Muttonhawk

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

"Excellent," Gallus gave a respectful smile, "Now, as for those details, there is a list of things to go through, but for now, we might allocate a group to pick up the clothes and shackles we'll need. My pack is available, as always, but anyone appropriate would do."

---

Tzirret returned Bheja's wave while he chewed and approached. It took a few more moments to finish his mouthful, but once he did, he spoke on behalf of those he had brought. "Yes, well...Peiter here is Tzirret's pack brother," Tzirret gestured to each person as he shared their name, "Sabine is part of the champion's pack, and La'khay is part of Ra'kalesh's pack that we rescued on our way here." Tzirret smiled nervously, "They are all friends."

Turning to one side, Tzirret spoke to the others, gesturing to his new friends similarly. "This is Bheja, M'ibasa, and Ma'tanza." Tzirret looked to M'ibasa, with Ma'tanza's body as an involuntary way point, "M'ibasa does not speak Cyrodilic, I think. Good morning, M'ibasa." Tzirret switched to Ta'agra to greet the younger sibling.

"Good morning," Sabine said with a bright look, "It is nice to meet you. I am glad that Tzirret got over his fears and made new friends."

Tzirret very slightly cringed uncomfortably at Sabine's words. Exactly what he feared was taking place. Of course it would be the reserved but blunt Sabine that would reveal his anxious nature. He only hoped that Peiter and La'khay would not exacerbate it.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

What Colours described was worse conditions than Gallus had expected, but it made sense given the general attitude towards slaves.

"I...can understand your reservations, Ri'nakhad," Gallus offered, speaking carefully, "If it will help the matter...we need not necessarily keep extend the ruse for longer than it takes to steal the slavers' ships. If we simply commandeer their ships, we will risk suspicion from any patrols we encounter, and we will not have the slavers' expertise in that matter, but then no one need be in chains at all. The important part is to get the ships and the supplies." Gallus angled his head and looked to the table, "Although, there will still not be very much personal space for everyone."

---

A hint of Tzirret's former self came across his demeanour, making him lower his ears and bend forward. "Oh, uh, Tzirret would not want to impose. They have breakfast with their prides, he thinks."

Sabine had brightened up and looked to Tzirret when he mentioned making friends as well. It was no wonder he had been in such a good mood. Nonetheless, she was not going to let him keep himself down. She wanted to meet them as well. "Come, Tzirret, we will not make them hate you!" she encouraged, "Where are they? It will only take a moment to exchange names."

Tzirret knew Sabine wasn't being entirely true. They would chat and possibly share just how much of a coward Tzirret normally was. Still, looking at Sabine and La'khay, they would not be letting this go if he argued. Tzirret instead straightened again and looked around the cooking fires. "Um...there is Ma'tanza and M'ibasa...and Bheja," Tzirret said as he spotted them, "I do not know where Qa'habi is, probably nearby."

With a friendly look, Sabine stood up and gently tugged on Peiter's hand to do the same so they could speak with Tzirret's new friends. Tzirret frantically tried to stand up faster and ended up stuffing the rest of his breakfast in his mouth so he could hopefully prevent any embarrassments unimpeded. They approached the group with Tzirret's cheeks puffed with food and taking under-chewed mouthfuls.

The Jade Stream

Yeah, I was assuming that Torako would delay until after Liu or something.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Gallus bit on his lower lip for a moment. For all his excitement over the plan, his knowledge was limited. "I must admit that growing up cooped up in the snowy wilds with a lycan clan has largely removed me from the very concept of slavery. I do not know how exactly it is meant to work." Gallus nodded to Meesei, "We will need bindings to give the illusion of security, I suppose, but nothing we cannot force out of by transforming. I would guess that there are not many buyers out there, so we would need a name for a client as well. Hmm...civil clothing for those dressing as slavers, I should think. We do not want them suspecting something different. We may even need to research this black market personally." Gallus took a slow breath, but found himself qualified no further. He instead turned to Colours, their contact, "What do you think, Colours? Have you seen how slave transport works?"

---

"I...think I lost count," Sabine continued to whisper, "but we 'made a day of it'. With breaks." Sabine seemed a little nervous to talk about it, but she was actually excited that she could talk with La'khay about it at all. She felt she could be accepted by her now.

Sabine glanced to Peiter again, thankfully he was caught up in his own conversation. The whispers continued in La'khay's direction, "The first time was in the river, the first time for both of us. I took a while to...be ready, and it hurt, but it got better when we went to our room and tried it more." Sabine giggled, "Much better. We tried new things, but we were too tired by dinner to keep going." Sabine's grin shrank into a smile, "Maybe...I will ask advice when we do not have to whisper."

Tzirret smiled in understanding to Peiter and nodded. "A test of endurance...well," Tzirret snorted, "If Sabine made Peiter this tired, perhaps she is getting close to outrunning him." Tzirret let out a small laugh in spite of Peiter, but didn't dwell on it.

