[i][@Chrononaut] and Leidenschaft bring you this tasty tidbit from the Bruiser and the Bard...[/i]

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Raelyn was feeling some of the strength in her arm return. This was her moment, to do what she vowed to do after she was well enough to do it. She lifted on arm limply and punched Solveig with the force of a toddler. This forceful action caused Raelyn, already wobbly from her near-death experience, to tilt over, her head landing on Solveigs shoulder, facefirst. Her face scrunched up in Solveigs leather armor she swore an array of muffled slurs that even the most barnacle encrusted sailor would find offensive. Whatever they were, they ended with "Owwww".

"Shush up, now." Solveig hissed, eyes darting about the hallways, expecting a dunmer to jump out and skewer her or a knife in the back at every moment. Every errant sound in the halls, whether it be her footsteps echoed or some mechanical clink, whir, or whizz was an enemy lying in wait. She'd already killed one of them with nothing but her hands and her head still pounded from it, she knew her luck had stretched as far as it was willing to. The battle lust had long since left her and it seemed it took its share of her strength with it.

It took everything she had not to fall to her knees and take a rest, but she knew that once she got to the elevator, she'd have her moment. She looked down at Raelyn, her face buried in her fur-cloaked shoulder, whispering death threats for saving her. She'd be lying if she didn't feel at least a little bit of a kinship with the woman now that they'd shared a horrid, horrid trauma together. "I remember my first stab wound." She breathed, trying to cheer her up.

Raelyn rotated her head so now her mouth wasn't pressed into Solveigs shoulder, "Was it with a long, wooden shaft as well?"

"Actually, yes. It was just me, in the Circle, and one of the biggest men I'd-" She'd caught herself and frowned, feeling the heat grow in her face. Surely it was as red as her hair, and she felt the urge to push the teetering bard over, but thought better. Raelyn was giggling weakly, stopping to say 'ow' again. Solveig folded her arms, rubbing her nose, "You joined a Free Company and you don't know how to wield a weapon, aye?" She said, trying to quickly change subject.

"Only in a theatrical sense." Raelyn lied. "Ever seen a travelling troupe? Like that." It was the sort of lie that fell well into Raelyns background, clothing, and general demeanor. This was Raelyns second favorite kind of lie, a close second to 'I'm a virgin'. At her waist, was a dunmer blade in a sheathe. It looks to be one of the blades that were found during the initial Dwemer spider assault.

"You know how to dance, then? You're a troupe actor? I think I saw one of those when I was a little girl in Whiterun." Solveig said wistfully. She'd only really liked the parts where the hero was fighting his enemies, and even then, she didn't like the fact it looked more like prancing than battle. "How's it like to travel with mummers and the like?"

"Oh, you know. A lot of panicking before a show, then drinking and celebrating afterwards before doing it all over again. One advantage is that while travelling I sometimes meet a troupe and they often need actual women to play the more feminine parts. Most of the men who had been having to mock kiss one another or wear dresses and wigs are often thankful, but you get the odd fellow who's gotten really good at those parts getting coarse with you. The part I love most is when camp is set is the dancing and music. You don't often get that many people in one place who know how to really sing and dance. The Altmer courts and the like, like to think themselves elegant dancers, but to a troupe they move like they have spoons shoved up their ass. Then the average tavern, well, they have all the enthusiasm, but none of the grace."

"I'd kill for an average tavern, truly. It does sound like a fun life, I just was never good at dancing. I had all the footwork down for fighting, but... well." She shrugged, "So, um, why Skyrim? We're not exactly known for our arts, whatever the Bards College says."

Raelyn wasn't as much of a fan of this kind of lie, the quick kind that you use when too many questions are being asked at once, the kind of true but also unlikely kind, "You are known for your history, which for my line of work is a part of the path to art." She coughed, following up with a nervous deflection, "That and men like your father...wait, you met a man bigger than him?"

She nodded, "Nord men are big." She put a hand to the top of her head and moved it outwards, keeping in line with her full height and her hand hovered a good distance above Raelyn, "So are the women." She smiled. "You need help getting to the elevator? Could carry you."

"No, wait, I think I've got this." she said, stumbling onto first one leg, then the other, falling against the wall for balance, this hurt a bit. "It'll be a little like being drunk I think, except I won't have to worry that I might stumble into Brittle." She thought about this, she couldn't even leave the table half the time when she drank. "You know what, maybe if I used you as support."

