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

[Muttonhawk]

Sabine didn't take long finding a meal for herself and sitting down next to Peiter. She smiled at the interaction between La'khay and Do'ajee.

"We would probably train anyway," Sabine said, itching her ear idly, "But, we get to teach each other."

Tzirret was looking a little withdrawn, but he still joined in on the conversation. "This one wishes he could talk to Khajiit girls," he looked down and held his upper arms as if cold or afraid, "The girls at Bruma are terrifying."

"Maybe you could try girls who aren't Khajiit?" Sabine suggested.

"Hm?" Tzirret looked up at Sabine, slightly confused, then realised that she was probably going off the experience of witnessing Fendros and Ahnasha. Tzirret shook his head, "No, this one does not...feel that way towards them. Even if he did, they are still terrifying..."

[EliteCommander]

"Hmm, being in Elsweyr, would would think we would have met plenty of Khajiit girls for you to speak to. Though, I suppose you haven't exactly been looking." Peiter commented, pausing for a moment as he started on his boar leg. "Anyway, I'm sure you'll find someone. Maybe if we can find this clan, you'll be able to find a, uh, friend to spend some time with."

While Peiter attempted to be encouraging, La'khay was a bit more emotional in her response. "Aw, there's no reason to be afraid of any girl...except Do'ajee, of course." She said, producing a light growl from Do'ajee. "You are a handsome young man who any girl, Khajiit or no, would be lucky to bed. It's unfortunate there aren't any Khajiit girls here your age, but...you could always talk to La'khay." She said, grinning as she reached out and placed her hand on Tzirret's cheek.

Do'ajee growled in annoyance. "La'khay, he wants to find a girl to befriend, not immediately jump in the bed with!"

La'khay started to chuckle. "Please, Do'ajee, this one did not say that...explicitly."

[Muttonhawk]

Tzirret was so still and wide-eyed at La'khay's teasing that he looked like a taxidermy statue. His face held a equally mortified and panicked frown, but his ears were perked as if either enthused or simply listening for danger.

The reaction caused Sabine to giggle through her nose and put a hand up near her mouth, desperately trying not to spit out the food in her mouth.

The sound snapped Tzirret out of his paralysis. His eyes immediately skipped across to the various faces looking at him and his head cringed down in embarrassment with flattening ears. He even shifted his knees up, but not apparently out of fear like Sabine or Ciinriel would do. Sabine knew why and ended up laughing out loud after barely managing to swallow. Fortunately for Tzirret, she wasn't mean enough to point the reason out.

After another couple of fleeting glances to La'khay and once the laughing had died down, Tzirret managed to speak up. "How does one talk to a girl to get in a relationship anyway? I know where I am, and this one knows where you are," Tzirret gestured to Sabine and Peiter, "what happens in between to get from one place to another? This never knows what to do." Tzirret looked down further, "And Tzirret is not handsome. Only adults who want Tzirret to not be sad call him handsome."

Sabine felt sorry for Tzirret, but she did not know enough about what exactly made a Khajiit handsome to give an honest response as he wanted. As for how to talk to girls, Sabine decided to give her opinion, though it was not an elaborate one. She spoke with a sincere smile, "Just make more friends, Tzirret. Something will happen."

[EliteCommander]

Tzirret's reaction only caused La'khay's grin to grow wider. She leaned towards him and looked down as he pulled up his knees. "La'khay thinks that you are more interested in her offer than you are letting on." She said. She put her hand on Tzirret's knee and was about to attempt to move it aside when Do'ajee grabbed her other arm and pulled her away from him.

"La'khay, enough. Stop tormenting the boy and leave him be." Do'ajee hissed, causing La'khay to roll her eyes.

"Ah, you're never any fun, Do'ajee. This one wonders how you ever manage to enjoy life when your mind knows nothing but work and duty." She responded.

Do'ajee crossed her arms. "Duty is this one's enjoyment."

La'khay let out a slight huff. "Well, that explains a lot. And Tzirret, be confident. La'khay notices that you seem to deny all of the praise she has heard you given. This one assures you that your body is handsome, and is certain you will find a lass who agrees."

