[b][i]Because they're too fucked up to do anything else, it's time for a fireside chitchat with Roze[@Middleearthroze] and Sagax[/i][/b]


As Sevine and Rhasha'Dar departed with a wave, Roze let out a sigh of relief, leaning slightly on her bow as she stood.

"Gods Sagax... as if the Kamal hadn't already beaten me up, Sevine has to go and throw me around like some naughty bairn." She complained, wincing as she shifted her injured shoulder. There was a slight moment of panic, a fear that she'd never be able to string or pull her bow again - but her shoulder had been relocated, and even healed somewhat. If she looked after it, it should return back to normal...

Or at least, that's what she hoped.

"C'mon, let's get to the Inn before all of the alcohol runs out." She added with a wearisome sigh, but still managing a tired smile at Sagax. The poor thing looked as bad as she felt, with his face all puffy and bruised.

"What exactly happened to you Sagax? Injury-wise, I mean. I don't much remember what happened on the docks..." She asked as they walked (Or rather, limped quite slowly) towards the inn, her speech pausing slightly as her brow furrowed in thought. "I remember Farid was being a dick to you. Not very smart words, coming from a man that was unscathed as he was." She said in a somewhat bitter tone. Only now in hindsight did she recall Farid, and his appearance wasn't exactly a sweet one. With flirting and insults, the man had no injuries to account for... and in a fight against monsters like the Kamal, didn't mean he had dumb luck. It meant he had stayed well out of the way of any attacks.

"Ha! You're telling me! When I told Sevine about our plan, I swear she was going to toss me back over that wall if she hadn't found you when she did. She really knows how to get what she wants, that woman, and she probably would have just beaten it out of me if I didn't tell her about what we did." Sagax tried to stand on his own without his scabbard as support, and he got along fine...for a few seconds. His legs were just too weak. Really, [i]he[/i] was too weak, just in general. He felt mentally and physically drained. 

Massaging his bruised up jaw, Sagax tried to recall just what lead him to be in his sorry state. Something about the charge...right, his charge. It exploded prematurely, sending the mad bombers into the river. He remembered not seeing Roze at all, though he didn't really have time to look before the Kamal blasted the water near him with one of their ice missiles. Oh, the ice missile, that's what knocked him into the dock, of course. Everything between then and when Roze dragged him away from the battle was black. "As for just what made me look like I lost a fight with an orc, I think I got launched into one of the piers. Those spikes can really stir up a wave." He intentionally ignored Roze's words about Farid. Sagax was still sour about that idiot's attitude and general demeanor but he didn't have the energy to spare to rant.

"How about you, Roze? How are you feeling? To be honest you don't look all too bad." He couldn't help but laugh a little at Roze's whacked-out hair. "Though you could probably do with a brush." Forcing his legs to get a move-on, Sagax followed Roze as she limped off towards Candlehearth. He wasn't much faster, though, and could only manage to keep near enough for them to speak.


Roze laughed at Sagax's comment about her hair, although immediately regretting it as the movement casued a ripple of pain from her side. 

"Ah, if I can't tame it, I'll just cut it off." She joked, keeping the laughter just in her voice, this time. "As for my injuries - well, I have yet to catch my reflection, but if I looked as bad as I feel, I'd be quoting the Cat-Kicker to match my appearance." From what Roze could tell, her injuries lay in the shoulder, and her side. She felt feverish, but one could argue that to be down to shock, hunger, or simply pain rather than any kind of sickness.

"Well, when we blew that bastard ship up, a splinter of it decided to find home in my side. I can vaguely remember it being yanked out - not a pleasant thought. And my shoulder got wrenched pretty badly when they dragged us out of the water - dislocated it too, I think." She said, a tone of worry quite obviously hidden in her tone; again, about the future use of said shoulder. 

Along this train of thought, her memory swiftly launched itself to what had happened after she and Sagax had been rescued - and she had to pause in her step to deal with the memory once again. If she hadn't already been as pale, the mere memory was enough to turn her white as the snow around them.

"Sorry, Sagax.. I - I'm just not used to..." Roze's words faltered as she recalled the man's head falling right before her. Her stomach turned once again, and she felt glad right now that it was empty. The Inn was right there in front of them, but she felt she couldn't walk any further. That man had died because he'd stopped to help her...