She held out her arm in a display embarassingly close to a man offering out his own to a maiden in need. In light of the first jab Raelyn had at her, she again looked away and cleared her throat, "Go on."

Raelyn took her arm as support, "I'm glad the first time is over, I'm sure I could get used to being stabbed by crazy eyed Dunmers. Though, maybe for my health, it shouldn't be with a spear. I'd like to be able to walk straight by the morning."

"Aye, sure. I remember in Whiterun, I'd picked a fight against Horik, man was strong but had no stamina. Did get me good, though, I put him on the ground and the other lasses had to help me out the door." She laughed, remembering her first bar fight at only sixteen summers, "We get back to Dawnstar, I could show you a thing or two next chance we get. It'd be better than what any of the men in your old troupe... uh... taught you. About [i]fighting[/i]." She coughed into a fist.

Raelyn sighed, remembering Fortis Russo. He'd taught her a thing or two about [i]fighting[/i], both publically and in private. Though she wasn't about to tell Solveig this, "Sounds like a good time! We can add that onto 'drink all the mead' on my to do list."

"I'll help you cross that one off when we get back to Dawnstar." She chuckled, her tired eyes still darting about the halls as they walked. She thought of sharing a fire with Sadri when they got back. She bit her lip as the silence pressed in on the two and threatened to kick the words at the tip of her tongue back down her throat. She sighed, she thought of Sadri, running back out into the hall to fight. A brave man, if not a little reckless with his life, but she could say the same of herself. She stood against one of those Kamal without a second thought and fought it until she was... well, until she could've died. 

She wanted to find some way to show Sadri a sense of appreciation before this violent life they led took any chance away from her. Or him. Perhaps a new-forged sword, fresh from the smithy? Or would that be too brutish a gift? She didn't want violence and weapons to invade every facet of her life, though they'd played a large part of it. She'd seen a tiredness in her father's eyes that she didn't want to have, a life away from his own child that she did not want to subject the child she'd have in the future to. "Have you ever felt... have you ever had... well, was there ever a man in your life?" She asked, voice quiet, "How did you show him the appreciation you had for him?"

Raelyn turned her head to look at Solveigs face, "Really? Well, there's always cooking and a romantic song, but I've always felt the quickest avenue to showing appreciation..." she stopped, leaned forward, and whispered something into Solveigs ear.

Her breath caught in her throat, face getting hot all over again, and she choked. She coughed into her fist, stammering in a quiet voice. She might have had feelings for Sadri she'd only ever had one other time in her life, but the thought of doing something like that... Could she, even? Surely she wasn't limber enough, and she didn't want to give Sadri the wrong impression about her. "Wh- huh-have you really... done that?" Her view of Raelyn had certainly... changed.

Raelyn smiled as if she didn't know what shame was, "Yes, though I'm not sure if Sadri's the type who'd be able to handle it. He does seem to have many injuries and-" she looked Solveig up and down, "I'm afraid you might break him. Does he have good upper body strength?" Though she figured Sadri must have some ability, a man with that many scars tended to spend his free time with as many women as he could. Or as Raelyn tended to put it, if there's a will, there's a way.

"I... well..." She stammered and almost tripped over herself while they were walking. She shook her head, "I'm sure he does. I'll take all that into consideration, but I was thinking more on a gift I could give him. A real gift, like a jewel or something of that nature."

Raelyn considered this a moment then said, "Ah, well, he does have that fancy vest...he might, perhaps, enjoy a more elegant take on his clothing and armor." She had no idea why Solveig would put in that much effort, despite the fact Raelyn herself put in extreme effort into her uniform, going so far as to add a white rose to her ensemble, an item not too commonly found in Skyrim or indeed most other sovereigntys. 

"I have to wonder if I could afford it." She said, a bit forlorn now. She'd lost her gold in Windhelm and the only coin she had to her name was hanging from her belt now. She bit her lip, there must be some kind of task she could do for coin, even if it was just going back to her days in Whiterun and chopping wood for extra gold. "Thank you for your advice, though."

They'd made it to the lift and as she stepped onto it with Raelyn at her side, "This discussion did not happen. I don't want Sadri catching wind of my intentions before I can surprise him with something."