#;;closed reply

[luckydxy]

@duchesstart​ ;; closed starter  ❦

Could she have asked prior to pillaging the cakes, puffs, & whatever that delicious bowl sugared somethings was ?  Of course, but that left an opportunity for refusal.  Couldn’t have that.  Better to beg forgiveness than ask permission.  Or so she tells herself.  Not that she’d planned on being caught in such a compromising scenario of gluttony & utter bliss.  Ah, but her plans were just as fleeting as her impulses.  Young mortal tenses comically ‘pon the entry of another, bolting towards an open window whilst cramming the remainder of the cake in hand squarely into her mouth -- tripping over herself in the process.

Her Grace wasn’t so graceful today.  It seemed House Mania wasn’t enough to keep her curiosity, or appetite, sated -- she knew not where she was or whom had approached but she gifted them a charismatic, if not pitiful, tight lipped grin. 

[mxxnblind]

@scdarys​ ;; cont. 

     “ i can’t help it. ” an uneasy crimson gaze flickers up to meet her own, fingers twitching against the bedroll underneath him. even after the relics had been locked away, after robyn had taken him on her adventures, had spared him despite what he’d done and cared for him, the nightmares never stopped. he doubted they ever would, really.

    ralis shakes his head, suddenly all too aware that he’s shaking. “ no matter what i do to distract myself, the dreams always come back to haunt me. seeing the miners and mercenaries dead at my feet– ” one hand raises up to clamp over his mouth as a wave of nausea overtakes him, brows knit.

    “ i’m sorry, ” is all he manages to say.

Honey greets him in a somber light ; glassy & bloodshot.  She hadn’t slept at all, which wasn’t so atypical, shadow her second skin & nightfall her reign, but Robyn had little need of dreams to recall the stiflingly vivid scene.  A different view -- Another perspective.  Yet red ...  It was always red which stains the minds eye.  The blood, the spell, the empty crimson eyes.  She wets chapped lips, shifting in her persistence to keep steady eye contact with Ralis.  Insistent of it.  Wild with emotion, distracted, full  ... He was himself.  & yet not.

“Shall I distract ... ?”  she hovers alongside him, patient, a stained hand creeping along his shoulder in shared solace & with a light squeeze, she pauses, his hand coming up & her attention is torn for only a breath as Robyn instinctively nudges a nearby pail closer.  “These dreams,”  these memories, “they aren’t the only haunts you found in that Barrow.”  the ever faintest of hopeful smiles ghosts across her lips, “you’ve got me haunting you now, if it’s any consolation.”  Robyn’s free hand finds his raised forearm as well, watching his face, ready to guide him.  “damn good with a lock if I say so myself, you can’t keep me out.” 

She wouldn’t let him.  Not again.

[firsnotfurs]

@thyfate​  ;; cont. --- “Bastards can rise high in the world.” 

          “ You’ve certainly got that right, fetcher. ”  the comment comes like spittle, spat out onto the floor in disgust. she tugs at her cape, almost as if to wrench it away from the mans’ presence. to say she was fond of delvin mallory was far from the truth. ever since that guard  ( by azura, what was his name? thronir? strong-fist? b’vehk, she despised skyrim )  had directed her to this upstanding citizen for brokered information, the champion had found herself hating his … well, everything. from the way he seemed to reek of a sewer, to the entire way he presented himself, the champion was, needless to say, disgusted. and she thought herself to be an incredibly tolerant individual. but she supposed tolerance could only go so far, and she guessed she left that somewhere back in cyrodiil several months ago.          with a heavy exhale, she unhooks her pouch of drakes from her belt, and tosses them haphazardly onto the table. a bitter, impatient look is shot his way, crystaline eyes writhing with something uniquely irritated.            " You’re trying my patience, Mallory. I came here for information, not idle chitchat. That’s the full price we settled on, now––- tell me where to find that Stormcloak camp. “

There’s a vile spark cindering hungrily in the embers of his eyes as he drags the payment nearer with clawed fingertips.  He weighs the purse in the palm of his hand.  He could make her wait.  Count out the payment for a more thorough inspection ; an entirely unnecessary precaution for his own bemusement.  Ah -- but a well paying customer was a well paying customer.  A luxury during endless nights when the flagon was barren of life.  Leaving the formidable dunmer an intriguing sight, to say the very least, whose interests in his library of secrets & information were welcomed.  She came across unlikely to short change him, he had a conditional faith in that much, but if personal intuition hadn’t been enough to convince ; her impatience would.    

Smug is his grin as he, mercifully, tucks the pay into a discrete pocket for later sorting & retrieves a folded bit of parchment from another.  The champion would have it her way.  Tonight.  Extending the paper to her the smugness gives way to something darker, more knowing, beneath the seasoned mischief.  

“I can take a hint, don’t let me hold you back from a good time now, yeah ?”  He chortles, “That there will lead you where you need to go.  Mind the weather.  A few of my eyes came in no more than an hour ago feelin’ real sorry for themselves -- nasty skies brewin’ that way.  Watch your step.  Take your time.  They aren’t goin’ anywhere.”      

[luckydxy]

@oriinthel​ ;; cont.

The first question was either ignored or immediately forgotten.  Ara didn’t know the answer.  She didn’t care.  There were more trying matters at hand.  As the Imperial registers Ori’s second question there’s a stinging ache beneath her sleeve.  Extending her left arm she pulls back the fabric --- revealing a small cut gone rotten & blisteringly red.  Ara blinks at it for a moment, taken aback.  Was she still seeing things wrong --- ?  The nick hadn’t been so terrible that morning.  Easily forgotten as she carried about her day, eager to move on from the arrow which had grazed her.   “--- it wasn’t like that.” 

