Muttonhawk

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Even Sabine's exhausted mind was not spared from Rhazii's occasional cries during the early hours of the morning. The sound of Kaleeth's movements eventually roused her, bringing her attention to her jaw. It sore from clenching in her sleep. She would have liked to snooze away her stress, if that was possible, but she mustered the will to get up and assist Kaleeth with Rhazii. Sabine didn't eat anything for breakfast, as she wasn't particularly hungry. Ahnasha's arrival caught Sabine's attention as it had Kaleeth's. It seemed a difficult task for Ahnasha to carry so much food up the mountain, but given the circumstances, there were few enough alternatives that Sabine could think of. Before Ahnasha could leave, Sabine stood up and placed a hand on her arm to halt her. "Wait, Ahnasha, is there anything I should do?" --- Meesei's quiet tone with mentioning the rune did not keep Darahil from taking the reminder gingerly. At least, the few cues that flickered across his expression told of it. Still, he responded to Meesei before they separated. "Whenever you need. I would just appreciate that you do not go spreading around the existence of that particular measure." In the walk to the dining hall, Vera seemed to make an effort to try and breathe more evenly, stand up straighter, and even rub the residual moisture from her eyes before confronting her packs. She even somehow wore a smile as they greeted her. Anders, the alpha that escorted Meesei's pack up the mountain the day before, was the first to stand and wave. "Hail, Vera. We were waiting to say farewell before heading back down to the city. I'm pleased to inform that the weather has cleared up overnight." "That's good to hear, and good morning everyone," Vera responded with a surprisingly level and friendly tone, "Travel well, keep the city watched, and thank you again for bringing Meesei here and her pack to us." "It's an honour," Anders nodded, then craned his neck to look past Vera's shoulder. "Is Jerrick around? I thought I might check if he or anyone else needs anything from Bruma before we go." Vera's expression faltered for only a moment, in the form of swallowing hard, but she quickly recovered. "Oh, I'm afraid you missed him. He left early this morning on important business. You know how he can be with sudden decisions." To this, Anders chuckled and grinned knowingly. "I see, when will he be back?" "I cannot be certain. He said at least a week, perhaps more. I was cross to hear of it at such short notice, and I won't be forgiving him soon." Vera said, speaking like a displeased teacher. The smile a moment later showed that it was at least in good nature. "Very well," Anders moved to leave with his pack in tow. He turned to Meesei before he set off out of the room. "It was a fine honour to meet you, Champion. May you succeed in tracking Vile's agents." --- "Hail, Oswall! How goes the hunt for Vile's peons?" A boisterous young man called out from where Oswall's packs were dining while Oswall and Janius approached them. Oswall gave a gruff grunt and smiled as he found a seat for himself, not bothering to even look at the rations to one side of the room. "It's only been one night since the Champion arrived, Lars, what do you expect of us? Pah!" The familiar sight of Gallus beside his charge, Tzirret, sounded from nearby. "Some people have been curious. A couple of us were woken up and spotted you, the other lieutenants and some of the champions packmates wandering the halls late last night." "None of your business," Oswall said dismissively, but still in good nature. --- Harriet also assumed a position amongst her own followers to greet them during breakfast. Unlike the other lieutenants, however, she didn't put on a face. She still held the same glower as she had when she woke up. Some in her packs weren't so discouraged, however. "D'you wake up on the wrong side of the bed this morning, Harriet?" One of her Argonian followers said. One of the few Argonians amongst the clan, Lorag may have noticed. Far from being wrathful, Harriet waved her hand broadly and sounded her disapproval casually. "Aaah, I'm just a little annoyed that I've been given some duties on short notice. I'll not be going out on the hunt we planned today with you ladies and gents." Harriet turned and pointed to one of the burlier wood elves in her packs. "Tariam, you'll lead the hunt today." "Yes, Harriet," the short but strong looking figure said. The Argonian from the start glanced at Lorag and half-smiled at Harriet. "You having Lorag here join us for the hunt?" Harriet grinned and almost laughed. "Nah, he'll be sticking around right here. He can't get enough of me, isn't that right, big boy?" By the way Harriet's packs seemed to react almost obliviously, they didn't seem aware of Lorag and Harriet's follow up encounter from the previous night. --- In contrast to the social intimacy that the lieutenants had with their packs, Fendros observed that Darahil sat amongst his retainers with a disconnected coldness. "Greetings, Darahil," Hadryn, the Dunmer that Fendros, Ahnasha, Kaleeth, and Janius spoke with the other day, spoke in a friendly enough tone, to which Darahil simply nodded. A few more people greeted him, such as the other two that Fendros and the others had spoken with, but Darahil responded the same way. Darahil simply sat and leaned his head on this finger in deep thought while his followers chatted and ate around him. By the way they acted, Darahil seemed to hold his aura of respect in a different way to most. "Do you normally stay this quite during breakfast?" Fendros asked carefully. Darahil didn't shift at all, but he responded in a tone that did not appreciate the implied judgement. "Only when I have important matters to ponder."

The Depths of Deception

I didn't have anyone specific in mind, I was just thinking of another interest check thread. I'll leave it to the GM's discretion.

