EliteCommander

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Peiter likely should have guessed that La'khay was the one responsible for some of the decisions made on Sabine's appearance. She certainly had a good eye for beauty, but not so much on subtlety. Regardless, he smiled as he looked down upon her. "I see. I think it does; it makes you look...smooth. She seems to have trimmed a lot of the hair on your body. Can I...nevermind." He began before abruptly cutting himself off.

"Um, anyway, you did all of this for me? I don't know what to say; I wish I could do the same thing for you. I'll always find you beautiful; I stand by that statement. But right now...I feel like I just want to hold on to you and never let go." He explained.

La'khay closed her eyes and took in a deep breath once she saw the pendant. It was as she had feared. While she had helped him with his confidence at first, but it seemed that she may have made more of an impression than she wanted on him. She walked up to him slowly, then carefully reached out her hand and lightly placed it on his shoulder. Her expression was sympathetic, more than anything, and her voice was low and soft. "You made it for La'khay? It is a very nice-looking pendant, Tzirret. Very well-made. Why would you say that you made this for this one?"

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

La'khay was not exactly sure of Tzirret's motivation for leaving, but with him moving away from the group, she saw it as an opportunity. She felt that she needed to talk to him about whatever was bothering him, in case it was actually her fault, and this allowed her to do it inconspicuously. Watching Tzirret leave, she rolled her eyes and let out a clearly audible sigh. "This one will go see what is wrong with cloudy-cat."

Shanja glanced over to Jo'rashaad and gave a low, rumbling laugh, prompting him to grin. Both of them climbed out of the water, evidently with their own thoughts in mind for what the two Bretons might be wanting. Of course, they did not say such openly. "Well, it is about time that this one meet back up with S'ajira. Ciinriel, we should probably go find your mother." Jo'rashaad commented as he started gathering up his belongings.

Peiter noticed that the others were starting to leave, but he was too distracted with Sabine to actually put too much thought into why they might be doing so. He simply returned her passionate kiss while holding his arms around her sides, just above her hips. "You feel as soft as you look. I...well I didn't expect this. You're beautiful, simply and unquestioningly beautiful." He said, feeling as if he could not give her enough praise.

Just after Shanja left, the pair finally pulled away from one another reluctantly. As Peiter's gaze went down below her waist, he started to comment on something he had noticed. "Did you shave your..." He began in a tone that wasn't disapproving, but curious.

A short distance away, just out of sight from where the others had been swimming, La'khay walked along the shore towards Tzirret. "La'khay thinks we should talk about some things, Tzirret. You have been acting strangely recently; do you wish to tell this one why?"

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Abandoning the prior conversation almost immediately, Peiter climbed out of the water, his eyes still looking up and down her body as he approached her. Reaching out, he put a hand on her shoulder and started lightly sliding it down her side. He would have hugged her, but he almost looked like he was too afraid of disturbing her appearance to touch her. "Your skin looks and feel so...smooth. The shine from the water, and..." He began, pausing to take in her scent. "You smell divine. And your hair..."

With his free hand, Peiter carefully grabbed a few strands of the hair on her head and ran it through his fingers. "It's actually...glowing, I think. How on Nirn did you manage that? It makes you look so vibrant and alive. I remember going walking through cities like Chorrol and Bruma, and seeing the noble women who would sink chests of gold into their appearance. You remind me of that, except...better." He complimented. Just looking at her, his breathing started to quicken slightly, and his heart was pounding. Were he not still soaked in the cool river water, he would likely be sweating. He looked at her with desire, his mouth slightly agape as he tried to think of what to say.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

La'khay laughed as she hugged Sabine, and looked at her with pride once they pulled away. Her expression towards Sabine was like an artist looking upon a finished creation. Although, when it came to beauty, La'khay was always wanting more. "La'khay could do more, if she had all the right makeup, and maybe some jewelry...ah, but this will do just fine. You look great, Sabine. We might need to give you two some time alone after this." She chuckled. "Well, let's all get back, then. Walk along the shore; your feet might get a bit muddy, but there's no avoiding that, unfortunately."

