Muttonhawk

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

"Ah," Fendros said with the opposite of enthusiasm, "Well, it had to happen eventually. Hopefully it isn't just another argument."

When Janius headed up and heard the explanation, he gave an understanding nod. "I can keep an eye on them if you like, Kaleeth, however..." Janius turned to look in the general direction of her hammock, "...she needs to rest. She just discovered today that she could join in the fist fights and she had a bit of fun." Janius turned back to them with reassurance, "She'll be alright."

Fendros chuckled, "Her opponents didn't fare too well, I saw it myself. Except for Ra'kalesh, remind me to describe it some time."

Gallus grinned. "I'll be sure to keep that in mind, La'khay. With what I've seen today, there might be some who would have that need in our group. Anyway," Gallus leaned on the table with one hand and took on a more serious expression. He wasn't sticking around for long enough to warrant sitting. "Irenya, I need you to come with me to talk with Ahnasha and Fendros. I think it's time to clear the air." Gallus glanced at her food, "You can finish your lunch first, of course."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Gallus wasn't exactly confident that this method would work, but he gave Ahnasha a thankful smile all the same. He lowered his arms and stood up straight with a nod, "I'll make the arrangements."

It wasn't too hard to find Fendros within the next minute. He was headed down below decks anyway after losing some of his winnings on the following fist fight. He wanted to quit while he was ahead, unlike Sees-No-Colours. Gallus requested that he seek out Ahnasha, but did not go into details before searching for Janius and Irenya. Janius was found next, as he was below decks as well.

When Fendros reached Ahnasha, his purse was a little bulkier than before, but he seemed confused. He approached Ahnasha and scratched at the back of his head. "Gallus said to find you. What's going on?"

When Gallus finally found Irenya, he decided to approach with small talk and possibly gauge her disposition. Irenya was probably receptive to this by now. "Good day, Irenya. How are you?" he asked with a neutral tone.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Gallus moved his head to the hand that was holding onto the netting so he could itch his temple. He stood paused and carefully mulling over his response. It would be very easy to get cross at Ahnasha for being so presumptuous and absolute, but she wasn't wrong on all counts.

"You know...Ahnasha, you're right. I'm not a Khajiit or an Argonian, I may not even be considered a proper Imperial citizen, given that I was born and raised amongst the clan. I can't know your experiences any more than I could know Irenya's. But I'm still responsible for this, and..." Gallus cut off a brewing tirade that would have only served to anger Ahnasha properly, "...Actually, I think we will speak of myself only when it's relevant."

Gallus was about to turn around and possibly end the conversation there, but he stopped with a thought. Maybe he was being to indirect. "Ahnasha, if I were to bring you and Irenya together for a respectful talk, right now, what would you want out of her?"

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

"Myself? Ah, well..." Gallus looked to a nearby wall and let out an uneasy laugh. "I come to this with the perspective of a pack leader, Ahnasha. My mandate is for our team to cooperate, to...prevent friction from stopping us, that is all." Gallus was careful not to take a side in his answer, though that wouldn't stop Ahnasha from forcing the issue.

Gallus returned to his casual posture and looked to Ahnasha with a smile, "Anyway, from what I am hearing, you would be willing to reach out and be respectful if she would, and that is fantastic!" Gallus took a breath and his smile shrank, "Ah, but, how do we make Irenya reach out? Hmm..." Gallus put a hand to his chin and began tapping his lips thoughtfully, "I will have to have a good, long think about that. If you have any ideas, do not hesitate to voice them, or simply act of your own initiative, it makes little difference."

Gallus eyed Rhazii and Newt for a few moments, then closed his eyes and shook his head. Even though Irenya had the capacity to be gentle as a healer, he doubted that Ahnasha would allow her to be alone with them. Every other avenue was difficult as there wasn't much to do on the ship and he couldn't spot any common ground between Ahnasha and Irenya.

"While I am here, Ahnasha, is there anything you would have me do about all this?" Gallus asked.

The Jade Stream

Kyang knotted her brow up at Torako's change of tone and her head went back a bit. She raised a hand slightly. "Alright, alright, no need to get too lady-like. Not with me, Torako-dono."

At that point, Kyang wouldn't have minded if the topic wasn't pursued. Even she could see the subtext in Torako's reaction. This guy across from them, however, added one last detail. Two little words. Upon hearing those two little words, a click sounded in Kyang's thoughts that heralded her tensing up and entering a complete, wide-eyed paralysis. A wanted poster flashed across her mind's eye, depicting a sketched portrait, a sword, and a very dangerous list of deeds. Kyang turned her head slowly so that it was at the minimum angle to spy Torako's face and sword without angling her head down. Oh...

Everything else flew by Kyang's active consciousness without note; the boy's presumptuous comment about Torako's monetary situation, the arrival of her meal, the smell of the venison across the table. What snapped her out of it was a question directed at both herself and...well it was the Tiger Lily now.

Kyang's head jerked suddenly to address the boy. Remembering herself, she grinned widely. "Who, me? I'm just looking for work, I'm good with writing and language. Er, actually..." Kyang leaned her head forward, "Would you know where to find the headman, or the abbot, or the mayor, or someone who might have work in that area? Oh, and I'm Kyang, by the way. I didn't catch your name?"

Kyang tried not to glance at Torako or show any sign of suspicion. If she could get the information she needed, she could leave with no provocation, as quickly as she could. She probably would not see Torako ever again. It would be a shame to leave this soup behind, though. It smelled delicious and it had that little stringy fungus that Kyang liked.