Sagax looked at Roze quizzically as she stopped in her tracks. Did he miss something while he was out? Considering the Breton's sudden change in expression and tone, he was almost thankful that he did. He didn't really know how to reassure her, or if he should pry in the first place. He decided not to; he instead simply put his hand on her (good...better?) shoulder and smiled invitingly. "You definitely need a drink, Roze. Whatever it is that's on your mind, it'd probably be best not to dwell on it. Come on, let's hurry on inside before we freeze, yeah?"

Sagax's words were short, but they worked. She [i]definitely[/i] needed a drink... and either way, Roze didn't think she wanted to talk about what had happened just yet. Maybe when she'd recovered more.

"Yeah, you're right." Returning his smile, Roze walked the remainder of the way with him. After all, one can't drink soup and get absolutely rat-arsed when one is frozen to the spot.

The Inn was as warm as it had been last night - but it was far less inviting in terms of atmosphere. The few that were inside were quiet and melancholic. Which showed just how much the short siege was affecting Windhelm and it's denizens - things must be bad if the Nords couldn't even get to their local to get blind drunk.

The pair picked a seat close to the fire, and Roze heaved a sigh of relief as the warmth washed over her. As they sat, she pulled out a coinpurse - not a particularly heavy one, but it was full enough to pay for dinner and drinks.

"Consider tonight on me - the arsehole I took it from isn't going to be using this gold." She said with a grin; in her search for her bow, she had noticed a skinny Argonian going through the pockets of the wounded. As such, she took his money. Even injured, she still had her skills.

"Even with internal bleeding and a screwed up shoulder, you still find the time to be sly..." Sagax smiled and shook his head in mock-disbelief. "Ah well, good thing you...found that. All of my coin's in my bag back at the warehouse. No way I'm going down there...and not because of the Kamal, but because Sevine would probably tackle me to the ground!" He laughed at the absurdity of it; the huntress, face full of exasperation as she went off on another tirade. Of course, not that he would actually laugh like that to Sevine's face. He enjoyed having full use of his arms. 

As Sagax found his way to one of the chairs by the fire, he suddenly began feeling oddly...faint. His head began to ring and sear once again, and his legs became absolutely useless. He fell as if half-tripping, half-collapsing into the chair, just barely able to grab ahold of the backrest in time to keep himself from faceplanting against the seat, sending the legs of the chair skidding a few inches. 

Sagax tried to stand back up, or at least get high enough to find his way into the chair several times before finally throwing himself into his seat when his head stopped trying to tear itself apart long enough for him to get back his senses. Gripping his head for a few moments more, the Imperial's vision slowly began to clear up. Looking around, more than a few eyes were on him. "Great place for an episode...absolutely perfect..." He thought as he fixed himself, adjusting his body to sit upright in his chair. 

Composing himself with a few deep breaths, Sagax looked at Roze wearily, but still with his same cocky smile. "Ah...don't mind me, I just uh, lost my balance." He said as he left his sword to rest on his lap.


Pursing her lips slightly in disbelief at Sagax's excuse, Roze raised one eyebrow.
"Uhuh. And I'm Jarl of The Rift. Just how badly hurt are you, Sagax?" She asked, although considering how hungry she was herself, it could just be lack of food bringing fatigue on the poor man. Either way, it wasn't wise to leave him like this - waving one of the serving girls over, Roze ordered two bowls of rabbit stew, some bread, cheese, onion, and baked potatoes to go with it. 

Her newly aquired coinpurse would easily account for all the food, and the several bottles of mead she ordered alongside it. Both Sagax and Roze would be feeling full, warm and happy in no time.

If Sagax didn't pass out or something halfway through his meal, that is.

"Hm, maybe I took a bit more damage than I thought." He admitted. Roze clearly wasn't buying his excuse; though he didn't really expect her to, if he had to be honest. "I might have a...concussion, I think? Some of my father's old legion buddies would tell tales of their battles, and of course the wounds that came along with them. One of them, Aengar I think his name was, spoke of how enemy halberds from the ledges above them in the fort they were raiding kept smacking his helmet hard. The symptoms he experienced later seem similar to what I'm going through now." Shrugging, Sagax picked up a bit of cheese and took a bite straight from the small wedge he chose. "I don't know for sure, though, I'm no healer. The worst injury I've ever had was a nasty gash from falling on a gnarled fence."