"This one went to the river again yesterday. He met some new friends in the clan," Tzirret said happily, making light of his usual crippling anxiety in such matters. "They are very nice Khajiit."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

"Right," Gallus stood up, more enthused than he was about proposing the overland crossing, "Meesei and myself spoke more after the meeting yesterday, trying to come up with ideas for securing supplies or wealth for the journey. In the desperation of this matter, we delved into the possibility of less savoury pursuits. It was suggested to possibly steal a cargo ship from Torval for the food supplies within. In a miscommunication, I thought Meesei was trying to suggest transporting the clan via ships, but it sparked some inspiration."

Gallus leaned over the map and traced a route from the southern coast up the river Niben. "Orcrest stands surrouded by desert, but a sea route may be possible most of the way. See here," Gallus glanced up, then traced his route into the inlet that Meesei had spotted yesterday. "This finger of water here is the Larsius river. It flows from the higher parts of northern Anequina and may accommodate large ships to the northern border of Elsweyr, perhaps a little further. The distance from this point-" Gallus drew a sharp line from the top of the river to Orcrest, "-and Orcrest has some rough terrain, but is a shorter route through the deserts, and closer to existing settlements. Not to mention, travelling over water will be far faster than over land with so many people." Gallus pushed away from the table and began to pace around the room by habit. He held his hands flat together as he gathered the words to continue.

"Now, in an ideal world, we would be able to procure a number of secure, new, crewed ships from Torval without anyone noticing and sail on our merry way." Gallus said with his eyes up at the ceiling. His pacing slowed as he looked to the others again, "This of course is impossible, short of divine intervention, but there are attributes of this clan that put it in a unique position. The majority are Khajiit. Some are Argonians, but most are Khajiit. It was many decades ago that slavery was abolished throughout Tamriel, and not even the Aldmeri have reinstated it, but..." Gallus put a hand in the air coyly, "It still goes on in some parts of Nirn. No one in any port nearby would take on the entire clan on a whim, much less keep it a secret, but there are smugglers in Senchal, at this moment, who would only see mountains of gold in smuggling this much working flesh. We may not even need a large upfront payment with such a deal!" Gallus raised his voice, obviously enjoying the sound of it as he came to the latter parts of the master plan, "Unbeknownst to them, however, we will not go on to Morrowind! Because, before they even enter the Topal sea, they will be set upon by their own cargo. They will think they had loaded slaves to trade in their lives, but these criminals we fool will realise too late that they had filled their ships full of lycans. We could take over at any moment at sea, steer up the Niben, and into the Larsius."

Gallus then lowered his voice, "Of course, travel by sea brings its own problems. We would need crew, food and water, a large scale hunt preceding cast off for the best chance of keeping order. There would be perils as dangerous as the long trek through the desert, but we will not be condemning everyone to die. We would not have to spend time carpentering furniture in the hope that we will find clients who do not ask questions. There are arguments for, and against." Gallus found his seat and lowered himself into it, leaning his forearms against the table, "Colours here may have a contact in Senchal to get us in touch with the slave market. First, though, I would hear what the council's thoughts are."

---

Sabine curled her lips, but with an air of mischief. "More than that, much more," she whispered, "Sorry I did not take care of my hair, but...it was hard to keep it straight on the bed."

Although Sabine did so slowly due to her muscles being so sore, she wrapped her arms around La'khay and pulled her into a tight hug. "Thank you again, La'khay."

Tzirret stood up momentarily to retrieve his own breakfast and returned within the minute. He was expecting to be nervous upon seeing La'khay, but he was surprisingly comfortable with her presence now. He even shot her a smile as he approached. Tzirret resumed his previous seat next to Peiter and took a mouthful of food, but he was curious about yesterday. He addressed Peiter so as not to interrupt Sabine and La'khay's hushed exchange. "So, what did Peiter get up to yesterday? Was it another sword lesson?"

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Ma'tanza's hug took Tzirret off guard momentarily, but he found his wits just in time to return it. Afterwards, he squat forward in the water and swam with broad strokes to follow her back to the others. He congratulated himself for actually handling the situation correctly for once.

The confidence boost Tzirret experienced truly helped him to relax and socialise for the remainder of the afternoon. The group shared jokes, opinions, and stories until eventually they were all called away to various duties. Overall they were very kind people. It was a surprise to Tzirret that the first group he came across would be so nice, all things considered. When he left, he actually was smiling again, sitting straight and confident all the way through dinner and to his bed.

Unfortunately, Tzirret's mind did wander as he tried to sleep, as it usually did. His thoughts went once again to La'khay and the impossibility of romantic involvement with her. He had thought that he had worked it out that morning, but he couldn't help but quietly cry some more. However, now that he had a concrete answer from La'khay, each tear helped with his closure of the issue. He felt as though the burden was all but lifted.