Peiter's reaction to Tzirret mirrored Sabine's. Even afterwards, he could not help but to chuckle at the exchanges between La'khay and Do'ajee. He was starting to see that putting them near each other was almost as amusing as a good play. It was amazing that they could get along in the same pride, considering how directly opposed they were to one another. Nevertheless, he tried to gain his composure long enough to provide some encouragement for Tzirret. "I'll be honest, Tzirret, I have no idea what makes a Khajiit attractive. But, I agree with Sabine. If my experience tells me anything, it's not really about keeping yourself from being afraid. I can tell you, I was absolutely terrified. The trick is figuring out how to say something, even though you're afraid."

[Muttonhawk]

Upon being touched and humiliated by La'khay, Tzirret's tail and the hairs on the back of his neck shot up in shock and he shuffled out of her reach. Thankfully Do'ajee put a stop to it before it could become a scar on his life for as long as he knew all present.

The advice that was given did serve to give Tzirret encouragement, but he didn't show it easily. Perhaps because he now wanted to drop the subject, perhaps because he had put himself in a sad mood in the first place. He still gave nervous glances to La'khay, however.

Sabine giggled at Peiter's words specifically and turned her head to him, "It was funny to see you terrified like you were. Maybe I did not tease you enough." After another quick laugh, Sabine became curious about the others. "La'khay, Do'ajee, Ciinriel, have you been in relationships before?" Sabine gave La'khay another look and tried to tactfully cover what she suspected her answer to be, "Long ones, that is."

[EliteCommander]

La'khay had opened her mouth and was just about to speak when Sabine added another condition to her question. "Oh, um, no. La'khay has not been in the same kind of relationship as you two. Unless...this one mates with Colors frequently, does that count?"

Peiter, who was rather unsurprised, gave a quick laugh. "Well, do you and Colors say that you're a couple?"

"Um, no." She answered.

"Then no, it doesn't count." Peiter responded, shaking his head.

Do'ajee seemed to be conflicted for a few seconds as she thought on how to answer. "Well...you might perhaps say that Do'ajee had a relationship. Before this one turned, she was to be married to the son of one of our tribe's warriors. But, Do'ajee was turned before the ceremony, so our marriage never happened. It was unfortunate, but this one has not found the need to find another mate since then. Our responsibilities are too important for such distractions."

Ciinriel seemed to be the most nervous to answer, and even when she did respond, she did not say much. "No, I...haven't been looking." She said simply. Although, guessing that someone might press her for details if she didn't say more, she decided to give an excuse. "I've...been waiting for another Bosmer. Not many in the clan."

Since Do'ajee was getting annoyed at La'khay for "tormenting" Tzirret, she decided to turn her attention to Sabine. "Well, since we're asking each other question now, what about you, Sabine? Have you gotten him into your bed yet?" La'khay asked, motioning to Peiter.

Do'ajee simply let out another long sigh.

[Muttonhawk]

Sabine's smile disappeared as the next question was brought onto her. "Have I? N-no," Sabine shook her head slightly, now looking a little nervous as she struggled for an excuse. "I don't..." Sabine swallowed, she felt like she had expectations set on herself now. She held one arm and looked away, "...there was no place on the ship," she managed at the last minute.

It was a weak excuse, everyone in the group knew about the storage rooms in the ship by the third day in. Under normal circumstances she would have been honest, but Sabine had been evasive about this issue with Peiter previously. Now it was being brought up with others, including La'khay, who seemed to treat mating as a way of life.

"Are you okay, Sabine?" Tzirret asked with a concerned craning of his neck.

"Yes," Sabine looked up and smiled, trying to play it off, "I'm fine."

[EliteCommander]

With Sabine's answer, Peiter looked at her quite curiously, as it had definitely not been the answer he was expecting. It implied that she had been considering it, but had not only because it wasn't an option. Peiter said nothing, but Sabine certainly would see his curious gaze.

La'khay gave a quick chuckle. "Heh, well there's room now. La'khay can even give advice, if you want it." She commented, though mercifully, she decided to leave it at that, partially because of the look of annoyance that Do'ajee was giving her.

"Well, regardless, La'khay is just happy to be able to talk to you all like this. It was not long ago that we were all bound and tortured in the basement of that infernal cabin. La'khay does not think she really had the chance to express how grateful she is to you all for our rescue. Khajiit knows it has been over a week now, but...she still thinks about it, and probably will think about it for as long as she lives. Times like this just make La'khay glad to be alive. La'khay may not be a fighter, but she will do whatever she can for you and your pack."