Taking note of Roze's inquisitive look, the Imperial swallowed and spoke again after a moment or so of silence. "If it makes you feel any better, I'll go and talk to a healer about it soon, I promise."


Roze's face settled back into a smile as Sagax seemingly gave into her stare.
"Good - it does make me feel better. It's not just Sevine who can go all Momma Bear, you know." She said, a joking tone wrapped around the warning. Pulling off some of the bread and dipping it into the stew, Roze ate it quietly for a moment, before considering Sagax's other comment.

"How did you fall on a fence?" She asked curiously, swallowing her mouthful.

Sagax sighed as he began to remember. The whole event put Sagax's idiocy center-stage. That building was so old, and he knew it hadn't seen any work in a long time. "Well, I like to do a bit of scaling. Always have, ever since I was a child; mother was none too happy about it...but anyway, I was crawling along the ledges of one of the older buildings in the Market District. Long story short, I hit a bit of brick that just a little [i]too[/i] old, and down I went. I didn't land on top of the fence, of course, but I grazed a bent spike. The cut went from my ankle to about my knee...none too fun, as you can imagine." He finished with a laugh, before taking a few spoonfuls of his stew. It was so nice to be warm again. Although he'd be even warmer once he finally got a new shirt...hopefully soon.


Roze chuckled at Sagax's story - it was all too similar to her childhood. However, she'd been lucky - or smart - enough to avoid jagged fences.

"Yeah, I was never an expert in my climbing. I can scale a house easily enough, but I prefer to just pick the ground floor lock and take the stairs." She responded with a laugh. "I still got my fair share of cuts and bruises though. Prior to myself joining this merry old Mercenary group, my worst injury probably came from... huh. An arrow. In the same damn shoulder." Shaking her head with a sigh, she glanced at the sling holding her right arm. Even the slightest movement of the joint sent shivers of pain across her. Still, it was a wonder it was still working - and attached - after what she'd been through.

"However, that's a story for another day." She said with a sigh, smile souring ever so slightly at the memory... specifically, of the person she'd carried out the task for. 

"Were you very young when you nearly impaled yourself? I can imagine a wee toddler version of yourself limping on home to your Mother, leg spewing blood, but at least you filled out your climbing quota for the day." Roze teased, taking another spoonful of her stew. 

"Young I was indeed. Only about seven years old when that happened...I was a very adventurous young lad. To think, all I wanted to do was put on a bit of a show for my little sister. At the time, she loved watching me swing back and forth along walls and such. I'm pretty sure seeing me gore myself changed her perspective. You know, just a feeling." Putting down his now half-finished bowl of stew, Sagax wiped leftover broth from his lips with his clothed arm, letting the remnants of his shirt soak it up. "Yep, young and dumb...that's something everyone can relate to, Man or Mer. I never would have imagined myself in this situation back then. Battle and war was an entirely foreign concept; I hadn't even begun my instruction in the sword at that point. But here I am. Circumstance can be a funny thing, huh?" Ending his wistful recollections, Sagax took a chunk of bread and nibbled at it absentmindedly.

"Yeah... funny's not exactly the word I'd use for our situation, but still... I see what you mean." She replied, stirring the gravy in her bowl lazily. "I always figured it would be easy, y'know. War. I've killed plenty of people - bandits, rogues, marauders... but I never imagined it would feel any different in a real battle." There was a melancholy tone to Roze's words - she missed the way life had been like when she was just a Thief. It was... not so much simpler, but certainly easier. She had also been far more innocent, prior to seeing the Kamal. Hell, even the attack in The Reach opened her eyes to things she hadn't even considered before.

But now she was a soldier - if she could even call herself that. Were two or three battles enough to get that title? Were Mercenaries even considered soldiers? They did the exact same thing; getting ordered to kill the enemy, and the enemy was whomever your job-giver told you. At the end of the day, it all came down to money.

