind him, they could now focus all their efforts in one direction. "Ah, there we go, I like this setup a lot better." He taunted.

"I will leave that up to you." Meesei responded to Sabine. "I am content spending time with you. We could return to the inn, or if you want to keep looking for people to talk to, I am sure there are plenty to find. We should be careful to save our gold, but we could look for the places people tend to gather. I do not know exactly where the city's swimming hole is, but I can guarantee that all Argonian cities will have one. We could also head to an inn in a more...reputable part of the city, or look for a central square in a different district than the market."

Kaleeth shrugged. "It is hard to say. They are very good at surviving in the marsh, but that could just be because they are tough. He seems pretty smart; he does know to follow us around, but that could just be because he sees one of us as his mother. I wonder...do you think we can teach him to do what we say? I know you can teach guar to do that, why not a wamasu?"

[Muttonhawk]

The leader braced for Lorag's charge, but had underestimated his momentum and was sent to the ground. The second thug was hit by Lorag's hammer haft, but only stumbled before ducking underneath and regaining balance. A third thug took a swing at Fendros before he could rush after Lorag, and he was barely able to dodge it. Now they were in a much more advantageous position for the moment. Lorag and Fendros both cut off the street they were standing in against the five thugs. The leader scrambled up from the ground, ferociously baring his teeth and shouting in jel. "Get them!"

Two of the thugs stepped up and took swings at Lorag and Fendros, the one going for Lorag was the apparent leader. Fendros didn't have his shield, so he had to rely on his agility. He leaped back, lowered his sword and leaned back far enough for the mace to swing in front of him, then feinted a thrust forward to gain more ground. Fendros attempted to cut the thug on the shoulder, but was blocked by the thug's weapon. Untrained as the thug seemingly was, he simply tried to push forward to get Fendros away, but this was an opportunity that Fendros exploited. When the mace haft blocking Fendros' sword was close enough, Fendros reached out one hand and grabbed it. With all his strength, he twisted the mace to the point where his sword could slice the thug's arm. The thug shouted in pain and kicked at Fendros, if only to disengage, and left his mace in Fendros' hand. Fendros simply dropped it and held his sword forward for the next assailant as soon as he regained balance from the kick. The injured thug cut his losses and ran away clutching his arm, allowing another thug to take his place. This new one was more reluctant after seeing his friend hurt. The leader fighting Lorag was not fazed at all, and fought without regard to his safety.

This time, Sabine didn't have to think for long. Even in the dress she obtained in Thorn, the humid heat of the Marsh was never comfortable. "Might we find the swimming hole?"

"I'm sure we could find out easily. We would just need small rewards so we can train him. Small pieces of meat should do. Actually, I think I still have some salted pieces." Janius began to sit up and leaned over the edge of the bed to look through his rucksack. "Ah ha, here." He carefully lifted Leaps off his body and left Kaleeth's arms to get out of the bed and stand up. Janius then took a slice of dried meat he had kept and stood over Leaps, who was still lying on the bed near Kaleeth. "Hmm, normally with a dog you would start with 'sit', but Leaps doesn't really sit with the legs he has." Janius stroked his chin momentarily, "Maybe..." Janius tore off a piece of the meat and held it above Leaps' head to make him look up, then lowered it to the surface of the bed in front of Leaps. "Lie down."

[EliteCommander]

While two went for Fendros, the other three decided they would take on Lorag. As he was the closest, the leader was the first to strike. Unfortunately for him, he telegraphed his strike so strongly that Lorag could have seen it coming from a league away. Instead of dodging, Lorag simply turned his body to the side and leaned back slightly while he swung his hammer toward the thug's head. The thug's mace struck Lorag's chestpiece at an angle, so it bounced off harmlessly. Meanwhile, the thug leader did manage to lean his head forward enough to avoid a direct hit, but the hammerhead still hooked around his neck and cut off his airway while forcing him to the ground. The other two, of course, were not far behind. One of them was already mid-swing by the time the leader hit the ground, but again, Lorag angled his shoulderplate to deflect the blow. Unfortunately, the last one followed through with an underhanded swing straight to Lorag's stomach. It did hit his armor, but that didn't mean much when the full force of the blow still went into his body. Luckily, the spot he struck wasn't especially vulnerable, and the Argonian wielding the mace wasn't too strong. It still knocked the breath out of him and caused him to curl forward, but really, it just served to make him angry.

