Muttonhawk

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

"Hmm," Fendros hummed in fascination, "That would explain why there are so many of them on people's fingers in Argonian cities."

Janius began to cut another piece of meat for himself when he spoke. "It sounds a little more convenient than with amulets, at least in asking people. In Cyrodiil and other places, potential spouses have to wear this special amulet around their neck with the symbol of Mara, the goddess of love, upon it. That is the indicator that they are looking to marry. In that way, showing your eligibility is a little passive. The ceremony is done by a priest in a temple, with two rings blessed by Mara, although, they aren't as specific as gold and amethyst."

"Er, how about we talk about something else?" Ariel didn't realise that the volume of her voice had increased. She wasn't sure that she could handle such a topic any longer. She looked at Ahnasha, "How about Rhazii? Ahnasha, I remember you mentioning that he would grow up to be a rather large variety of Khajiit. When do you think he will start to assume that form from his infant form?"

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

"Because you are mates, and I asked Ariel, and she told me that it would depend on if you asked her to marry you." Sabine's answer was as blunt as her question. She looked at Rukeewei with eyes that demanded an answer, even if it wasn't polite to ask such things in front of everyone.

Ariel exhaled, and then bowed and shook her head. She knew that Sabine would reply in such a way. If only Rukeewei knew the depth of her curiosity beforehand. "Sabine, please," Ariel said, having recovered enough from her hysteria, but still giving off a little annoyance, "Marriage is an important decision, one that takes time and consideration. I trust Rukeewei, and he needn't say anything yet." The end of Ariel's sentence was punctuated by a friendly pat on Rukeewei's forearm and a smile in his direction.

Now slightly abashed that she might have gone a little too far with her questioning, Sabine looked back down at her meal. "Okay," she said quietly, before continuing to eat.

"Out of curiosity," Janius began, leaning back in his chair and holding his wine in one hand, "Are Argonian marriage ceremonies the same as Imperial ones? Amulets of Mara and all that? With the Temple of the Eight having a lesser presence here, I imagine it would have more to do with the Hist, correct?"

Ariel remained slightly mortified that the subject of marriage was being prolonged. However, for all the defence that she put forward to stop Sabine's question, there was still a part of Ariel that shared her sister's curiosity. All her looks with Rukeewei were slightly nervous from then on.

The Depths of Deception

I'm still here.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Everyone gave some motion to agree with Meesei when she thanked Rukeewei and Ariel for their hospitality. Sabine gave a subdued smile, while Fendros and Janius gave their vocal thanks.

Far from knowing that the Argonian wine would eventually intoxicate Kaleeth with far more effect than regular wine, Janius didn't think to tell Kaleeth to slow down. He simply laughed at her antics, before giving her a friendly pointer about manners. He hoped that she wouldn't be too embarrassed. "Kaleeth, it's traditional in cities to not drink straight from the bottle itself with something like wine."

Ariel leaned towards Rukeewei to explain quickly. "Kaleeth is from a marsh tribe, if you hadn't picked that up already."

While Kaleeth and the others were drinking more quickly, Fendros was taking his time with his wine. "It seems sad that we can only be here for a short time," Fendros looked at Rukeewei with an approving smile, "I could live here forever if it meant wine this good."

Whether it was the drink clouding Sabine's judgement, her own personal naivety shining through, or both, she took the slight pause in conversation to interject with a question. "Rukeewei, are you going to marry Ariel?" Sabine's tone was entirely innocent, as was her face.

Janius and Fendros responded with a chuckle, but Ariel's reaction was more conspicuous. She burst into a laughter that sounded natural at first, but in conjunction with her reddening face, revealed a burning humiliation. She tried to speak through her laughter to extinguish the situation, even though she was clearly flustered, "Oh, Sabine, no, it's..." - Ariel put a hand on Rukeewei's arm - "Rukee, you don't have to ans-...that kind of thing is...no, Sabine," a few more laughs came forth from her, "You really do ask strange questions sometimes, Sabine."

ParaCom: Adversary Inside

Are anyone other than the co-gms still around?

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

So, around about next week, I'm going to be visiting both sets of grandparents interstate for Christmas and New Years. I'll be bringing my laptop along, but just a warning that I can't guarantee consistent internet while I'm over there.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Janius paused in his eating and leaned his chin on the knuckles of one hand. "Well, we haven't really planned that far ahead," Janius conceded, "It's rather a difficult thing, you see. Without a mother to protect him while he's vulnerable like this, to release him into the swamp now may only result in his death. I think we would eventually have to either take him back to Black Marsh when he is big enough to take care himself, or find some other home for him." The thought actually made Janius a little sad, now that he came to it. He had become rather attached to the little creature. "Rukeewei," Janius' expression became more curious than sad, "you wouldn't happen to know anyone in the city who has expertise with wamasus, would you?"

After eating some of her meal, Sabine decided to finally try her wine as well. She took her cup in both hands and lightly sniffed at its contents. It was strong and fruity, just like she remembered. Slowly, she lifted it to her lips and cautiously took a sip. As soon as the wine ran into her mouth, her brow tensed up. On top of the taste from the smell, the liquid was sour in her mouth and as she swiftly tried to swallow it, it very slightly felt like it was burning her throat. At first, she put the cup down and resumed eating, intending to leave the rest of the drink where it was, but she found that the flavour of the wine actually made the meat taste much better, and the meat seemed to cleanse the sourness and the burning in turn. Throughout the rest of dinner, she took a sip of wine before her mouthfuls, experimenting. She got used to the burning eventually, and concluded that the drink was nice to eat with. She didn't quite go as far as to understand why the others liked to drink it on its own.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Hahah! Oh, RPGuild, now you're just getting cute. Well, at least it has been better in the past few days than it was a week or so ago.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Janius nodded while he chewed on his mouthful, refamiliarising himself with eating his meat without tearing it off with his teeth first, but also paying attention to Kaleeth's question. "Mmm, that's..." Janius held the back of his wrist up to his mouth to swallow, "...that's not surprising. When making wine, the juices are stored in barrels for a long time. They lose their sweetness and get...well the way it's described is 'dry', because it can sometimes make your mouth feel that way when drinking it. Enjoy it, as an Argonian, it won't make you drunk so easily."

As Janius seemed to be occupied, Fendros answered Rukeewei's question over their conversation. "He's a hatchling wamasu," Fendros said, before sipping the wine himself, "I'll let Janius and Kaleeth tell the whole story if they want, but in short, they found a nest of them, and as I understand it, Kaleeth-Rei took one to eat, and it hatched. We didn't see fit to leave it to die, so we've trained him and kept him with us." Fendros took another sip, hoping that the full story would not need to be told.

Being not so ravenously hungry to eat quickly, Sabine quietly called Leaps from around the table with a small, "Come, Leaps" and held out a morsel of her meal out for him. As soon as he spotted the offered food, he turned his full attention to it and took it roughly from Sabine's hand. He seemed to gulp it down whole as not a second later, his throat was vacated enough to chirp for more.

At this point, Janius noticed that there was another topic moving along and added his own words. "He's friendly enough, and surprisingly receptive to training. Seems fitting to have him here as the namesake of this inn, hm?" Janius chuckled, "If he is a bother, we can lock him in a spare room with something to eat, but he's been well behaved so far, it seems."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Time for me to finally go Christmas shopping. See you later!