Do'ajee's seemingly perpetual look of annoyance that she had whenever she was around La'khay turned briefly to a grin. "On that, Do'ajee thinks we actually agree." She said, followed by Ciinriel nodding in silent approval.

[Muttonhawk]

Sabine noticed Peiter's look by glancing sideways at him. She gave him a quick, twitchy smile in reassurance, but she suspected that there would be words later. Honestly, it would be nice to talk to him about it rather than avoid it, but she didn't not want to do that in front of everyone.

The speech that La'khay gave was heartening. They had of course expressed their gratitude for being saved before, but everyone knew that their imprisonment was a horrible experience. The gratitude would likely not be understood by the rescuers even if they recounted all that happened.

"Thank you," Sabine said with a nod, glad to be off the previous subject. "Hopefully, we can find your clan unharmed as well."

Tzirret even gave a smile. "We did not do much, really. It was everyone else." Tzirret's smile faded, "Well, I did kill one of them with a spear, but Leaps-On-Elves was killing him anyway." The memories brought back the image of Ciinriel hooked up to the rack and Tzirret gave her a glance and a swallow. "This one wishes we could have found you all sooner."

As was usual when she was nervous, Sabine's appetite disappeared. She stood up and went to replace the unfinished part of her meal with the rest of the food and walked up to the group one more time. "It is getting dark. I am going to sleep." Sabine began to yawn and spoke through it, "Thank you for the talk." With that, she turned and walked towards her bedroll.

[EliteCommander]

La'khay rolled her eyes at Tzirret. "Again with the self-deprecation. Stop diminishing your role in everything, Tzirret." She said. Walking over in front of him, she put her hands on each side of his face and shook his head lightly. "Be confident, cloudy-cat. You obviously have friends that care about you and you're helpful to your pack. Oh, an you're handsome too."

Ciinriel smiled in gratitude towards Tzirret and the others, though La'khay grabbed a hold of him before she could say anything in response. Meanwhile, Peiter, after watching Sabine leave, quickly finished up what was left of his boar leg, then threw the bone in the general direction of Leaps. "I...think I'm going to go to bed too. That training was pretty exhausting." He said, excusing himself to head to his bedroll.

Naturally, Peiter had set up his bedroll next to Sabine's, pretty much pushed up right next to it. Walking over to it, he sat down on his bedroll next to her, still glancing back at the others near the center of camp. "So, um, what do you think of La'khay?" He asked to spark conversation.

[Muttonhawk]

"O-okay!" Tzirret spoke through involuntarily pouted lips as his wide-eyed face was held by La'khay. Tzirret wasn't terrified like he was before, but having his face grabbed by a woman was not a situation he was used to. His eyes darted either side of him, "You do not have to grab Khajiit by the cheeks," he protested with a worried brow.

Sabine was laying on her side facing Peiter's bedroll. She might have fallen asleep had Peiter taken any longer. Her eyes reopened and looked up at him. "I like her. She is embarrassing at times, but free spirited." Sabine giggled, "The look on Tzirret's face was good."

While Peiter responded, Sabine bit her lips, wondering if Peiter would bring up her own strange response to La'khay's questions.

[EliteCommander]

La'khay laughed. "This one doesn't have to, but they're too cute not to." She gave him a devious smile, then quickly leaned in and kissed his cheek, then let go of him just as suddenly. "Now, La'khay thinks she is going to retire for the night too. Try to think about being more confident." She said before walking away towards her bedroll.

Peiter smiled and chuckled along with Sabine. He laid himself down in a similar position to her on top of his bedroll, rather than inside of it due to the heat. "Agreed. It's not surprising, really, seeing as she used to be a prostitute in Senchal. Certainly, her opinions on a lot of...things are way different than normal. It would be easy to judge her, but honestly, I think I can kind of understand. You saw Senchal; I would hate to have to grow up poor in a place like that. She ended up latching onto something she enjoyed...it just happened to be something most people look down on."

As Peiter looked away from La'khay and back to Sabine, he was silent for a moment, and his overall attitude became considerably more nervous. "Oh, and, um...back with the others, when La'khay turned things on you and asked if we had...you know. I...well I didn't know that, honestly."