"Why you!" Lorag shouted, his arm shooting out at surprising speed to grab the Argonian by the throat. By the time he brought up his hands to try to loosen his grip, Lorag was already rushing forward and carrying him with him. Lorag slammed him into a decrepit old building between his body mass and a wooden wall, which gave way far faster than he did. Lorag sent him clean through the wall and dropped him into the pile of broken planks and splinters to grovel in his own pain. He turned around immediately, expecting the remaining thug to be running up behind him, which he in fact was. Lorag raised the haft of his hammer in the air and used it to block the strike, then kicked away the thug to put a bit of distance between them. The leader of the thugs managed to stand back up to rejoin the fray with only a sore jaw...so far. "Last chance to give up before I really start to have some fun." Lorag taunted.

Meesei glanced over in the direction of the river. With the crocodiles, it certainly wouldn't be a choice swimming location, but the water might lead somewhere more favorable. "Hmm, alright, let's get over to the river and see if we can follow it upstream. It might lead to a swimming hole. If not, we can try downstream." She suggested. They had to make their way through the crowd to get in sight of the river, but once there, it was easy enough to follow upstream. Not many in the city had reason to go near it, unless they were crossing it at a bridge to get to some other district. Meesei observed the waters as they walked alongside them. From the shapes she saw just barely breaking the surface of the water, she believed the guard was accurate in his assessment of the river's safety. Of course, Meesei could tell just by looking at it that it wouldn't be safe to even cross, let alone swim in. As they walked along, however, Meesei noticed that there seemed to be a group just ahead of them going the same direction. Intrigued, Meesei and Sabine continued to follow them outside of the bounds of the city. They continued on to a point where the river split into another, smaller stream, then began to follow it downstream. Eventually, they arrived at the place they were looking for. It seemed that there were no natural places to safely swim in the area, so the locals had dammed up this stream to create something akin to a large pond, or perhaps a small lake, depending on one's perspective. From the people they saw, Meesei judged that the city's rules on modesty when it came to swimming were much more lax than in Human lands. There was a collection of a few dozen people, with about the same demographics as the city itself.

Meesei gave a chuckle. "I told you there would be a swimming hole. If an Argonian cannot find a place to swim, he will make one."

Leaps looked up and sniffed the air curiously when Janius held up the meat, but when he brought it down to the bed, the wamasu simply walked over to it and snatched it up in his mouth, ignoring any commands.

"Hmm, I don't think putting the meat down on the bed will make him lay down. Maybe...try pushing on him to make him lie down, then give him the treat? I remember watching one of our guar trainers work with one of the new guars when I was young. He had to do things like that over and over again, repeating the command again and again before the guar would obey without being made to." She recalled.

[Muttonhawk]

It looked as if Fendros' second assailant's look of reluctance was an act as soon as he sprung to action. This one was a little more practiced, and swung with more control. The first blow he attempted came diagonally up from below. Fendros was able to sidestep, parry, and counter-attack, trying to reach the thug's neck, but the thug managed to duck and swing at Fendros' vulnerable side before he could dodge. Not having armour on, the mace hit hard and Fendros coughed in surprised pain, stumbling to one side. Though winded and with sharp pain persisting, Fendros regained his footing and blocked the next swing at his head, then bounced back to cut the thug across his neck. The thug choked and clutched at his rapidly flowing blood with an open mouth and wide eyes. In a few seconds he collapsed.

Of the last two remaining standing, the one recently kicked away by Lorag looked between Lorag's unprecedented strength and the rapidly dying opponent of Fendros, then sprinted away in fear. These people were not worth his life. The leader, on the other hand, had little rational thought behind his eyes, only mindless anger that rivalled Lorag. The tendons on his neck tensed as he opened his mouth in a furious shout, showing all of his teeth. He then charged forward at Lorag, swinging wildly.

Sabine was pleasantly surprised to find a swimming spot after walking out of the city. She thought they were just following travellers. Meesei was right in the end, though. Sabine began to disrobe to join the group who were already swimming when one dark orange scaled Argonian man spotted them both. He frowned and swam up to them, but not in anger. "Excuse me, young human," He said in surprisingly clear Cyrodilic, "A non-Argonian swum here just last week and came down ill. We suspect there might be something in the water or further upstream. You might get sick here swimming here as well."

Sabine glanced at Meesei, wondering whether she needed to answer at all, let alone use some excuse. She didn't really know the concept of water pollution anyway, it wasn't relevant to her, being near immune to disease. The water was smellier in the city, but not out here, so what was the problem?

"You're probably right." Janius tore off another piece of meat, then tried again. This time, he pressed the base of Leaps' head against the bed before giving him the treat. "Lie down." Leaps didn't seem strong enough to resist, even though he tried. This would likely take some repeating until Leaps learned, though. "A routine training 'stay', 'heel', 'down', 'up', 'lie down', and 'come' will probably do before anything more. That's how my aunt would begin to train the pups to be hunting dogs. But, I only learned for a couple of days, and that was when I was twelve, so I don't remember everything. Not that it'll all work on a wamasu, most likely." Janius pressed Leaps down again, his head curling in an irritated manner. "Lie down," Janius said patiently, before feeding him again.