Jo'rashaad looked up at the canopy above them. "This one's homeland is impressive, but these trees do not come close to the scale of Valenwood's great oaks. Or, graht-oaks, rather. Always mix that one up. They are large enough that the Bosmer actually build entire cities inside them. And Jo'rashaad does not mean they carve out the trees, they just grow such that the trees have chambers within them. Jo'rashaad wonders what kind of magic they have to manipulate them in such a way."

La'khay, Ciinriel, and Sabine had only been just out of sight, so it took only a minute for them to return. Tzirret and Shanja were able to see them approach, but Peiter was facing away as they were walking up. With a grin, La'khay decided to get his attention. "We're back."

When Peiter turned around, he expected to see something different about Sabine, but did not anticipate exactly what he saw. Before getting in the river, all of them had been rather filthy. They had been drudging through the humid, muddy, and thick forest for a week or two with hardly a chance to bathe themselves. They had dirt caked on to their skin, and a smell that would have been unbearable had they not been able to get used to it slowly. Since jumping into the river, most of them had been able to clean themselves well-enough, but Sabine looked immaculate, as if she had never seen dirt in her life. It was in great contrast to the way she looked when she left. Her hair was professionally styled, like some of the nobles he had passed in the street back in Chorrol, and unless his eyes were deceiving him, it actually had a low glow to it which served to, quite literally, brighten her face.

"I...wow." Peiter said once he had a chance to take in the changes. As his gaze darted across her form, it was obvious that he was admiring her.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Peiter was not certain why Tzirret seemed to have trouble answering, but he was far less hesitant in his response. "I think I've never seen a forest quite like this before. I grew up in Chorrol, which is also in a forest, but it's not as thick or as hot as this. The trees aren't as big, and it is a lot cooler. And there were more open areas. And compared to Bruma, it is like an entire different world. That is a place of snow and mountains, and in the places that do have trees, they are always much smaller pines. Everything since I arrived has been new."

"Hmm, you think these trees are large?" Jo'rashaad commented. "Have either of you ever seen the trees of Valenwood?"

La'khay was nearly finished scrubbing Sabine's back, and did not pause as she answered. "There just seems to be a lot of passion between you. You are always holding each other, kissing each other, and you've hardly spent a moment apart since you have been together. It's the beauty of young love; La'khay is almost jealous of you. She can only imagine the passion in your mating; you simply must describe it."

Shortly afterwards, La'khay finally finished scrubbing the places Sabine could not reach. She stood up and took a few steps back away from Sabine to get a good look at her as a whole. She looked her up and down carefully before pulling her expression into a grin. "There we go. Your hair is perfect, and your body smooth and glistening. You will be irresistible."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Shanja gave a nod, and a huff that seemed to just be an acknowledgement, at Tzirret's answer. He paused briefly to lay himself down in the shallows, so that the water could still wash over him while still leaving him close enough to the shore that he could write. As he was getting settled, Jo'rashaad, who had been relaxing on his back on the surface of the water, swam close enough that he could speak to them, but still remain mostly submerged if he laid down on the riverbed. "Well, this one sees that you all are getting along." He commented.

The Senche nodded to Jo'rashaad as well, then wrote another question in the mud: "You like Pelletine?" Since Tzirret had hesitated on his last question, Shanja made sure to add the proper punctuation this time, to be clear.

Ciinriel chuckled as she reached out and gently touched Sabine's hair. "Well, I might be shiny, but your hair is positively glowing!" She joked. "I would love to have some of it, if it isn't too much trouble to make, of course. My hair is too short to have it done like yours, though. It still hasn't grown back out all the way, yet."