The Depths of Deception

Have there been any traces of players that haven't posted in ages? Maybe we should get recruiting as we approach the next mission.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

I just realised that I might have a lot of scenes to run concurrently soon. That might make for some long posts soon, hmm. Hopefully uni work doesn't eat up too much time, then. Also, yeah, uni started. Post speed will suffer as it has for now.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

In particular, Vera looked as if she had slept the least of anyone present by far. Her puffy eyes were drooping and struggled to hold attention to Meesei and her request for funds. She nodded tiredly and began to walk without a word to a locked room nearby that held the clan's coffers. She didn't even bother to count out the gold for Ahnasha, but what she handed over was roughly enough to buy a couple of days of food for four people. "I can fetch some extra arms if you think you will need help. Anders and his packmates are probably heading back to Bruma this morning. The storm has to have passed by now," Vera suggested with a voice as dishevelled as her hair. "Given the circumstances, Vera, I don't believe that assigning anyone would be transparent for that task," Darahil wheeled around the corner with some parchment and a quill in his hands. He seemed to have silently followed them and was eyeing the money handed to Ahnasha. The writing he was scratching was likely to record the transaction. The way he looked at them both angrily requested that they step out from the veritable closet of a treasury the clan kept secure. The others proceeded to breakfast with their chaperones in tow, working out the morning fatigue to get ready for the day. Harriet and Oswall, soon enough accompanied by Darahil and Vera, all walked out to the dining hall to mingle with the morning crowd. They all separated as soon as they could to accompany their packs, but they stayed in the same room as if to keep an eye on each other. Before joining his own kin, Oswall spoke to Meesei while they were on the mezzanine. "I could shut people up if you need to make an announcement during a meal time. Did you want to say anything now?" Oswall asked casually, as if out of courtesy more than expecting Meesei to speak.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Apart from some sounds of mild frustration at the inconvenience of sleeping amongst Meesei's pack and waiting for bought food, the lieutenants didn't have any further responses. They all shuffled up slowly from their seats and prepared to find a spot to sleep. There was a small discussion as to which room would be used to house them all, eventually concluding that the meeting room was spacious enough compared to any of their own quarters or Meesei's pack's quarters. Once the bedrolls and belongings were ported, the tense quiet began where everyone tried to sleep except Janius, who took the first watch. The knowledge of a traitor being in their midst did not do great things for their relaxation. Fendros' final watch finished with no apparent incident. He was told of the morning despite the underground environment by distant noises of early risers in the nearby dining hall readying themselves for the day. He had no idea of the position of the sun, but his stomach started to complain of hunger. It was more than enough to want to rise and find breakfast. Though, he knew he had to stay a little longer. The others would get up soon.

The Depths of Deception

While the others were enjoying their wine at a modest pace, Shiva held her glass at her lap. She wanted to pace herself rather than risk getting to eager. She didn't know exactly how strong this wine was after all. She looked at the drink and and swirled it around momentarily while Shuo described how his downtime was. Shiva felt the need enough to add to it. "Well, most of the squads I was in spent time with small gambling games where they could get away with it." Shiva didn't look up from her glass. She didn't seem terribly attached to the memories she was recounting. "I never joined in. Even if they would let me play, I wasn't meant to be doing that sort of thing. I mostly studied. It was within my rights to have access to academic medical material in my role, so that's all I really did. I probably wouldn't know nearly enough about the anatomy of other races if I didn't have so much time to learn." Shiva glanced up and realised that she should probably look more jovial in a celebration such as this. She raised a small smile and looked around at everyone before bringing her drink to her mouth for another sip. "I know what you're thinking; we're really boring. All the exciting stuff in leave happens with people without marks...or, you know..." Shiva gestured to Shuo, "...people on call all the time, or something. What about the Rothian military? What do you get to do?"

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

As soon as Sabine received forgiveness from Kaleeth and Meesei left, a wave of fatigue overcame her. Even though Kaleeth was still talking, she crawled over to her bedroll and slid under the cover. She thought she might respond to Kaleeth once she opened her eyes, but she was unconscious faster than she realised. Everyone's attention went to Meesei as soon as the door to the meeting room scraped open again. Janius was thankful that she turned up before Oswall or any other of the lieutenants felt like stirring up trouble again. There was barely a time for another greeting before Meesei began her proposal. By the time she was done, the notion that Jerrick's murder was a direct betrayal and that she culprit would suffer for it hung heavy in the air between the lieutenants. They held stiff frowns, glancing between each other and the ground. All except Vera, who still looked hollow and wrecked and continued staring at the centre of the table without flinching. A moment passed, then another, and another. It became clear that none of the lieutenants were going to step up. Whoever the killer was among them, the confidence held in their motives was not faltering. The only sound in the room was eventually an almost silent sigh of disappointment from Fendros by the door.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Next post is going up late tomorrow. Had a few things to do today that ate up time.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

For all of Sabine's urgency, a part of her made her exhale in relief to hear that she would be able to finally sleep. She nodded affirmatively to all Meesei said afterwards. She didn't really feel like she was in much danger, but she didn't mind being in Kaleeth's company at all. She was sometimes easily scared, but she was strong. "I'm sorry I couldn't find out what you needed from the poison," Sabine said to Meesei, looking down. She also turned her head in Kaleeth's direction, also with eyes to the ground, "I'm sorry if I got angry, Kaleeth. It was my fault." Fendros lightly ran his thumb over Ahnasha's hand as he held it. He had hoped both that there would be more of a break to visit Najirra on their terms and that their stay in this clan would be safe, but this first night had offered little enough respite. They would just have to wait for Meesei and hope that whatever she was doing would wrap this up quickly. In the time they waited, part of Fendros wanted to try and comfort the nearly completely still Vera in her seat. Losing a loving partner was something Fendros could scarcely bear to think about. Would he be in Vera's state if they never found a way to prolong Ahnasha's life, or lose her even earlier? The thought made Fendros squeeze Ahnasha's hand protectively.