Muttonhawk

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Janius smiled. "Love you, Kaleeth," he said quickly. He pushed off the wall and they proceeded back into the dining room.

They saw all four of the youths still gathered around the fire, grinning at some amusing tale that Julan was recounting. Aurana was in the middle of a snorting laugh while Rhazii and Jatinha had their ears pert and their tails swirling. Off to the side, Fendros and Ahnasha sipped at their cups, passing time. Everyone turned their heads and went quiet when Janius and Kaleeth stepped in.

Knowing exactly what to do, Janius strode up to the group and clasped his hands behind his back. His mouth thinned into a neutral line.

Aurana's grin faded into nervous anticipation, looking up at Janius.

"Aurana, I've tried to think about how I can best help you," Janius said gently. "The truth is that anything I can do has a risk of making things worse. Now, tonight...tonight has come after a long day and I need some more time. We're going to take you home with...Jatinha, was it?"

The Khajiit maid had instantly reverted to her professional smallness. She nodded.

"...right, we're going to take you home and get in touch with you tomorrow morning. We may knock on the door with Kaleeth and Julan, or we may simply leave you a note, but I promise we'll contact you to help you. Is that alright?"

Aurana turned her eyes to one side. She opened her mouth and was lost for words. Her hand crept up her other arm anxiously. "I was hoping you would be able to talk to mother and father tonight."

Janius tsked. "I'm afraid that I don't know what I would tell them just now."

"Oh." Aurana bowed her head. Her chest silently sank. Still, she looked up to Janius again. "Would you speak to them tomorrow?"

"Maybe."

The corner of Aurana's mouth twitched and her eyes went wandering again.

Janius knelt down. "Hey," he breathed. "I'm not going to just up and leave on you. I promise."

Aurana nodded rapidly. Her uncertainty did not abate.

"Now, it's getting late and it looks like Aurana's dried off." Janius looked to the youngsters, Julan in particular. "You can stay up for a little while longer, an hour, perhaps, but then we're to walk the fine ladies back, understood?"

---

Lunise had nothing to say in return. At least not in that exact moment. Her residual sobbing turned into shallow, if slowing breaths through her mouth. She lifted her head from Meesei's shoulder, staring at the wall past her for another minute or so, still holding her.

Eventually, she swallowed and took a much deeper breath. This one was smooth and long, likely how she intended to breath to calm herself before breaking down in her chair earlier.

"Very well." Her regular voice had returned, earnest and awkwardly stilted. It was a change from her usual condescending tone. "We may be friends. Let it not be said that I do not have other friends, Khajiit and Altmer in Anequina and the Summerset Isles among others, nor that I only make friends in moments of weakness like this. It is simply...unprecedented, on this occasion. And, you may be the only friend I have that would not kill or arrest me for knowing what I know." She huffed and continued speaking towards the wall behind Meesei. "Champion, at this stage, I believe the best course of action is to continue my assignment with you and the lycans. I will even have to return the documents to avoid alienating the entire Dominion and putting our treaties with you at risk. I cannot fathom how to remedy the situation with the Thalmor but I am not the only one with attachment to my country and the world. Any moves against them must be at an elven pace. This matter with Clavicus Vile takes precedence."

Lunise's arms had still not budged.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Janius blinked his eyes ahead and sighed through his nose. "And, like that, we're back to the start. Let me think..."

With his puffed up eyes scrunched shut, Janius quietly ran through what he could in his mind. By the way his head seemed to falter this way or that up against the wall, he was barely able to keep himself awake, let alone put together intricate plans.

After a while, he ran a hand down his face in futility. "I just don't know. Short of her leaving a note and us taking her on a holiday, I don't see how else we'd be able to convince out parents that she shouldn't be cooped up." He groaned, tired. "I don't want to meet with them again, I really don't, but I might have to. Not tonight, though. Tomorrow at the earliest. I can hardly think anymore, the day has been too long."

Janius took one more deep breath. He addressed Kaleeth with his frustrations put aside. "Is that alright with you? Did you want to come along?"

---

Lunise once again held her breath when Meesei embraced her. Meesei could not see her widened eyes blinking, but she could feel with her hands the wood-like tension in every muscle on Lunise's back.

Eventually, Lunise had to let go of her breath. The former half of the breath whistled out in a strain. The latter half wracked her whole body with uncontrollable shuddering. Where before her sobs had been contained by a desire to stop, she now planted her chin onto Meesei's shoulder and let out all the emotion she had. The sheer volume of her weeping would have attracted attention had she not forced her tongue against the roof of her mouth as hard as she could.

In the episode, Meesei felt Lunise's arms wrap around her in turn. As Lunise squeezed her, she began to lean some of her weight on Meesei, each cycle of shaking breaths and distraught sobs having her lose more of the strength in her legs. Years upon years of grief and loss poured out in an avalanche, compounded with the revelation of the documents.