[luckydxy]

    @gvildmastcr ;; cont.   

    “ You’d best answer me quickly, or you’re out of a job. ” There were to be no excuses, no trying to deflect the question, no vying for a change of topic. Oh, no. Not when Mercer was in a mood like this. Already he can feel the Key beginning to tighten down on him, telling him to just stab her here and now and be done with it. It would be one less incompetent recruit to deal with.

    Instead, he curls his fists on the surface of his desk, his gaze as sharp as the blade at his hip. If looks could kill, she’d be dead where she stood.

Ara flinches at the threat wordlessly, bitterly swallowing back down the subsequent banter & cries which tempted her rubied lips.  Any other soul would have fell victim to her vibrant, pitiful, braying --- but Mercer Frey was not just any soul was he ?  The Imperial straightens ; despite age she’d encountered many men of wicked temper but it was not this which threatened her composure.  A studious worker she was more distraught at the concept of failure.      

“It was gone when I arrived,”  she begins again, incapable of keeping his eye, “the lock - it had already been sprung.”  in tatters, really,  “I tore the place apart, Mercer, there’s nothing there.”   she has to pause again before continuing,  “Someone got to it first --- I don’t know who.”      

[luckydxy]

cont  ;; @oriinthel

“Does it?” Ori took in a short breath as she studied the Imperial, and regardless of whether she noticed or not, her hands drifted to guard her pockets, even if she never kept anything in them. No, all of her valuables– trinkets, mostly, gifts given to her by people she’d helped on the road– were sealed up in her pack on her back. She took a step away from the woman. Hopefully she wasn’t a thief, but one could never be too careful. “Trouble usually manages to leave me alone here. I hope it can stay that way.”

A charming smile & mischievous eyes dart across the path ; gleaming up to the mer in a hypnotic, nonchalant, glow.  There were games to be had -- the night && twinkling stars, so very much like diamonds just out of reach, invigorates a primal compulsion within the youth.  Nay ; she meant no immediate harm.  Hardly looked it either ; swathed in crimson hood which engulfed lithe form -- soft leather of her guild armor hidden in vague shadow.  With a blink &&& a tentative step into moonlight she cocks her head with a further broadening smile -- she longed for an engaging evening.  

 “Trouble seeps into everything ; like ink.”  Like blood.  “I wish you luck -- an optimistic outlook you have ; I envy you stranger.  Have you a name -- ?”

[luckydxy]

☠️ @anovisxllando​   

random act prompts ;; accepting

☠️ protect my muse

“Elf said he was the only one down here.” “Do you believe him -- ?”  “Don’t know, do you -- ??” 

Her stomach churns as she listens ; this hadn’t been part of this venture’s plan.  There wasn’t supposed to be anyone else here  -- let alone other treasure hunters.  Ara frowns, slipping over a ledge & swiftly down a hall on silenced flighty steps, willing away her desire to strike out now.  Cowards - Bastards.  Where was Anovis - ?

Skidding around a corner of the nordic tomb she hurries past fallen draugr & remnants of solved riddles && traps.  A gemstone claw drumming against her hip in a numbing succession as it bounced within her satchel --- the intruders wouldn’t be able to carry on any further without it.  Ara had scouted ahead ; locating the puzzle door after a strenuous && claustrophobic effort.  Having clambered through a narrow crevice which failed the ancient architecture.  She had fulfilled her ever chipper promise to the mer ; returning & opening the gate which bared him from following after her - his height denying him access even through the crumbling crack.

It hadn’t been long ----- She’d been certain to make haste ; wishing to keep her word & reunite.  Where was he - ?  Ara had expected to find him waiting ; instead he had given her a vital chance as unfamiliar voices echoed throughout the eroded halls.  She’d find him.          

[luckydxy]

   @generalofthenorth ;; cont.    

    Tullius didn’t know how long he had been crammed in this godsforsaken cage with no visible windows to tell when the sun had set or risen, but he could guess that it had at least been a day or two judging by the hunger pangs and thirst that had left his mouth and throat achingly dry.

    His head snapped up from where it rested against the cold bars when he heard a noise. He straightened up as much as he could in the small amount of space looking for the source until his gaze locked on a young dark haired woman. Tullius wasn’t sure if she was involved with why he was caged like an animal but she was the first person he’d actually seen since he’d been tossed in here and he was getting more and more desperate the weaker he got.

    “Please don’t leave,” his tone was urgent but made sure to keep it low so as not to draw attention from anyone else that may have been nearby and prayed she didn’t spook easily. “If you could lend me a hand I’d be more than happy to reward you somehow.”

The younger Imperial manages to maintain her practiced silence despite the sudden flinch that brings her shoulders to a sharp, surprised, hunch as she pauses.  Truth be told, Ara hadn’t noticed him until now.  At least not within proper light & mind ; abandoned cages often held abandoned bones, little more.

So she simply listens for a time.  Making no move towards him nor away ; perplexed & lost in contemplation her brow is furrowed slightly.  This was inconvenient to put it lightly.  Uncomfortable to a point.  Forts along the countryside regularly accommodated a never ending rotation of hosts, as she’d regrettably learned,  it wasn’t uncommon to find soldiers one evening && bandits the next.  Ara, more often than not, made a point to avoid such squabbles &&& personnel.  Of course ; she couldn’t always expect to be an unseen shadow on the wall.

A youthful face frowns before hiding itself away in a flourish of red.  Pulling her hood up with a flick of her wrist & managing a testing step towards the caged man.  He seemed  ...  Worn.  Desperate.  Vulnerable.  Perhaps enough to fancy a thought in his favor.  “Why are you in there -- ?”  Ara asks innocently enough, “People are left in cages for reasons.”