La'khay had not been lying when she said she wanted to remove every speck of dust from Sabine's body, as she was as thorough as she could be once she started helping to wash Sabine. At least this time, Sabine could actually provide some help in washing herself, but La'khay was going to make sure that nothing was left unwashed. When Sabine complimented her, however, she did acknowledge her with a smile. "Thank you. La'khay simply loves beautiful things, and she loves to help make things beautiful. People, paintings, sculptures, she loves working with them all. Between just us, if La'khay was not in the service of Hircine, she would be a priestess of Dibella. Peiter is a handsome man as well, isn't he? La'khay thinks you two are good as mates. This one thinks he will have a hard time taking his eyes off of you when he sees you like this."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Peiter nodded to Tzirret in agreement. "He said the same size? I can't read Ta'agra, so I'll need you to translate. I suppose it does make sense, though. It does make me wonder what the point of actually transforming would be, but...I guess it would give you arms and hands and such, doesn't it?" He asked Shanja, to which he received a quick nod.

To Tzirret's question, Shanja wrote out the words born werewolf. Although, he did not stop at just answering Tzirret's question, and instead asked one of his own: Where you from.

Despite Sabine's uncertainly, La'khay smiled in her response. "Of course it will make you prettier. Human body hair is so scraggly. Trimming or shaving it makes your entire form look even and smooth, like freshly washed fur. Some of the girls this one used to work with did it all the time. Just trust La'khay, you will look perfect." She said confidently. "And don't worry, we're not going to be submerging your hair again, just washing your body. That oil won't wash out easily, don't worry, but you should at least wait until Peiter sees it before getting it wet again. Normally, La'khay would have done the body first, but she wanted to show you what she could do."

Since Sabine agreed, La'khay got to work trimming down the rest of her hairs. She shaved down the hairs on her armpits and groin to be as short as her claws would allow, then moved on to her legs. Her claws were insufficient for the task of shaving them entirely of hair, but she could go through and cut the hairs she deemed to be too long. "Ciinriel, please get the soap ready. This one is about done here."

Ciinriel complied and grabbed the soap from the shore, then sat by Sabine as she waited for La'khay to finish. For a few moments, she stared at Sabine's head for a few moments in silence before she realized that Sabine had noticed her staring. "Oh, sorry, it's just...your hair is beautiful Sabine. Those streaks of color look nice, kind of like the stripes of a Khajiit. I wish I could have mine look like that."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Shanja acknowledged Tzirret's question, but after a pause, it seemed to take him longer than Peiter would have thought to answer a yes or no question. All at once, he turned away from the pair and walked towards the shore. At first, Peiter worried that he might have offended him somehow, but then he saw that the Senche was scrawling a few words in the mud. Once he swam over to him, Peiter saw a few words written in the mud, but as they were in Ta'agra, he was unable to tell that he had spelled out the words: same size.

La'khay gave a quick, amused grunt at Sabine's question. "Oh, if La'khay could, she would. It is a treat when she can get the soaps, oils, and other nice cosmetics. Strictly speaking, Khajitt does not need those things to get clean, but it is always so much better when she has them. Ahnasha doesn't seem like the type who would care for such things, though." She explained.

Once Sabine's hair was clean enough for La'khay's liking, which meant being almost entirely spotless, she guided her over near the shore once more and instructed her to sit down in the shallows. From there, she began the work on actually styling her hair as desired. She took the oil and lathered it lightly across her head, then carefully and meticulously straightened out each length of hair to near perfection. Once straight, she took the ends of the hairs and pulled them out between her fingers on one hand, then used the claws on the other to cut any excess hair from the longer strands so that they were all the exact same length. She repeated this all around her head until her hair was both perfectly straight and even. It was just as Sabine described that she wanted, but La'khay had one more step that she thought would really make it unique. Taking more of the oil, she applied some of it once more to Sabine's hair, but not evenly this time. Instead, she lathered it on in streaks running down from the top of her head, to the end of the strands. Because she had applied the oil all across her head, all of her hair had a certain lustrous glow to it, but where she had applied it more thickly, there were streaks of an even more vibrant auburn color. Overall, the quality of La'khay's work was that of a professional, and if Sabine liked the style, she would certainly be satisfied.