Still, there was some clarity in Kyang's mind that questioned whether this well dressed, slightly ditzy human sink hole was who she said she was. She didn't look like a cold-blooded killer or a master swordswoman. She just seemed too friendly. If anything, the one everyone was shouting about - challenging the temple's masters - fit that bill much better.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Janius grinned, "I don't think any of us would mind being taught some tricks by Ra'kalesh. You ought to ask him, though."

Though Janius had seen Kaleeth in worse states, her wounds did look painful. It was a good thing she was a lycan, let alone that she had healers to help her, else she would have been feeling her bruises for the entire voyage and then some. As soon as Kaleeth was settled, Janius stepped back from the hammock and and turned around, "Sure, I'll go get someone to look at you."

With that, Janius traversed the lower deck in search of either Meesei or Irenya, also catching his eyes on the drunk teens, including the writhing hammock. Janius mumbled to himself as he passed, "At least they're having fun..."

While Ahnasha explained, Gallus listened attentively and nodded in understanding. He paused only for a moment to smile and nod in silent greeting to Janius as he passed. Once Ahnasha finished, Gallus shifted his weight slightly and looked away, pondering. "That is all fair. There is nothing I would object about what you say. There are bigots, you shouldn't have to stand by and tolerate their behaviour." Gallus looked to Ahnasha again, "Irenya, though, I think I can give some insight into. Although she may or may not admit as much to varying levels...she's prideful, she's traditional, she seems very set in her ways. That said, she's patient. That's why she took so long to give any hints about how she felt towards you, Fendros, and Rhazii. What does she feel, exactly? Well..." Gallus looked up at the rafters and twisted his mouth, "...I can't speak for her exactly, but I can tell you that the root of her discomfort comes less from you and more from Fendros. Dunmer, as Fendros or others probably would have told you, are culturally very insular." Gallus took on bored inflections and moved his head from side to side, as though he was recapping something they both knew, "They have a big attachment to their families and ancestors, and...that a relatively young Dunmer would forsake that to marry another race...you see where this is, and that there may be hypocrisy - I did ask her about that." Near the end of his sentence, Gallus gestured forward with the bottle he held.

Gallus then lowered the bottle and took a long blink and a diplomatic tone, "Look, what I am trying to say is, you two do not have to agree with each other on how lives should be lived...but! Irenya has expressed to me that it is not going to get in the way of treating you or anyone else like a member of the team for the sake of the mission and everyone's safety. I would like to know it goes without saying that you have the same attitude?" Gallus looked at Ahnasha for confirmation. This wasn't going to be the end of the conversation, but he needed to deal with the important part first.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

"Of course," Janius responded, returning Kaleeth's smile and standing her up. They carefully made their way below deck, Janius helping with Kaleeth's balance. By the way she was, Kaleeth didn't seem gravely wounded, but then again Janius was not a healer. "Now I have to find some way to entertain myself on this ship. You just hit a prize of fun if they let you fight some more," Janius laughed, "Perhaps I should try it out some time."

Gallus tried to ignore the struggling and giggling of Peiter and Sabine on the other end of the room as he spoke with Ahnasha. He took on a candid tone to approach the issue with no judgement, "Well, she and I had a talk a couple of days ago about that little disagreement in Senchal, back when we landed. I had meant to deal with this earlier, but...as you know, there were some distractions. Anyway, I'm not going to force either of you to apologise, I would just like to clear the air with what was and wasn't said." Gallus angled his head to one side, "Starting off, what do you think of Irenya as a person? Be completely honest."

When they finally climbed into the hammock together and found a stable position to be in each others arms, Sabine didn't hesitate to return Peiter's kiss in full. Though, however close they were in a physical sense, she brushed away any wandering hands.

The Jade Stream

Fair enough, just making sure.

The Jade Stream

This couple of hours hesitation new isn't because I created a waiting-for-player-X deadlock, is it?

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Janius breathed a sigh of relief when Kaleeth yielded. He didn't rightly know how belligerent she would be, but he was thankful that she was lucid enough to know when she didn't have a chance. Janius sat down beside Kaleeth and shook his head, still bewildered. "That was a surprise. I've never seen someone move like that in a fist fight," Janius' eyes went from Ra'kalesh to Kaleeth, glancing at where she was holding onto her side, "Are you okay?"

"Hmm..." Sabine curled her lips as she stared back at Peiter, considering something. She was so drunk that her judgement was as clouded as it was ever going to be, but ironically, she was getting nervously close to her own boundaries. "Can we cuddle in the hammock again?" She murmured.

Rhazii and Newt were both laughing and shrieking in pain and fun in equal measure as they wrestled one another, but upon chiding from his mother, Rhazii's ears drooped and he let Newt get back up from under him. Instead they tried a game where Rhazii was on all fours and Newt would ride on his back, but that would probably be put to a stop as soon as either of them lost their balance.

Gallus put his palm up to head to shade his eyes as he carefully moved towards Ahnasha's voice. He gave Peiter and Sabine no more attention, but he picked up the unattended bottle and scooped up the cards into his pocket quickly so they wouldn't be tripped over. Once he reached Ahnasha, he leaned against the thick netting supporting her hammock with one hand, "Greeting, Ahnasha." Gallus spoke quietly enough that he didn't disturb anyone nearby, "I was wondering if you had time to chat? It's about Irenya." While he spoke, Gallus curiously brought the bottle he had picked up close to his nostrils. A quick whiff was all he needed to scrunch up his face momentarily.

If Irenya was in the room as well, Gallus would probably resolve to find a spot out of the way to talk with Ahnasha before getting the two face to face.