"I have to say, Sagax. I much prefer stealing to killing when it comes to a coinpurse." Roze sighed. "Not that I can do much about it now."

Sagax was as silent as a winter's twilight as Roze spoke. They were more alike than he thought. He had gone right up to Ashav back in Markarth, naive to what war really was like. He had only the glory-laced retellings of former soldiers and drunken bards. His father never spoke of the battles he participated in, he only reminisced about his comrades, the good times he had. It got him thinking. Could he really continue as a servant of Mara, the way he was now? The way he will be in the future?

Unsheathing his sword part-way, he saw that the glowing gleam of a forge-fresh blade was gone, replaced with a dull steel reflection of himself, tainted with the blood of the Reachman he had slain. Could such a blade be righteous? Was this what had to be done to protect the meek and innocent? Sagax would have rather not thought about it, and so he slid the blade back into its resting position.

Clearing his throat, Sagax turned to Roze. "Sometimes the Gods put us in positions that make us uncomfortable. Perhaps to make us stronger, or to open our eyes about certain aspects of the world. Either way, it's the hand we're given, and we have to play by the rules set out before us." After being silent for a moment, letting what he said sink in, he suddenly burst into a sly smile. "Or...we can say to hell with what the Gods want; we forge our own path!" With that, he picked up one of the several bottles of brew and raised it into the air. "To us, for our own future..." After thinking of his next toast, he began to laugh heartily. "And to Sevine, for inevitably pulling our asses out of the fire!"


[i]"Huh. I never pegged him for a religious guy."[/i] Roze mused silently as she listened to Sagax, cracking a smile as he toasted to the screwing of fate, and Sevine.

"I'll drink to that! Fuck Fate - we walk our own paths; how else would we keep Sevine entertained?" She laughed, hitting Sagax's bottle with her own before taking a long, deep drink of it. The coolness of the liquid was a nice contrast to the warm soup and the fire nearby, and it quenched a thirst even water couldn't manage.

Still, she was curious about Sagax's first line of thought... following the Gods' rules? The Gods had done absolutely fuck all to affect her life... if anything, the Daedric Princes did more for her. Although she wore an Amulet of Mara, it was for sentimental value - it had nothing to do with the Goddess herself. Because when had the Nine ever aided her in her troubles? She hardly believed it was Divine Intervention that saved her life earlier - it had been that poor Nord.

It took Sagax a few moments after setting his bottle down to realise he had only half left. He didn't remember drinking quite that much, but memory is faulty after all. Nevertheless, he could feel some of his strength returning...well, maybe, could have been that the mead was affecting him more than he predicted. Still, he felt better, at least. "Ha, whether she thinks so or not, Sevine [i]needs[/i] us and our antics! We help keep her on her toes! Really, we ought to do that kind of stuff more often. Well, maybe with less explosives involved, yeah?" The siege had left Sagax's mind, and the groans of the infirmary were but a distant memory. This must be why Caius emphasized connections with comrades. They keep you sane, and having someone to simply bounce off of during downtime makes coping much, much easier. They weren't exactly soldiers, but the two rogues still had a good connection with each other, at least from Sagax's perspective. If only there were more people like her in the world, and people like Sevine and, yes, even Leif. Tamriel could do with some more honest, good-hearted humor. People like that made life worth living, as far as the little Imperial was concerned.

[i]"More fun-time with Sagax? Well... if one left out the destruction and pain, you could argue it had been almost entertaining."[/i] Thinking it over, Roze's lips parted into her familiar, almost wicked grin.

"Less explosives indeed. I have to say, you'd definitely make a good partner in crime." She said in a jokingly conspiratorial tone; although she wasn't wrong. She didn't know much about Sagax, but she could tell he'd lived rough in the past... and she could always pick out a fellow Thief. "Or, if you want to do something boringly legal, I'm sure we'd make good companions for one another." She added in afterthought, pulling a face in jest.

Through her grin, Sagax saw what looked like an expression of understanding. Was she so easily able to see through his facade? Sure, from his looks one may draw the conclusion that he had not experienced the greatest of living conditions, but Roze seemed to see right through him. When Sagax thought about it, it made some sense. She most likely lived the same way he did for a long time. Perhaps she could just make out the telltale signs of someone who had gone through the same type of rough living, and that comment about being partners...did thieves have some sort of sixth sense or something?

