[center] [b] Morning, Last Seed 16 Market District, Evermore [/b] [indent] [indent] [hr] [/indent] [/indent] [/center] "Give this one your lunch money!" Keegan sighed upon hearing the voice. It was a familiar one, and one he wish he'd never hear again. The right (and obvious) course of action was to keep his head down and walk away. He got drunk last night and was still shaking off the hangover. Keegan hadn't drank since the induction party at Daggerfall Theatre, where he woke up aching in spots that weren't suppose to ache in that kind of way, and obscene shapes painted on his face. Well, he meant to drink tea instead of alcohol last night. But someone, probably the overly-excited tea seller, spiked his tea with a generous dose of liquor. Thankfully, Keegan didn't wake up with any invasive leftover on him (as far as he could tell). He also didn't wake up to deal with the debt collector that almost killed him in Dawnstar. There was also the fact that Keegan was carrying a armful of fresh peaches just bought from the market. "I don't have any money on me!" The accosted individual sounded like a young woman. She was trapped in a narrow back alley, with the debt collector between them, his back towards Keegan. "Perhaps I can-" "Money or knuckles to the face!" The debt collector was a big and ugly Khajiit, a [i]Cathay[/i], as Do'Karth told Keegan. He was a brute, decked out in steel armor and brass knuckles, and fought by completely flattening his opponents. His name was [url=https://www.roleplayerguild.com/posts/3875344]Muh'ali the Champ[/url], the second part of which was self-given. As far as Keegan was concerned, Muh'ali was not really a debt collector, but a bully that picked on the convenient and the vulnerable. Keegan hated him, more so than the long list of other people he hated. Scapegoating was deplorable, robbery was criminal, and combining the two was the absolute worst Nirn had to offer. So no matter how much Keegan didn't want to fight, he needed to put an end to Muh'ali, because otherwise, [i]the Champ[/i] would eventually put an end to him. Enough monologue, Keegan budged in with a barrage of magic. First came the paralysis, then the sparks from his staff, the conjured familiar, bound dagger, fear, and even a soul trap for his [i]Soultrap Go![/i]™ collection. When he exhausted his magic, Keegan threw his batch of peaches. In his excitement and anger, Keegan completely forgot how Muh'ali was wearing armor enchanted with magicka-nullifying defenses. None of Keegan's spell did what they intended, but the sheer volume of them (and the splashing of peaches) knocked Muh'ali onto his back. Keegan was now standing over Muh'ali, the blades of staff pointed at the Khajiit's throat. "You!" Muh'ali took in the interloper with a snarl, and then recognition. "You shouldn't-" "Shut up!" Keegan yelled, his voice cracking. "Ha, all grown up, have the cub?" Muh'ali smirked, he arced his head up from the ground, taunting Keegan as he pressed his neck against the blade tip. "You can't kill a fly, so Muh'ali will give you five seconds to run away, before he adds you to the meat cart as well." "I said, shut up!" Keegan's voice was now more annoyed than intimidating. Could he really kill another person? He had never done so in the seven decades of his life. Keegan had joined a mercenary company, for Auriel's sake, where his peers slaughtered dozens in the blink of an eye. But he's not one of them, he never had been and likely never will. When Keegan attempted to push the staff blades in, he felt his palms become sweaty, his knees weakening and his arms heavy as lead. The spaghetti he had eaten last night was floating back up; Keegan was going to vomit on the new sweater he had gotten from Gustav's tailor. Keegan blinked several times, clenched his jaw tight as a vice, and willed his arms to go forward. He had to do this, not for the company, not for the accosted young woman, not against Muh'ali, but to prove to himself that he had the courage to confront what he was afraid of the most. "Ha!" Muh'ali's sudden laughter broke Keegan's concentration. All of a sudden, his grip on his staff loosened, and Muh'ali easily swatted it away from his throat. "Hahaha-" [i]Swoosh! Flash! Splat![/i] It all happened too fast for Keegan to comprehend. A orichalcum dagger flew out of the young woman's sleeve, it was immediately steered into Muh'ali's throat and buried deep with a sickening twist. The Khajiit hardly managed a single set of gurgles before he became deathly still. The young woman was now kneeling over Muh'ali's corpse, extracting the dagger with the precision of a hunter. "My goodness, that's quite a handful of peaches! But how shall I ever repay you?" The young woman stood up and took a sultry step towards Keegan, her hip swaying suggestively. Her face was obstructed by a hood and the shadows of the buildings beside her. "But don't fret, my delicate flower. I'll satisfy your cravings later." "Because we have plenty of time, my sweet." She took another step forward to stroke Keegan's cheeks. Now, he could see the woman's face; it was one he had seen before, despite the heavy makeup. Her next line came out halfway before the realization of who Keegan was stopped her. "Plenty of..." This was not a helpless damsel as Keegan had expected. This was an experienced hunter with a crossdressing hobby. He's an Imperial named [url=https://www.roleplayerguild.com/posts/3112932]Lucex Venatorii[/url], and Keegan fought alongside him in the Reach. "Time." Keegan finished for a stunned Lucex. "Keegan?" Lucex sputtered, his previously feminine voice shifting to masculine. He quickly backed away from Keegan's personal space. "I didn't- I mean, thanks for the help." "What, what are you doing here, Lucex?" Keegan's mouth hung open. "Aren't you, uh, hunting around Whiterun?" "You know, traveling, visiting places, new, I mean, news." Lucex tripped over his own words. For once, Keegan's not the most awkward speaker in a conversation. This meant that Keegan could press his luck a little further than he normally would. "Horseshit." Keegan imitated the way Jorwen used to call out liars. The hand that wasn't gripping his staff now emanated blue illusory lights. "Tell me the truth." The spell seeped into Lucex's mind, making his speech forced and his eyes droopy. "Gunnbjorn, Frieda, Elberond and I left the Hunting Guild because rebels are attacking Whiterun. We came to Bangkorai to hunt giant bats. They found out I was wearing dresses and seducing city lads at night, so they kicked me out. I had to prostitute myself to eat. Some nobles hired to me for the banquet, to service their-" "Alright, that's enough." Keegan put his palm into face. "What in Oblivion?" Lucex shook himself out of his daze once Keegan released the verity spell. The Imperial's grip tightened around his dagger. "Why did I just say all that? What did you do?" "I didn't, you didn't-ow!" Keegan shuffled away, only to bang his head against a low hanging thatch. The situation was once again extremely disconcerting; Keegan just remembered his palms were drenched in sweat. "Look, we should just, just-" "We should just forget this ever happened," Lucex suggested, "right?" "Right." Keegan nodded. He pressed his back tightly against the wall as Lucex scooched by, both of their gazes trying to avoid each other, but somehow met in accident. Keegan hung his head embarrassingly, while Lucex sprinted away as fast as possible. "Right." Keegan repeated to himself. He looked down at Muh'ali, blood clogging around the dead Khajiit's throat and peach juice splayed across his armor. Keegan kicked the corpse towards a corner, so that it wouldn't stick out, in case anyone looked in from the street. As he did so, all Keegan could think about was Dumhuvud. "Right, champ." Keegan spared Muh'ali one final glance before walking away. "We live in a strange world."