Muttonhawk

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Tzirret was paralysed again, open-mouthed and shocked. He couldn't even follow La'khay with his eyes as she moved to her bedroll. Slowly, he raised his hand to his cheek where he had been kissed and held it there for long moment. He regained his faculties enough to slowly look over to Do'ajee, not changing his expression at all. "Does...she...do...that to everyone?" Tzirret squeaked.

At first, Sabine gave a shrug to Peiter's opinion of La'khay. She didn't know much about the general social attitude towards protistutes, so she didn't know how to respond. When Peiter transitioned to the next topic, however, Sabine looked uneasy. She wanted to talk about this, but it didn't make it any less embarrassing. "Peiter, I...it was not that I was looking to share a bed with you on the ship, I just...I did not want to be pressured by La'khay. You saw how she was with Tzirret. I am..." Sabine paused and looked at Peiter's chest rather than his eyes, "...I am nervous about that. I like you a lot, but..." Sabine was flushed to the point where she almost looked like she would be upset, "I am not ready to do that."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Oh geez, if Tzirret wasn't interested in the first place, he would be about traumatised now.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

"O-okay!" Tzirret spoke through involuntarily pouted lips as his wide-eyed face was held by La'khay. Tzirret wasn't terrified like he was before, but having his face grabbed by a woman was not a situation he was used to. His eyes darted either side of him, "You do not have to grab Khajiit by the cheeks," he protested with a worried brow.

Sabine was laying on her side facing Peiter's bedroll. She might have fallen asleep had Peiter taken any longer. Her eyes reopened and looked up at him. "I like her. She is embarrassing at times, but free spirited." Sabine giggled, "The look on Tzirret's face was good."

While Peiter responded, Sabine bit her lips, wondering if Peiter would bring up her own strange response to La'khay's questions.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Sabine noticed Peiter's look by glancing sideways at him. She gave him a quick, twitchy smile in reassurance, but she suspected that there would be words later. Honestly, it would be nice to talk to him about it rather than avoid it, but she didn't not want to do that in front of everyone.

The speech that La'khay gave was heartening. They had of course expressed their gratitude for being saved before, but everyone knew that their imprisonment was a horrible experience. The gratitude would likely not be understood by the rescuers even if they recounted all that happened.

"Thank you," Sabine said with a nod, glad to be off the previous subject. "Hopefully, we can find your clan unharmed as well."

Tzirret even gave a smile. "We did not do much, really. It was everyone else." Tzirret's smile faded, "Well, I did kill one of them with a spear, but Leaps-On-Elves was killing him anyway." The memories brought back the image of Ciinriel hooked up to the rack and Tzirret gave her a glance and a swallow. "This one wishes we could have found you all sooner."

As was usual when she was nervous, Sabine's appetite disappeared. She stood up and went to replace the unfinished part of her meal with the rest of the food and walked up to the group one more time. "It is getting dark. I am going to sleep." Sabine began to yawn and spoke through it, "Thank you for the talk." With that, she turned and walked towards her bedroll.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Sabine's smile disappeared as the next question was brought onto her. "Have I? N-no," Sabine shook her head slightly, now looking a little nervous as she struggled for an excuse. "I don't..." Sabine swallowed, she felt like she had expectations set on herself now. She held one arm and looked away, "...there was no place on the ship," she managed at the last minute.

It was a weak excuse, everyone in the group knew about the storage rooms in the ship by the third day in. Under normal circumstances she would have been honest, but Sabine had been evasive about this issue with Peiter previously. Now it was being brought up with others, including La'khay, who seemed to treat mating as a way of life.

"Are you okay, Sabine?" Tzirret asked with a concerned craning of his neck.

"Yes," Sabine looked up and smiled, trying to play it off, "I'm fine."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Cool. I'll put that in when appropriate.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Just hypothetically for now: If Tzirret were to approach La'khay in middle of the night and try to stealthily ask if her offer was still open, what would be the outcome? I mean, if for whatever reason she did accept, I reckon Tzirret would be too physically nervous to go through with it, but it might be good for a laugh and/or an otherwise developing moment. In any case, I don't think they're significant enough characters to play the scene out, not that there would be much to play out. It would be a more after-the-fact thing to acknowledge, if anything.

I was thinking of summarising that over the skip to morning, but I would need to know La'khay's answer.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Upon being touched and humiliated by La'khay, Tzirret's tail and the hairs on the back of his neck shot up in shock and he shuffled out of her reach. Thankfully Do'ajee put a stop to it before it could become a scar on his life for as long as he knew all present.

The advice that was given did serve to give Tzirret encouragement, but he didn't show it easily. Perhaps because he now wanted to drop the subject, perhaps because he had put himself in a sad mood in the first place. He still gave nervous glances to La'khay, however.

Sabine giggled at Peiter's words specifically and turned her head to him, "It was funny to see you terrified like you were. Maybe I did not tease you enough." After another quick laugh, Sabine became curious about the others. "La'khay, Do'ajee, Ciinriel, have you been in relationships before?" Sabine gave La'khay another look and tried to tactfully cover what she suspected her answer to be, "Long ones, that is."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Tzirret was so still and wide-eyed at La'khay's teasing that he looked like a taxidermy statue. His face held a equally mortified and panicked frown, but his ears were perked as if either enthused or simply listening for danger.

The reaction caused Sabine to giggle through her nose and put a hand up near her mouth, desperately trying not to spit out the food in her mouth.

The sound snapped Tzirret out of his paralysis. His eyes immediately skipped across to the various faces looking at him and his head cringed down in embarrassment with flattening ears. He even shifted his knees up, but not apparently out of fear like Sabine or Ciinriel would do. Sabine knew why and ended up laughing out loud after barely managing to swallow. Fortunately for Tzirret, she wasn't mean enough to point the reason out.

After another couple of fleeting glances to La'khay and once the laughing had died down, Tzirret managed to speak up. "How does one talk to a girl to get in a relationship anyway? I know where I am, and this one knows where you are," Tzirret gestured to Sabine and Peiter, "what happens in between to get from one place to another? This never knows what to do." Tzirret looked down further, "And Tzirret is not handsome. Only adults who want Tzirret to not be sad call him handsome."

Sabine felt sorry for Tzirret, but she did not know enough about what exactly made a Khajiit handsome to give an honest response as he wanted. As for how to talk to girls, Sabine decided to give her opinion, though it was not an elaborate one. She spoke with a sincere smile, "Just make more friends, Tzirret. Something will happen."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

I've been in one that concluded properly, but it wasn't nearly as long as this one. In fact, with as far as I can see, we probably have at least another thousand posts before this ends.