"Well, I'm not exactly a man with a bounty on my head and stores of gold stashed away in an obscure cave, but...I have a bit of experience, I suppose. I've tried to put that behind me, though. Companionship sounds good, though. Besides, our profession is all about the people we know, right?" Sagax smirked as he drank another gulp from his mead.

"Well, Mercenaries and Thieves go quite well together, from what I can see. It's how my parents met, after all." Roze replied with an almost nostalgic smile. Her Dad, a Nordic Mercenary; her Mother, a Breton Thief. After enduring hardships together, they found companionship, and eventually love.

"You ever think about what life would be like if had... normal Professions? Like, working in a shop, or being a Guard in some city or something." She mused out loud, considering it. It sounded deadly dull to her - having to arrive every day at a certain time just to stand behind a counter or walk along some walls... Ick. The closest thing she'd come to anything like that was considering the Bard's College... but she wasn't all that friendly with the denizens of Solitude for that weird dream to be fulfilled.

"Funny thing, actually. I had a very normal job before I journeyed to Skyrim. I was a local courier back in the Imperial City. I ran packages and put up flyers for the merchants, and sometimes I'd even deliver reports for the City Watch. The pay wasn't amazing, but it wasn't particularly difficult, either...well, not for me, anyway. Unfortunately, circumstance forced my hand, and now here I am, with Ashav, you, and the others." Roze's question made Sagax curious as to what he would be doing at that moment if Caius had simply been released. He'd still be running shipments. That didn't seem so bad to him at first, but then he thought about his time in the northern province. He would have never met Jorwen, Roze, or Do'Karth, and that actually made him rather...sad. He never had many friends...was this whole thing a pilgrimage designed by some sympathetic deity to broaden his perspective? Alright that actually sounded really silly when the Imperial ran that idea through his head a second time, he was one man, why would any god waste their time with something so frivolous? Bah, Divines, who knows what they're up to. Either way, through divine intervention or just dumb luck and circumstance, Sagax was really grateful to have met all of these people, and he'd hate to think of an alternate life where his current comrades were completely unknown to him.

Pulling a face as he described his job, Roze downed the remainder of her first bottle of mead before answering. 

"Well, that sounds like it was an exhausting job." She replied. "When I was a kid, I was just running errands for my parents. And their... workmates." Hesitating ever so slightly at this... Hell, it was no secret she was a Thief, but a part of the actual Guild? Hm... considering her relationship with them at this moment, it was probably best to keep her mouth shut on who exactly she grew up with.

"I got into thieving through getting my pocket money - it was how my Mother taught me to be independant. Pick a mark, and rob 'em. Of course, under a certain age I was angelic enough to get away with it if I was caught red-handed." Ending with a chuckle, she recalled one time one of the Merchants had caught her with her hand deep in his pocket. She just cuted her way out of it, saying a bully stole her sweetroll, and he'd give it back if she stole money.

The guy ended up giving her money for about five Sweetrolls. Hah. Sucker.

"Pfft, yes, I'm sure you were just the perfect little angel, huh? Could do absolutely no wrong, poor little Roze!" He said as he pulled a "woe is me" expression. Huh, angels...that reminded Sagax of something, but what? Looking at Roze, he could just barely latch onto a lingering memory. It had something to do with her, he was certain. 

Ah. The blackness in his mind concerning what happened back at the docks was a bit clearer...in his delusion, he had mistaken Roze for an angel as she carried him away towards the gate. He thought that it would probably be best to keep that to himself, though he was betrayed by his face going a bit red. He'd never be able to live something like that down, especially not with Roze perpetuating it. 

"I never really got into pickpocketing. I picked my way into the shops through their sewer entrances and grabbed what I needed. I like to think I did a pretty good job, considering it took a few years for me to get caught, and even then that was by someone staking out downstairs specifically waiting for me." Eating a bit more of his stew, he made a mental note to write Varulae a letter to thank her for the health potions she gave him. They really came in handy.