[EliteCommander]

Lorag audibly sighed when the leader came rushing forward. It was like he was trying to get himself killed. While blunt weapons were good against armor, that really didn't matter when he handled the thing like he was trying to swat fleshflies. With the reach on his hammer, it was almost too easy to stop him in his tracks. Lorag swung horizontally and struck him in the abdomen before he could even get close to being in range. The strike caused his upper body to curl forward, allowing Lorag to bring his elbow down on the back of his head. He cried out in pain as he dropped to the ground. He rolled over on his back only to see the head of Lorag's hammer rushing towards his face. He had time only to close his eyes and brace for his doom, but it never came. Instead, the hammer slammed into the ground mere inches from his head, sending a rush of wind brushing against his bruised scales. That was the point of realization, the point where he knew he should be dead.

"This is your one chance, get out of here ya rat." Lorag barked, giving him a good kick in the side to motivate him to get up. He scrambled up onto his hands and knees, then glanced up to Lorag. She stared with his eyes wide for a few moments before shaking himself out of his awe and scurrying away to find the rest of his little gang.

"Hmph, idiots." Lorag grumbled as he put his hammer back into its place on his back. As he did, he glanced over to the corpse of the thug Fendros had been fighting. "Hmm, so you killed him. So, what are you going to do with the body?"

As usual, Meesei remained calm when faced with the orange-scaled Argonian's warning. She finished disrobing and piled her belongings up along with Sabine's, then used the few seconds it took for her to lower herself into the water to formulate her response. "Oh, I would not worry. We have become accustomed to dealing with her level of resistance to the Marsh's diseases. We have taken all appropriate precautions; she is actually quite the alchemist. Thank you for your concern, though. We appreciate it."

Kaleeth and Janius continued with the pattern of making Leaps lie down, then feeding him for a while to try to connect the action with the command. A few times, they tried to just command him without pushing him to lie down, but it never worked. Still, Kaleeth wasn't discouraged. If a wamasu was anything like a guar, it would take a while. Eventually, after they had fed more than enough meat to him, they stopped for the moment. She leaned up against Janius once more, this time holding Leaps in her arms and rubbing his scales. He had been somewhat agitated by their attempts to train him, but he seemed fine now. "I bet he likes to have the scales on his belly rubbed. I do. It is so calming and soothing. I think he needs it after we annoyed him so much.

[Muttonhawk]

After a quick flick and wipe of his sword, Fendros sheathed it and squat down to look at the dead Argonian. He was in deep thought on what to do. It wasn't as if he hadn't seen his fair share of dead bodies before, but killing someone in a city was troublesome. Fendros took a deep sigh, then rubbed at one temple. "Well, either we drag him to the river and hope the wildlife deals with him, like that other fellow threatened on us, and risk getting spotted. Or we could find some guards and report that I killed him in self-defense, and risk getting jailed. Or we could leave him here, drag his body into an alley and hope our trail is cold before anyone finds him, not that those thugs don't know I got him." It was rather tenuous. Fendros cursed under his breath, then squat down to get a better look at the man. "I shouldn't have killed him, that was stupid of me. I should have just cut his shoulder and hoped he ran like the others." He looked up at Lorag, "What's your opinion?"

The orange man smiled in understanding at Meesei. "Ah, very good," he said, before turning his head to his original group and shouting in Jel. "Hey! Calls-From-Reeds, I found an alchemist!"

Sabine's previously unsure face became more neutral as she followed Meesei into the water and lowered her head under. She surfaced with her hair flattened against her face and head, feeling refreshed. When she wiped the hair from her eyes, the orange-scaled Argonian was joined by two more Argonian men, a woman, and child who looked no older than five. All except the wife and the child had similar colouring to the man that called them over. The sudden appearance of them all was surprising to say the least.

The orange-scaled one started to laugh in futility, "You didn't all have to come over." He said to the others.

The youngest man responded, "We just came to see what you were shouting about."

"Whatever," The orange one responded, before turning to Meesei and Sabine again. "I'm Weetnam, a merchant on his day off, this is my family;" he gestured to each in turn, starting with the child, "My son, who has not been named yet," then to the younger and similar aged looking man, "my egg-brothers, Ramten, the younger, and Tricks-With-Colour, my egg-twin, and finally, my wife, Calls-From-Reeds." Weetnam ended with the woman, "She is an avid alchemist herself. What are your names? Are you new in Stormhold?"

For the first time since entering the city, Sabine felt very welcomed, although this family's overwhelming attention was different compared to the Argonian stereotype, perhaps they just liked meeting people. A twinge of suspicion crossed her mind, but it didn't appear as if they were in any danger.