"There we go. It looks...perfect." La'khay said with a smile. "Go over there if you want to get a look at it." She said, pointing to a slower moving part of the river where her reflection would be more visible. "Now, we just have to work on the rest of the body. La'khay wants to make sure there isn't a speck of dirt on your body when you return to your mate. This one wants you to be perfect. La'khay can trim up the hairs on your armpits and loins, make sure your back is clean, and especially make sure the nails on your fingers and toes are clean as well."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Peiter shrugged his shoulders. "Oh, no reason in particular. Just curious. They just look so...powerful. It's almost like turning into a lycan would just make them smaller...unless that form is even bigger? I'm not sure how that works. The Khajiit are a lot more interesting of a people than I ever would have expected."

By that point, Shanja took some interest in what the pair's conversation, since they were talking about his kind. He stood up from where he was laying in the river and approached them. While Peiter and Tzirret were able to swim around, Shanja still had all fours firmly planted on the riverbed when he stood alongside them. He seemed intent on joining the conversation, even though he couldn't actually speak.

La'khay turned for a moment and eyed the bottle of soap closely for several seconds before giving her answer. "There...should be enough, yes. More than enough, really. Just don't use too much, and you should be fine."

Ciinriel nodded and grabbed the soap, while La'khay brought Sabine to the point where the water came up to her neck, told her to take in a breath, and lowered her head back into the water to wet her hair. La'khay started washing her hair quickly, and quite thoroughly. Given the heat and humidity, and the fact that their group had rarely had the luxury of bathing over the past few weeks, her hair was rather badly knotted and dirty. It would be something that would likely take Sabine quite a while to clean, but La'khay's method was efficient, and effective. It was almost as if she was massaging Sabine's scalp at the same time as she washed her hair. "You know, La'khay thinks you Humans are lucky. This one does like her fur, but it is a real pain in the tail to keep nice and clean. It covers our entire bodies, and picks up all the dirt we come across. Humans just have to worry about the hair on their heads, under their arms, and on their loins. And on the chest, for the men. You have all those short little hairs everywhere else, but they're nothing like our fur."

Meanwhile, Ciinriel split her attention between observing La'khay, and washing herself. She used some of the soap from the bottle on herself, though she was very careful only to use up the minimum amount to keep herself clean. In all likelihood, she could have used much more and still left plenty for Sabine, but she wanted to be safe. It was easy for her to tell that the soap had alchemical properties, as it was not like any she had used before with the way it felt, along with its scent.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Peiter started to laugh at the suggestion that they could be carried away by the river. "Tzirret, you're never going to stop worrying, are you? No one would bathe in this river if it was dangerous enough to carry you away. Besides, it's not like we're in the ocean or anything; you're not going to get lost in the river."

Looking around for a moment, Peiter's eyes settled on the Senche a short distance away upstream. "Say, have you ever seen a Senche before today?" He asked Tzirret.

La'khay seemed surprised when Sabine described what the oil could do. It was not exactly what she expected, but it only took a few moments for some ideas to come to her mind. "Glowing, you say? That's...yes, La'khay thinks she can do something with that."

Setting down the bottle on the shore nearby, La'khay brought herself in front of Sabine, placed both hands on her cheeks, and started moving around her head to look at it from different angles. "Long, straight hair with a bit of...yes, that would work nicely. Very nicely. This one thinks it is a good choice, don't worry. She won't cut your hair; she may need to trim the ends a bit to make them even, but she will keep it long. She will wash it really well, get out all the knots, then make it nice and even. The oil can make it even, and maybe something else La'khay is thinking. And after your hair, we can wash up your body. So, long, straight, and lustrous hair; you sure that's what you want? If so, just come with this one over to some of the deeper parts and we'll start washing."

Ciinriel had already lowered herself up to her neck in the water and was listening to La'khay explain what she intended to do. While La'khay worked on her hair, Ciinriel figured she would go ahead and wash herself, though she did find herself eyeing the soap next to the oil on the shore. "Sabine...do you think there's enough of that soap that...I might be able to use it too?"