"Hah! Sloppy, my friend. Very sloppy. When I was a kid, I could climb into a house through the smallest window, unlock the door from the inside, and just walk out with all the loot." Roze teased with a laugh - to be fair, that was when she began training for the Guild. She'd crawl in through open windows to just unlock the door with the key on the inside - but Roze had more wiles about her for such a simple task. She'd do a quick sweep of any spare coins, jewellary, or anything of value that she could slip into her pockets with ease and speed, before going to unlock the door... with lockpicks, that was. 

Keys became too easy after a while.

Although wondering what had made Sagax blush so suddenly, Roze decided to not mention it. He obviously wasn't going to let it slip anytime soon, with the way he'd averted her gaze for a few moments.

"So, what did this person do? Tan your hide? Threaten to cut off your hands? Or just report you to the Guards?" She asked, rattling off a list of threats that she'd heard plenty of as a kid.

"Actually...she took me in, along with my mother and sister. We were in a bad way at that point in our lives; that's why I took to thievery." Putting down his now-finished bowl of stew, Sagax leaned back in his chair and habitually went to play with the string that attached his hood to his collar, only remembering it had been burnt off after akwardly trying to grab it at it several times. "She's an alchemist, and long-time family friend. She waited downstairs for me several nights just to catch me and invite me into her home. If you ever need a good example of a kindly Altmer, just look up Varulae in the Imperial City. I've met very few people who are as selfless as she is." He swore he could almost hear the bubbling of an alembic in the distance as he talked about Varulae. She always took really good care of it; Sagax didn't remember ever seeing it dirty. Clearly, she took her craft very seriously. 

"Varulae's the one I have to thank for the healing potions I was carrying around with me. She also gave me a very special brew; she said it was a potion of invisibility...can you believe that? That stuff isn't exactly easy to make, and she just handed it to me as I was walking out the door to join a caravan heading to Skyrim!" Well, she more shoved it into his hand and demanded Sagax take it with him. "No child of Equa will be going anywhere unprepared on my watch, so take it, you stubborn boy!" Her words didn't really carry a tone of anger or irritation, just really aggressive compassion. "Varulae is leagues different from Vurwe, I can promise you that much." He said with a grin. Varulae would absolutely despise Vurwe...a meeting of the two would certainly not end well.

The ending to Sagax's story was an unexpected one, to say the least. Kindness like that was rare in a place like Riften - it was a a town where one quickly learnt to grow independant.

"Well, I'd hate to think that Vurwe is a good example of an Altmer. Although I do have my doubts about some of them..." Roze replied, frowning ever so slightly. She was, of course, talking about the Thalmor. She wasn't a particularly religious person herself, but had been most disgusted to find that worship of Talos had been outlawed, just because he began life as a Man and not a Mer. Naturally, she and her family kept any Talos Amulet's or shrines on the downlow - being a Thief made it easy to do that. It was made all the more easier when Stormcloaks regained control of the city, getting rid of the Imperial friendly Jarl. Not that Roze was fond of her replacement, that was...

"Anyway, that was mighty generous of her. Can't say I've met many people like that in my life." She said, stifling a yawn through her words. The food was near to be polished off, and that single bottle of mead had been enough to numb her senses somewhat. Today had taken more out of her than she realised... including her stomach for drink.

"There's enough coin left over for a couple of beds, if you want to stay the night. May do our injuries some good, avoiding the cold warehouse floor." Roze offered, fighting the urge to stretch as she knew it would do nothing more than pull at her wounds.

An actual bed sounded incredibly tempting. A temptation Sagax almost immediately gave in to. "That sounds like a very good idea, actually...it's been a long day already, and it's hardly over. I'll have to take you up on your offer, Roze. Besides, if anyone's deserving of quality rest, I'd say it's us." Unlike Roze, Sagax was able to stretch out slightly; he was still careful about his own shoulder which was fairly sore. The pangs of hunger and weariness faded, giving way instead to a cloak of sleepyness. "Not much else we could do, anyway. We weren't exactly combat-adept in the first place...look at us now, you look like you can barely lift up your bow and I know for certain I wouldn't get very far with my sword." 

Standing up slowly, Sagax found himself finally able to stay on his feet on his own. Good, he felt like an old man using his scabbard for support. "Well, may as well get out of everyone's way. No doubt there'll be more people coming soon to drown their fear."