[hider=Collab from before the three missions][center][h3]Cultural Study[/h3][/center] [hr] A Collab by [@Rtron] and [@LadyTabris] [i]Nanine and Anifaire, afternoon, 30th of Second Seed, 4E208[/i] Nanine returned to the [i]Three Crowns[/i] inn, her notes on the local dwemer and her recreations of what writing she saw in hand. Her outing had proved surprisingly informative, given the circumstances. There were still many unanswered questions, of course, but she felt like she had a better grip of the situation now. Enough of a grip to throw her lot in with the resistance on more than a ‘It’s the right thing to do’ feeling, at any rate. As she approached the inn, she noticed Anifaire outside of it. [i]Perfect timing.[/i]The young high elf was one of the self proclaimed experts on dwemer ruins and culture, particularly language. She would be able to help shed some light on the situation, or at the very least offer some unique insight. Nanine made her way over to Anifaire, waving and smiling. “Anifaire! How are you? Good to be in a actual bed finally, isn’t it?” “Good afternoon, Nanine,” Anifaire said, looking up from her people watching. She sat more delicately than in recent days, finally having procured quality clothing. She felt more like herself. “It’s definitely better than travelling. Quite a relief.” “You didn’t enjoy the constant running from the dwemer and either sleeping on the ground or in a wagon? And here I thought it was your dream life.” Nanine said with a grin, meeting the High Elf’s eyes. Gods but she was tall. Even sitting down she was almost eye level with Nanine. Now that Nanine thought about it, almost everyone in the party was taller than her. Much taller than her. It wasn’t something she could really address or fix however, so she turned her attention to what Anifaire had been staring at, eyebrows raising slightly. ”Studying the dwemer now that you have a chance to see them in person, hm? This must be an exciting opportunity for you. You’re a specialist in their languages and culture, right?” “It’s fascinating,” Anifaire replied, eyes still sliding over to the Dwemer occasionally. It was good to see Nanine; she hadn’t forgotten her kindness in giving her spare clothes away. “But yes, I specialize in translating rubbings of ancient language. I’d love to see some of what they write now, thousands of years later.” ”How fortunate! I happen to have copied down a couple of their writings that I saw.” Nanine produced her copied writings, flourishing them somewhat proudly. She thought the copying was good, for someone who had never even looked at the dwemer language before. ”I’d be lying if I said this was one hundred percent coincidence, I meant to have you translate them and see if there’s anything to tell from the writing differences that would be helpful. I also have drawings comparing the two factions armor styles if you’d like to see those too.” She could only smile at the way Anifaire couldn’t keep her eyes off of the dwemer, moving back to watch them as they walked. She handed the copied writing over to the High Elf. ”Fair warning, I’m pretty sure one only says ‘Cultural Center’ and the other is a sign I saw on a wall So, gods only know what that says.” “Thank you,” Anifaire said. She accepted the pages and flipped them around to read them. She was surprised, to say the least; she hadn’t expected Nanine to have pages like this copied. Still, it was a compliment that she was approached and she felt her cheeks warm. If it had been Ancient Dwemer writings, she would’ve been confident from the start, but instead she was nearly afraid to look at the writings. She wondered if she would be able to read them. What if the language had changed too much? She wished she had something to compare them to, but fortunately in this subject her memory would serve well enough. She stared at the letters for several minutes before she finally spoke. The letters were somewhat different, but the words, phonetically, if her guess was correct, still functioned the same as the syllables she familiarized herself with from cave rubbings and other scholars’ works. “Cultural Centre seems like an accurate translation,” she confirmed. “The other says ‘something Supplies,’ I believe it is a name, perhaps pronounced Andac.” She refrained from tracing her hand over the sheets of paper again in wonder and smiled up at Nanine, feeling good to have accomplished something. “Thank you for showing me these.” ”No problem! Was there anything unusual about the writing? Aside from you still being able to read it, that is. The Dwemer have been gone for what, centuries? I’m not a written language history expert, but shouldn’t it have changed drastically during that time period? If it’s anything like how war and combat changes, that is. You didn’t seem to have any trouble reading it at all.” Nanine took the papers back and carefully stored them back in her pockets. You’d never know when they’d be useful, and besides it’d be a waste to just throw them