[Muttonhawk]

Tzirret was paralysed again, open-mouthed and shocked. He couldn't even follow La'khay with his eyes as she moved to her bedroll. Slowly, he raised his hand to his cheek where he had been kissed and held it there for long moment. He regained his faculties enough to slowly look over to Do'ajee, not changing his expression at all. "Does...she...do...that to everyone?" Tzirret squeaked.

At first, Sabine gave a shrug to Peiter's opinion of La'khay. She didn't know much about the general social attitude towards protistutes, so she didn't know how to respond. When Peiter transitioned to the next topic, however, Sabine looked uneasy. She wanted to talk about this, but it didn't make it any less embarrassing. "Peiter, I...it was not that I was looking to share a bed with you on the ship, I just...I did not want to be pressured by La'khay. You saw how she was with Tzirret. I am..." Sabine paused and looked at Peiter's chest rather than his eyes, "...I am nervous about that. I like you a lot, but..." Sabine was flushed to the point where she almost looked like she would be upset, "I am not ready to do that."

[EliteCommander]

Do'ajee let out a sigh and shook her head as she watched La'khay walk away. To her, it was a constant struggle to keep La'khay under control. Although, the more time passed, the more she started considering that to be a fool's errand. She stood up and stretched out her muscles as she looked down at Tzirret. "Hmph, what do you think?" She answered before heading off to her own bedroll.

"It's alright." Peiter said. He could easily see how flustered Sabine was with the topic, and though her thoughts on it were different than he had expected, the last thing he wanted was to upset her over it. Reaching out, he lightly rested his hand on her cheek. "It's alright." He repeated. "I understand. You're nervous, and I definitely am too. I care about you a lot, but even if I think I'm ready, that doesn't mean you have to be. I'm not about to force you to do something you don't want. You take all the time you need; just don't be afraid to talk to me, alright? I can assure you, I'm just as frightened about everything as as you are."

[Muttonhawk]

Sabine gave a wide smile. She was so relieved that Peiter was understanding that she almost shed a tear of happiness. "Thank you," she whispered so quietly that she was mouthing it more than saying it. It was far too warm to cuddle, but Sabine still brought a hand up to Peiter's head and drew in close to him, giving him a long kiss. Afterwards, she pressed her forehead against his and just enjoyed his contact. They eventually separated to keep cool and fell asleep.

With his hand still on his cheek and his mouth still hanging open, Tzirret stood up to his feet and went to his bedroll listlessly. When he laid himself down, he found his rushing thoughts and panic started to subside, but they were replaced with questions that he kept repeating to himself. Being an adolescent boy, his apprehensive fears were assaulted by other desires that kept him awake for a couple of hours straight. He considered going off to hide behind a bush and rid himself of it, but there was an opportunity right in front of him that he was curious to attempt, daunting as it may be.

Once everyone was fast asleep and all that lit up the jungle was the speckled light of the moons, Tzirret carefully stood up from his bedroll and padded over to La'khay where she slept.

When the next morning came over the horizon, Tzirret awoke in his own bedroll. He did not seem any more confident than he did before. In fact, whenever he caught sight of La'khay, his ears drooped a little and he looked away. He really hoped that she could keep secrets.

The rest of the group arose in a the short time following Tzirret fetching his breakfast. Fendros was the not the first to sit down with Tzirret, tucking into his own breakfast. "I had a strange dream last night," he mentioned casually to anyone listening, "Someone was crying through the whole thing, but when I woke up, Rhazii wasn't crying at all." He shook his head, "Maybe I ate something strange."

[EliteCommander]

One by one, the group started to awaken once the sun was visible in the sky. It would not be too long before they would start splitting up into groups, but first, everyone took the time to have their breakfast. Before long, most of their rather large group was gathered up near the center of camp. They had enough food to sustain them for now, but within the next few days, they would have to start hunting again if they wanted to avoid tightening their rations.

Once Fendros mentioned the crying he heard, Ahnasha's ears perked up and she took interest as well. "Really? You know, I could've swore I heard the same thing as well. Rhazii was right next to me, so I knew it wasn't him. I assume it was Newt."