Even if their first session training Leaps was not fruitful, Janius expected that more time would be needed as much as Kaleeth did. What Kaleeth mentioned about Leaps' belly being rubbed appeared to be correct, even if it was hard to read the exact expression on the creature's face. "On the belly, you say? Let's try that." Janius leaned his head against Kaleeth's and brought his hand around to join in Kaleeth's fingers in calming Leaps. The hatchling seemed quite comfortable and lethargic in her arms after naught but a few moments. It slowly closed its eyes and it made Janius wonder. He moved his hand to Kaleeth's middle and started to run over it. He doubted that it would make her fall asleep, but he wanted to see if her reaction lined up with her words. "I'm not going to put you to sleep by doing this, right?"

[EliteCommander]

Lorag walked around the body, observing both it and the splatters of blood around it. Technically, they didn't do anything illegal, but it would be a pain to deal with guards. He wasn't really worried about the thugs saying anything to the guards, as their type were generally in the category of "repeat offenders." The authorities would be the last people they would go to. Lorag didn't see anyone around, and if there was anyone hiding that observed the fight, it would be plainly obvious they just defended themselves. The biggest issue would be a guard stumbling upon the body and not knowing what happened.

"Hmm, good question. If these slums are anything like the ones I'm used to, the guards won't care enough to patrol that much. If we hide it, it might take a while before someone finds it. We're not going to be here long, so that seems like a good bet." Lorag suggested.

Meesei dove down under the surface to fully refresh herself in the water. She could see a few groups of Argonians swimming along near the bottom scattered throughout the pond. Generally, Argonians liked to stay submerged while swimming, unless they wanted to talk to someone. She would have stayed under for longer, but she spotted the Argonian family approaching, so she surfaced along with Sabine. Meesei caught the Jel parts of the conversation which Sabine missed and chuckled along with Weetnam. They were indeed more social than Meesei would have expected, but the tendency for Argonians to be reserved around strangers was not an absolute rule.

"My name is Meesei." She said to introduce herself. "We are visitors to Stormhold, passing through on our travels. We were just taking the day to relax. Out of curiosity, is there something you need an alchemist for, or did you just wish to talk?" She asked.

Kaleeth hummed pleasurably when Janius rubbed her stomach. She smiled and allowed her head to lean back against the pillow for a few moments turning her head to Janius. "Not quite." She answered before bringing both of her hands up to the sides of Janius' head. "I remember you once said wolves like having their ears scratched. Would you like that...or maybe just a good kiss on the lips?" Without waiting for an answer, she leaned in and gave him a passionate kiss, only to be interrupted by Leaps pushing in between them. Evidently, he did not like the sudden lack of attention.

"Oh, fine, I'll pay attention to you too, Leaps." Kaleeth laughed before resuming rubbing his stomach. The wamasu rolled over onto his back not unlike a dog, with his eyes closed enjoying his belly rub.

[Muttonhawk]

All things considered, Lorag was correct. Fendros raised his head and looked around for a place to hide the corpse. He found the thug-shaped hole that Lorag had made in the abandoned and rotting building nearby and looked at it with narrow eyes for a moment. "Take his ankles. In there ought to do." Fendros said, before placing the thug's mace under one arm and hooking his hands under the body's armpits. He and Lorag both lifted the body up and carried it to the building, where they pushed it inside, adjusted such that it was out of sight, and tossed the mace in with him, making a thud on what was left of the floorboards. One last scan of the area found no sign of witnesses, so now all there was to do was hope that they would be well away from the city when the body was found.

Fendros sighed again, "Alright, now maybe we can head back. Hopefully that was the last we'll see of them."

Weetnam's wife, Calls-From-Reeds, lifted a hand and shook her head. "Oh, not for anything exact. I simply like talking to foreign alchemists. It is not the opportunity that comes very many." Calls was clearly less fluent in Cyrodilic than Weetnam was, but she seemed no less friendly, "So, I did not hear your name?"

Being interrupted, Sabine had forgotten to share her name over the space of a few seconds. "Mm, Sabine. My name is Sabine."

"That is the very nice name," Calls smiled, "where are you from?"

With some slight impatience, the boy turned around to Ramten and tugged on his arm. "Uncle, let's keep playing!"

"Very well. I believe you were tagged before we were distracted," Ramten chuckled and dove under the surface, with the child quickly following.

Tricks-With-Colour and Weetnam decided to converse with Meesei. Tricks began by gesturing to himself, "Hello, my Cyrodilic is not good. Weetnam, my twin, teaches, but he is horrid teacher." By both Tricks' smile and Weetnam's laugh, the phrase was clearly a joke that they shared often, "You speak Jel? Is easier."

"If not, I can interpret," Weetnam added, before patting his brother on the back, "Or maybe you could use this as a conversation exercise, right Tricks?"