away. She looked at Anifaire curiously. Everything from how the other woman dressed to how she held herself wasn’t the actions of someone used to diving into ruins to study ancient writings. ”What made you become a historian of the Dwemer? No offense, but that doesn’t seem like the typical thing a High Elf goes for. Much less one who is from the Summer Set isles. You’re very good at it, it just doesn’t mesh with my mental image of Summer Set Isle High Elves.” “It has changed,” Anifaire confirmed. She thought about it for a moment. “I’m guessing at the name, really, but the other words were similar enough to what I’ve studied. The strangest thing is that while there seems to be evolution in the language, it doesn’t seem to be a drastic as it should be over the period of time the Dwemer have been gone.” She had to pause for a moment, formulating her thoughts. She had a usual response to the question. Whenever another Altmer at home asked her, she would reply with something having a hobby and interests. But it never seemed true. “I was never very good at magic. I mean, all the others my age were better. I found I was better at working with words, and I met another scholar. Ania taught me about the research she was doing, and I just never stopped after that.” “Fair enough. I understand liking something and just never stopping doing it.” Nanine replied, settling down next to Anifaire, looking up at her. The idea that an Altmer wasn’t good at magic was a strange one, though she hadn’t seen Anifaire use any magic during their time together, to be fair. ”So the Dwemer cultural evolution stalled at some point while they were wherever they were. That could be useful. Would you mind telling me what you know of the Dwemer history at some point? You know a lot about them, and if they didn’t change all that much from the past, perhaps there’s something to use there.” Nanine was, admittedly, lacking in any knowledge of the Dwemer beyond ‘technologically advanced and disappeared’ “Sure, though I am no expert in history. I am more of a linguist, but that does involve learning about the race that spoke the language in general to a certain extent,” Anifaire trailed off, aware that she may have continued talking about specific reasons why she knew certain tidbits of information but was lacking in others. She shrugged, a casual motion that she might not have made months ago. Her shoulders felt strange doing it, but she hadn’t thought anything of it. ”Well, you could tell me all you know about their linguistics then, and what you do know about their history? I’m fairly interested in them and you seem the best place to start, considering that if I start digging around and asking the dwemer civilians around here it might attract unwanted attention, and I’ve had my fill of dwemer attention for a life time.” Nanine pause for a moment, before chuckling. ”Which, I realize, is ironic considering what I’ve agreed to help with, but it is what it is.” “Well, when the Dwemer disappeared, they were at war with the Falmer. The Falmer had been chased underground by the Atmorans, and enslaved by the Dwemer after being fed a fungus that, well, you see the Falmer now. Some of the Falmer were resisting, and the conflict only ended when the Dwemer left. No one knows where, or why. I’d love to ask one of them myself. They seem open to scholarship, there’s a possibility…” Anifaire shrugged. “I’m not sure. Most of the writings I’ve studied are from that time period as well, though some older ones have been found, I wasn’t able to spend as much time on them.” “Well, if everything goes right, you should be able to study them even more soon enough.” Nanine declared, standing up and stretching. “If we’re really lucky all of your questions and my questions will be answered. Good bye Anifaire. I’ll see you around. If you want more of my drawings, I’m gonna go catch up on my sleep, maybe check my equipment one more time. Never can be too careful.” She gave another friendly wave and headed into the [i]Three Crowns[/i]. [/hider] [h3]People Watching[/h3] A Collab by [@Rtron] and [@LadyTabris] [i]Nanine and Anifaire, 3rd of Midyear, afternoon[/i] Nanine wandered outside of the [i]Three Crowns[/i], idly looking at all of them civilians walking by. It was the day after all of their missions had finally wrapped up and the mood was somber. One mission had completely failed due to the errors of the team, the second had mostly failed, and only Nanine’s own mission had succeeded. Considering that her mission was most likely the least important, it was only a small comfort. She was a little at loss for what to do with her own time, when she caught sight of a familiar Altmer sitting on a bench, also watching the crowds go by. “Anifaire!” She called, approaching the other woman. “How have you been? I didn’t see you after the recap of the meetings, and all the things that went wrong during them. Still studying the Dwemer as they walk by?” “Good afternoon, Nanine,” Anifaire replied. “Yes, I