Sabine and Peiter did emerge for dinner as well, looking like they had both been working hard all day. It was not far from the truth. However, while they both agreed that the day was worth it, they also concluded that it was not something they would make a habit of. Once the lust and adrenaline had worn off, they both found themselves sore in sensitive areas and aching in muscles they did not normally exercise. They were dehydrated and utterly enervated. Sabine could hardly stay awake in her meeting with Meesei, but she agreed to look into scalable ways of preserving food the following day. Peiter and Sabine fell asleep in each other's arms not a few moments after their goodnight kiss. Sabine dreamed of him, of course.

Gallus had eventually found Colours after asking around for the better part of an hour. The search really did display the extent of how many people Colours had offended in the clan, with many spitting his name and asking why Gallus would ever have need of such a person.

Colours, after all that time, was found trying to initiate an intimate moment with some young Ohmes-raht woman in her tent, in spite of the tent being not particularly sound proof. Gallus, being short of patience by that point, had no qualms about 'accidentally' kicking out one of the tent pegs and toppling the canvas over the top of the couple to disrupt their foreplay. Shortly afterwards, Gallus and Colours found a spot to talk and Colours shared that he may indeed have had the contacts to enact their ruse. Gallus eventually persuaded him to attend the meeting tomorrow morning and they parted ways once more.

The next day came around for Tzirret with displeasure at first. He awoke in the early hours of the morning with one of his recurring nightmares. When he managed to get to sleep again, the rest of the morning until dawn was graced with a dream most pleasurable. He was flat on his back, both La'khay and Ma'tanza were about to descend upon his with their smiles, right before his consciousness regretfully took over. The reasons for his awakening were not only the light of dawn, but also the embarrassing coolness under his sheet.

After quickly cleaning himself up, Tzirret came out to find everyone for breakfast. He checked where he had retrieved breakfast yesterday and found members from his and Meesei's pack, as well as Ra'kalesh's pride.

"Good morning!" Tzirret said in Ta'agra without even thinking about it. His smile and straight back and ears openly displayed a sunny mood.

Tzirret sat down next to Sabine and Peiter, who were also smiling, but moving sluggishly. "How are Sabine and Peiter this morning? This one did not see you much yesterday afternoon."

"Good morning. Mmm...I am good, but..." Sabine stretched her arms out almost as if she was exaggerating, but she wasn't, "...I am stiff. Too much exercise yesterday."

Tzirret nodded as if nothing was wrong, "Ah, if you were out training, then no wonder Khajiit did not see you."

Sabine smiled wryly and did not correct Tzirret.

While the youths conversed, Gallus finished the last of his early breakfast before approaching Meesei. "'Morning, champion," He began in an upbeat tone, "I spoke to Colours, he may know someone in Senchal that can help us. Did you want to find him and discuss it before the meeting or during?"

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Yeah, I think that was about 3 AM or something close to it. I was carried away streaming a TV series.

Anyway, I'm not sure how many times I'll get to post today, so things will be a little slow.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

When Ma'tanza finally released Tzirret, he sat up and rubbed the strained part of his neck. With the laughter and smiles, Tzirret was good natured enough to show a small smile himself and take Ma'tanza's hand to stand up.

Ma'tanza's explanation in Cyrodilic was actually enough to make Tzirret give a sympathetic look to M'ibasa. Even though M'ibasa seemed more boisterous than he, it reminded Tzirret of his own experiences in struggling with training.

"This one understands," Tzirret responded in Cyrodilic. He turned to Ma'tanza with a genuine smile. "Tzirret was-" is still "-the same for a while. Ma'tanza is a very kind sister."

There was a pause where Tzirret considered saying more to Ma'tanza, but he did not want to leave M'ibasa out of the conversation for much longer. Tzirret switched back to Ta'agra and looked back at M'ibasa, "We were speaking of M'ibasa. He is a brave and persistent Khajiit. Such things are a boon in any sort of training, but especially fighting. Never give up, M'ibasa."

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Gah! You had to catch me just before I was going to finish up for the night. There's another post, I must sleep now.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

With M'ibasa's manipulation of Tzirret's arm, Tzirret immediately realised his mistake, but he was in no position to to effectively resist. Tzirret tried to get up onto his knees to escape, but in that time, Ma'tanza had grabbed a hold of his neck and pressed his head into her collar rather painfully, but his head was sliding downwards...No! Tzirret had to try and resist. Unfortunately, trying to plant his knees to stop them turning him over only had his knees slide uselessly in the silt. Before he knew it, Tzirret was on his back with the siblings firmly pinning each arm and shoulder. Not even he could lift all of either of their body weights with just his forearms. Tzirret brought his knees up and tried to pull out to the river, but he would not budge.

"Okay! Okay! You have Tzirret," Tzirret said, his voice muffled through Ma'tanza's arm. His chest rose and fell, but he no longer struggled. "Ma'tanza and M'ibasa are a good team," he commented with a hint of solemn regret. "Um...May Tzirret stand up now? Ma'tanza's arm is hurting his neck."