Kaleeth shook her head, pausing a moment to give Leaps the cut of meat he was begging for. "No, Newt slept soundly all last night. I think I might have heard something, but I went back to sleep after I saw Newt was alright."

"Hmm, strange." Ahnasha responded.

[Muttonhawk]

"It can't have been in our heads then. Was anyone crying last night?" Fendros asked everyone awake. There was no response. Tzirret didn't even make eye contact. Fendros shrugged, "This jungle must be haunted."

"Good morning," Sabine said to everyone as she sat down with her breakfast. There was a smattering of responses in kind. There were a couple of things she noticed about Tzirret that morning, so she turned to talk to him. "Are you okay, Tzirret? I doubt there are any ghosts here. Fendros was joking."

"What?" Tzirret looked up at Sabine with surprise, realising he probably should have given more of a reaction to cover himself. He would normally be upset by the suggestion that the jungle was haunted, after all. "Oh, this one knows Fendros was joking. I did not hear any crying in the night like they did."

"Was there crying in the night?" Sabine asked everyone curiously.

Tzirret closed his eyes and quietly groaned. He felt like an idiot.

[EliteCommander]

Peiter sat down beside Sabine with another boar's leg. It was a kind of meat he rather liked, something that he had grown up eating in Chorrol. Although, he supposed boar were not exactly hard to find in Tamriel, even in a place as far from his home city as this. The conversation around camp currently seemed to be on the topic of something a few people had heard in the night, though Sabine had evidently not heard anything.

"I thought I heard something, though I didn't pay much attention to it." Peiter commented. "Strange that you didn't hear anything, Tzirret. It sounded like it came from somewhere closer to you." He said casually as he started on his breakfast.

"This one did not hear any crying." La'khay's voice sounded out from behind Tzirret. She walked over and joined everyone else near the center of camp with her own breakfast. Once she sat down, she raised her brow at Tzirret. "How are you feeling today, cloudy-cat?"

[Muttonhawk]

Tzirret tensed up a bit when he heard La'khay, but it was followed by a wash of relief once he processed her words. He gave her a sad look, before looking down at his food. When he answered, it didn't sound like he cared about being called cloudy-cat as he usually did. "This one did not sleep well," he said with truth, "He will manage." Tzirret gave another quick glance up at La'khay. He wished he could thank her. "How about you?"

Even with the few words they spoke, Sabine found Tzirret and La'khay's interactions to be a far cry from the previous night. Perhaps La'khay was just not in a teasing mood and Tzirret more nervous than he looked. She took a bite from the liver she had picked out for breakfast.

Now apart from Tzirret's conversation, Fendros spoke up with the others. "So, we have a day, or a few weeks at least, of searching through the jungle to look forward to. I would say I prefer the calm, but-" Fendros stopped and swatted an insect on his chest, "-the sooner we find the clan, the sooner we'll have time to find a place to cool off."

[EliteCommander]

"Hmm, it is hard to say how this one feels." La'khay answered. "Nervous, eager...frisky. All apply. Mostly, she is not looking forward to walking for leagues through the forest, which we will probably have to do. With luck, we will find signs of our clan quickly. If not, this forest will be our home for a while yet."

Meesei decided to eat her breakfast quickly so she could make a few last decisions on the course of their search pattern, though she still responded to Fendros. "Possibly, if you consider the desert to be cooler. I have been thinking about what to do if we manage to locate the remnants of the Senchal clan. I intend to recommend that we all migrate north and join up with the Orcrest clan, across Elsweyr's desert. If we can combine the forces from both clans, we should have the manpower to topple Vile's fortress in the region. Although, I do not know how many of the Senchal clan's remnants will be combat capable. Nevertheless, our enemy's fortress in Elsweyr must fall if the Senchal clan is to rebuild."

Standing up, Meesei addressed the whole of the group. "After breakfast, I would like for everyone to break into teams of three, and one of four. One of these teams, along with Leaps, will stay here to guard the camp, and the children. Everyone else will spread out in a search pattern that I will specify through the forest." She explained. Leaps, although he was capable of tracking, had not yet been trained for a task quite like this, so he would be more useful on guard-duty. Not to mention, the children would enjoy playing with him while most of the others were away.

Immediately following the announcement, Peiter nudged Sabine's elbow. "So, it looks like we get to choose after all. Shall I join you in searching the forest?"