am, and I think even the locals are becoming interesting to me. I do wonder if they act differently now that the Dwemer are here.” Nanine sat next to the elf, watching the crowds go by with her. “Wouldn’t you? A race long thought dead comes from they sky with airborne ships and technology that has never been seen before, shatters any military resistance and does the thing the Aldmeri Dominion was incapable of doing, then establishes complete and utter control. On the surface they keep things pleasant, but it’s really ran quietly by a force that makes dissenters disappear. Wouldn’t you act differently if all that happened to the Isles while you lived in them?” Anifaire pondered the question for a moment. “Why do people dissent?” she asked. “What have the Dwemer done wrong?” The question had been nagging at her since they arrived in Gilane. Nanine stared at her for a moment, half expecting Anifaire to smile or chuckle, or something else to show that the Altmer was joking. When it became clear that the question was sincere, Nanine looked up at the Altmer and gave a small sigh. She was more naive than Nanine had thought. “Well, for starters they showed up out of nowhere and declared themselves the rulers of a land and civilization with its own rulers and customs and then killed anyone who dissented. After establishing themselves as rulers, they presented the face of benevolent rulers wanting to foster peace and understanding, but they use secret guards to kidnap, interrogate, and kill people. The Redguards never wanted this. Its being forced upon them with brutality and cruelty, all kept hidden under a veneer of pleasantry. Like a disease ravaging the inside of a body and leaving the outside untouched.” She looked at Anifaire curiously. “If you didn’t know why anyone was dissenting, why did you even get involved in all of this?” Anifaire nodded slowly, processing Nanine’s words. If the Dwemer swept in by force, used secret guards, well, it made a bit more sense to her. She considered the Dwemer she’d watched day to day, living lives that seemed normal. She wondered if it was really true, that there was a brutal force behind the Dwemer occupation, and she frowned. She would have to watch more closely. “I just wasn’t ready to try to go home yet,” she answered. Even if she did, she didn’t have the coin for any kind of passage nor the skill to survive alone on the road, though those more practical concerns were starting to fade away in place of curiosity about the world, despite her fear. “True, but no one was making you stay here and get involved. If you just wanted to not go home you could have gotten on another ship or even went to another inn. You actively chose to get involved in something this dangerous, especially if we actually succeed.” Which was something that was always at the back of her mind. If this rebellion even succeeded, there would be many questions as to what would come next and none of them would be easy. Shaking her mind of such thoughts, Nanine smiled up at the tall Altmer. “I am glad you are with us though, regardless of your reasons.” The words were sincere. She enjoyed talking to the Altmer, even if she was slightly naive, and her presence on the team. Anifaire waited a few seconds before answering, weighting possibilities. “Thank you,” she said, smiling lightly. “It would not have been exactly simple for me to move to another inn or take a ship. I don’t happen to have much coin currently.” The words she spoke were the truth, but she was beginning to consider a deeper meaning to her own actions. “But I think I am interested in the… people, this group we are with. If I returned home, I would be returning perhaps to a comfortable life, but I would not have experiences such as these.” She considered her teacher, Ania, who travelled through her area. She had been a true adventurer and a scholar at the same time, delving in person into ancient ruins. It had been inspiring, though building up the courage had taken decades and she still doubted herself. “The experiences like trudging through mud, almost constantly on the run, and almost dying several times on the way here? Truly, they are wonders that I can never get enough of.” Nanine chuckled, standing up and stretching. “I’m glad you value the people here so highly Anifaire. I’ll leave you to your people watching, as I have to go take care of my equipment in case I ever have to use it here. Tell me if you spot anything interesting.” “Thank you, Nanine, I will,” Anifaire replied. She crossed her legs and folded her arms as she turned her attention back to the people bustling in the street. The conversation left a bad taste in her mouth. There were too many things to consider, and she wasn’t sure what her motivation for staying was. It wasn’t for trudging through mud or almost dying. There must have a been a thousand times she wanted to return to the comfort of Alinor. She frowned, pushing the thoughts to the back of her mind to consider another time.