Muttonhawk

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

There was no where else Sabine would rather have been either. In Peiter's arms, she laid silently drinking in his presence and warmth. It took a minute to calm down from her emotional recollection, but even then she stayed unmoving for several minutes more.

A long while after the moment had passed, a thought crossed Sabine's mind about what Peiter had said before. She looked up from his chest, giving him an amused smile and a raised eyebrow. "Tzirret gave you advice?" She asked softly, hardly believing it herself, "What did he say, exactly?"

Janius didn't answer Kaleeth directly. Once the woman had walked to the counter, Janius took Kaleeth's hand and gestured his head towards the door with the skooma smell. "Come with me, we won't be here long, I don't think," he said with a frown, ignoring Colours for now. With Kaleeth in tow, he walked over to the door he pointed out and carefully opened the door so that Kaleeth could take a good look inside, whatever was there. All Janius knew for sure was to brace himself for the harsh miasma of skooma fumes that would come pouring out from those who chose to take theirs from a pipe.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Sabine didn't know what else to say. By the way Peiter reacted, it was not clear that he understood the probability of capture, much less the control over it. Still, Sabine was relieved to finally be honest with him, as well as herself. Still with her face to his chest, Sabine wrapped her arms around Peiter's torso and let some joyful tears escape her eyes. "Stay with me. Please." Sabine made no other motion to move.

The place that Colours took them to was obviously doubling as a brothel, given the other characters around the place. Unfortunately, the damaged customers of the skooma den were out of sight for now, which meant that they would be spending their coin before seeing them. Apart from a brief, amused half-smile at the situation, Janius was not giving the professionals in the room any particular heed. He knew why he was there. Janius regarded the evocative Argonian before them with a serious tone, but gave a polite smile all the same, "My friend here says this place sells skooma. May we purchase a single dose? If we could take it into your..." Janius pointed to the door that reeked of skooma, "...back room, that would be appreciated." Janius smile widened, as if he were purchasing something in the market.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

It was a bit awkward to try and sit with her legs off the side of the hammock, so Sabine slid her whole body in, sitting up one side. Wanting to be close to Peiter, she took his arm and gently encouraged him to join her. The hammock wasn't big enough to wrap the two of them completely, but it was enough to support their lower halves together without fear of falling out.

"No. You did not offend me," Sabine said with a smile, "It was..." Sabine paused as her expression lowered again. She couldn't just name her feelings and use that as an excuse. She knew she would have to explain thoroughly. "It is not simple. Three and a half years ago, in Black Marsh, one of our missions from Hircine was to seek out a cult of Molag Bal. We were meant to negotiate a truce. They were frightening people, but their leaders agreed to a truce if we helped them destroy an organisation of vampire hunters. With the cult, we ambushed them and routed them. Though, Fendros and Ahnasha were captured." Sabine's tone turned particularly solemn as she continued, "We tracked them to a settlement where we able to attack with the cult. I did not do as much fighting. I went to find them." Sabine's eyes showed a little fear with her memories and she looked down from Peiter's face, "When I found them, in a dungeon, I saw they had been tortured. Afterwards, we had to hurry back, because the hunters had sent an attack upon the cult at the same time." Sabine glanced up at Peiter, "That is where Rhazii got his burn scars." She looked down again, "That day was not the end of Fendros and Ahnasha's pain. They had to watch one another suffer torture and...they had nightmares. For years, they had nightmares, almost every night, sometimes when they were awake during the day. They still have repeated, painful nightmares. If they had not found Najirra, they would have done something very bad by now. I saw how continued their pain was."

Sabine swallowed and looked at Peiter directly now, looking as if she was going to be upset. "When the hunters found us the day before yesterday, we were almost captured, you almost died. You saw the pain on Ciinriel's face when the pride was rescued, it was the same for Fendros and Ahnasha!" Sabine let loose a tear, "That could have been one of us, or both, watching each other!" Sabine put her head forward so it was up against Peiter's chest. She held him closely, "I wanted to be with you, but I was scared of that pain if I was that close to you. But, I couldn't...I could not get my feelings out of my head. I kept being close to you. Now, I still cannot deny it, even after avoiding you. It is painful trying to avoid you! And-" Sabine tried to take a shaky breath, "I do not want to feel the pain any more."

"We will not be needing much," Janius responded to Colours, devoid of humour. To Kaleeth, he gave her the same tone, "I'll let you see for yourself."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Peiter's first few words after coming out of the kiss made Sabine laugh with futility, but at least he didn't reject her. She angled forward so that their foreheads leaned against one another. Sabine would have just been content relaxing with Peiter, perhaps kissing him more, but she felt as if he deserved to know what caused her behaviour. She whispered her words slowly, "Would you sit with me for a while? I was being unfair before today. I want to tell you why."