They were locked together for at least two minutes. The sheer amount that Lunise had bottled up could only be guessed. Warm tears covered Meesei's shoulder, and although Lunise was taller and older, the only one who had cried this hard against her was Sabine.

Fortunately, Lunise never fully lost her balance in the embrace. The more concerning flood of emotion did eventually calm to a stream in Meesei's arms. Lunise's arms did not loosen, neither did she even pull away to speak to Meesei's face. Little words creaked out of her -- pitiful, despite her relatively deep feminine voice. "You should not trust me. This is a poor position for both of us. This is weak of me -- I don't want to stay alone."

She did not show any signs of letting go. Meesei could feel it in her back; she was so soft now.

Mid/High Casual - Divinus: The Deity Roleplay Mk.II

Had Heartworm the choice, it would have arranged the Empire like insects in the snow, breeding, feeding, divided by bodily function, their sentience as specialised as their form. Antarctic termites, tunnelling as one vast entity of a million units.

@Antarctic Termite

YOU JUST SELF-INSERTED INTO A SIMILE
THAT'S A NEW LEVEL

Also, while these creations are all very awesome, I fear for your mental health as that pile of unfinished creation sheets and wiki articles grows ever taller.

So, there's this EU case I want to remember called Metock - decided 2008. It basically interpreted Article 3 of the Citizen's Directive 2004/38 as requiring citizens of the EU to have moved from their member state of origin to a host member state before relying on EU law regarding free movement. (Did you understand any of that? Yeah, me neither).
I was looking at this case, Metock, and I thought to myself - that sounds a lot like Mutton. Hey, I know a Mutton. A Mutton Hawk. MuttonHawk. Muttawk. Metock. It's perfect.

Thank you Muttawk, your username has saved the day.

@Kho

I'm curious to hear of any other cases that are kept in your memory by the usernames of people here.

Double Capybara is one which I cannot envision being boring. Neither's Cyclone. Probably a few others as well.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Janius was still unsure, but he nodded. "That would certainly be worth asking her. I saw that she tensed up when I was disciplining Julan and Rhazii. I can only imagine that mother and father make her paralysed." Janius put an arm around Kaleeth's waist. "It's a good thought. They might not even realise how it's making her feel. If they can realise that they are being unreasonable, and if Aurana is the one to make them realise, it might work out better in the end. Then, if they go back on it, Aurana could stand up for herself again."

Their concurrence naturally lead Janius to the next step. "How do you think we should go about that?"

---

Lunise kept her face in her hands throughout. She tensed at Meesei's touch, but then let her shoulders sink slowly lower than before. She took a moment to compose herself to the point of speaking again, though she sounded at a loss. She shook her head. "This isn't your place," she whined behind her tear-soaked hands. "You're not supposed to help me. You're a...you're another party. You should be a threat."

Lunise drew a long, uneven breath in and out. "No one has touched my shoulder in over three decades."

As if realising that she had spoken her thought, Lunise held her breath. Her hands lowered. With a pace slow enough to keep Meesei's hand on her shoulder, she stood up from her chair, letting it sing a scrape on the ground as it was pushed with the back of her knees. At the same speed, she turned around on one foot to face Meesei fully. She stood just tall enough to loom over Meesei. Her cheeks, where not stuck with her unkempt hair, glistened with tears all the way from her chin to her dark and red-ringed eyes. She breathed silently through her open mouth, evidently blocked in the nose from her sadness, as she brought her eyes up to look Meesei in the face.

Her face pulled at the brow, pained with some mental effort. All she could produce was another sudden sob. She closed her eyes again and broke down into open weeping in front of Meesei.

Mid/High Casual - Divinus: The Deity Roleplay Mk.II

@Frettzo Please stay alive.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Well, moving countries is as good an excuse as ever to build a new gaming PC, so I'll keep you posted. I've been wanting to get into Overwatch for a while now.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

North-west. Any more specific would be telling on the internet unless I start visiting you or anyone else on this site.

Anyway, I'm at the cinema now, so I might drop off for a bit.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Congratulations yourself, then!

I won't know the exact work I'll be doing until I'm sorted into a team, but I do know that I'll be developing software. Probably high abstraction app stuff. Either that or back end cloud stuff. I'll see.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

I got the job! If I accept their offer, I may be moving to the US in several months. Kinda goddamn pumped right now.

I'm flying home tonight. I might get a post in at the airport, we'll see.

:DDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

Mid/High Casual - Divinus: The Deity Roleplay Mk.II

There once was a doofus named Muttonhawk
Who applied for a job int'national-sorts
His coding proved sound
And made final round
For his efforts, a letter of offer's brought!

In some months -- at his recruiters decree --
He shall off to the land of the free
With all these good vibes
His excitement contrived
Great thanks for his friends in RP!