"Wait," Janius interrupted with firmness in his voice. Having Kaleeth even entertain the idea of taking skooma was too much. He locked serious eyes with Colours and motioned to stop. He was about to go on a tirade about how they would never go near skooma, about its dangers and its consequences, but Janius only paused. He had a better idea. He breathed in quickly, glanced to Kaleeth, and then looked back to Colours with a softened expression. He raised a finger to point at Colours' chest, speaking in a low voice, "If we're going for skooma, you'll take us to a den with other users." Janius lowered his hand.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Sabine looked up at Peiter with guilt and sadness when he mentioned his pain. She stood her ground when he stepped closer, but second thoughts and panics were nudging at her mind as if she was about to make a mistake. She banished those thoughts as much as she could manage and took one more step forward, closing the distance between then. Sabine's hands rose up and slid over Peiter's shoulders. Her face was still anxious, but she was resolute in her path now. "I can explain," Sabine barely spoke, moving herself closer and closer to Peiter, "But...you do not have to be confused any more." She attempted to kiss him, wrapping her arms tighter around him. She was fed up with the games she had been playing, with her own apprehensiveness, and with being indecisive. She wanted all of that stress to drain out in his arms.

Without knowing it, Janius reflected Kaleeth's look right back at her. Though, there didn't seem to be any particular protest, so he turned back to Colours and answered. "Of course. That would save us some time. I don't know how much they are but..." Janius glanced to Kaleeth, "...I'm sure we could pool some coin."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

With a deep breath, Sabine walked towards Peiter, one hand clasped in the other. She couldn't quite hold eye contact with him. A second after she stopped, a distance such that she didn't have to raise her voice, she began. "I am...I'm sorry. I'm sorry I got mad at you yesterday. That was not your fault. I just had many thoughts in my mind, I was confused and scared." Sabine's grip tightened on her other hand, "I want to continue our lessons, I...like being around you." Sabine wished she had more courage for this situation. This much was causing her knees to begin quivering with adrenaline.

Janius was honestly rather conflicted about Kaleeth's enthusiasm in finding some more moon sugar. On one hand, he didn't want to impose upon her personal decisions - she was not a child. On the other hand, he didn't want to see Kaleeth make a habit of consuming the sugar. Even Janius had taken more than he intended to yesterday, and while it was as good as Kaleeth described, he was wary of getting fixated on it. He had seen inside Skooma dens in Bravil. The last thing he wanted Kaleeth or himself to resemble was any that he saw inside.

Janius tightened one cheek, considering, "Well...alright, but only once. Moon sugar is a bad habit to get into." He looked around for Colours and called out before he got too far away, "Colours! Wait a moment. I don't suppose you have any of that wine left?"

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

I have to go to work in a few minutes. G'night!

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Sabine held Peiters gaze for long enough that she thought something was going to happen. The tension between them had remained difficult to deal with. This was an opportunity to talk, to apologise for her behaviour, to be honest. If it was such a good time and place, then why was she not saying anything? She questioned herself only when Peiter turned to walk away.

"Peiter, wait," Sabine carefully stood up, still looking at him with an anxious expression. "I want to say something."

With little to no gold and nothing but time and sun, Janius was about as aimless as Kaleeth. He held onto her hand and watched the dock workers go about their business. "I was just thinking the same thing. About the crew, I mean. They seem...I don't know, unprofessional, concerning. We'll have to make sure they aren't pulling a con with us." He took a breath and lightened up his tone before continuing. He looked at Kaleeth directly to answer her, "I don't know if there is any wine left, we'd have to ask Colours. I take it you enjoyed it yesterday?"

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

The large ship that was to carry all of the pride and packs did not exactly look like a reputable merchant vessel by any means. The weapons, the crew, and the general state of it made it seem much more like a warship, and the crew and captain did not look like they belonged to a navy. Uneasy glances were traded between crew and passenger alike. It should have been expected that they would have to pay a fare to shady sailors, but it hadn't crossed many minds until then.

Janius in particular didn't like speculating the reasons why such a big ship would take on a discrete smuggling operation. He would be keeping an eye on their heading to make sure they were not being abducted by slavers or something, not that they couldn't fight their way out if that was the case.

Sabine did not initiate conversation on the lead up to boarding the vessel. She had been fairly quiet and distracted ever since she gave Peiter a lesson in magic. In particular she had been avoiding Peiter. She thought she would have given an answer to him by now, but whether she was afraid of her answer or still undecided, she was holding back.

When everyone filed down to the bottom decks, however, there wasn't much space to avoid people. It was dark and dank, but their eyes adjusted to what light seeped through eventually. Unlike the cabins of the previous ship, this room was one large hold for storing cargo. Instead of crates and barrels, there were hammocks set up to accommodate all of their number. The only semblance of privacy to be had were the rope nets that separated the alcoves between the sets of hammocks, presumably to constrain sliding or rolling cargo in choppy waters had there been any.

Everyone found spots to put down their bags and decided without much discussion to return to the fresh sea air above. All except Sabine. She stayed amongst the luggage, seated and thinking. She thought that the relative quiet compared to the city or the jungle would help her peace of mind, but she was still having a hard time thinking with her conflicting feelings.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Hmm. The next scene would likely be Sabine or Peiter confronting one another. Sabine would probably put off making a decision for a few days, so she would actively avoid Peiter until then. I'm not sure whether or not we would be on the ship by that time. If Peiter decides to try and confront her properly before then, we can play out that scene instead.