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Post by raziah on Jan 29, 2012 21:24:16 GMT -6
The trek to Windhelm was one that Raziah had always detested and only made when absolutely required by her line of work. Even after living in Skyrim for six years, the Khajiit was still rather unused to the cold and snow of the more Northern cities.
The only reason she was in Windhelm this time was because she had come into possession of a rather interesting (and rather valuable) artifact relating to Talos. And what with the White-Gold Concordat in place and the Thalmor crawling all over Skyrim trying to squish out Talos worship, there was only one place to sell anything relating to the Man-God and that was Windhelm, the city ruled by Ulfric Stormcloak and headquarters of the Stormcloak rebellion.
The priests at the Talos Temple had praised her greatly for bringing them the artifact, paying her handsomely for it. Now she was heading to Candlehearth Hall to rent a room for the night. She would have left that night, save for the fact a winter storm was brewing and she had no desire to head back to Riften in a full-on blizzard.
She had forgone her Thieves' Guild armor, since she wasn't on official business, wearing her preferred Elswyer style of clothing with a heavy, deep blue cape over it to keep the chill out as she headed towards the famous inn, food and a bed on her mind.
Entering into the inn, she approached the inn keep, keeping the hood of her cloak up. The residents of Windhelm were all rather jumpy around anyone who wasn't a Nord, which Raziah normally reveled in making them uncomfortable, but tonight she wasn't in the mood for games.
"I'd like a room for the night, please, as well as some of your fine, warm mead and a sweetroll or two," Raziah stated, counting out the proper amount of coin and laying it before the inn keeper. She was content that the Khajiit was willing to pay up front and nodded, letting her go about her business without fuss as Raziah walked up to the second level, sitting down at one of the little tables near the large, warm fire. Only then did she remove her hood, shaking her head lightly to re-arrange the fluffs on the tips of her ears, a bit crumbled from the hood's confinement.
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Post by Tells-Grim-Tales on Jan 29, 2012 22:05:41 GMT -6
To the very unusual Argonian, there was no place better than Windhelm. Even though the cold didn't exactly agree with his scaly physique, he rather liked the frosty nip in the air. It was like a constant reminder that he was truly alive, in a way, Grim felt grateful for it. There were numerous times in which he faced death, those moments were treacherously slow and painful, yet he had never felt so alive. The Argonian could remember the long ride to Helgen, hands bound and death certain. He could still recall how cold the block was after the Legate in charge shoved his head into it. Then there was the moment as the executioner lifted his axe.... Grim thought he was ready to die, but for what cause? That was the day that everything changed for the Argonian...
But it certainly made him appreciate life a lot more and Grim spent a lot of his free time at the local inn telling the locals of his adventures with the Stormcloaks and how he took down several mighty dragons along the way. The citizens of Windhelm absolutely loved hearing about all of the excitement, the thrill of the hunt... and for the first time, the Argonian finally felt like he was accepted. As corny as it sounded, Grim felt like he slept a little bit easier when he didn't think the locals were plotting to get rid of him.
At that point of time, Tells-Grim-Tales was on the second floor of Candleharth Hall. The small crowd that had gathered around him finally began to taper off, leaving him at his table by himself. One of the employees at the Inn brought him some more mead and sweetrolls, which were his favorite things in the entire world. As the woman walked away from his table, Grim noticed an unfamiliar face. A khajiit. Odd... normally the guards didn't let them into the city. She must have had some important business, or perhaps the guards were a bit more at ease these days.
It seemed rude to not at least greet this new comer, so the Argonian left his table with mead and sweetrolls in hand and headed over to the Khajiit. When he reached the table, Grim stopped and asked, "Not from around here?" After he thought about it, such a blunt non-greeting seemed more rude than saying nothing at all. "Sorry. I should introduce myself. My name is Tells-Grim-tales, but my friends call me Grimnir. Might I ask what your name is?"
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Post by raziah on Jan 29, 2012 22:25:36 GMT -6
Raziah was very relaxed and at ease. Windhelm was predictable as always, Nords bustling about with their favorite drink and preferred meat, giving her a dirty glance as they walked by. She didn't pay it any mind, long used to the treatment she got from the local humans. That's usually how she picked out her off-duty targets for burglary and pick-pocketing. If you were rude to Raziah, it could be guaranteed you'd lose your most valuable possessions within the week.
She had just started to eat her own sweetroll, enjoying the taste with a very child-like glee. No matter how often she ate her favorite pastry confection, she always enjoyed it like the first time she had eaten one. The Argonian's question caught her off-guard, making her look up with wide, innocent eyes. Very rarely did anyone talk to her so pleasantly, even if the first comment had been a bit blunt. It honestly wasn't the worst greeting she had ever heard. Nope, that had been spoken to her by a big, burly Nord during her first months in Skyrim. His purse had been quite fat and had quickly became hers once his back had been turned.
Swallowing her bite of sweetroll and lightly licking the remains of the sugar-syrup off her lips in a very kittenish manner, she smiled lightly at the Argonian.
"Raziah... called the Fearless by people who know me well. It is true I'm not from the Windhelm area, too cold for this one," she replied. "I'm just passing through on business."
No need to tell him she was with the Guild, or that she raided Nord Tombs in her spare time, nope.
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Post by Tells-Grim-Tales on Feb 7, 2012 2:01:07 GMT -6
Tells-Grim-Tales nodded when she mentioned "business", most strangers in Windhelm usually had the same excuse. But who was he to question what kind of business she was really doing. As long as she wasn't an imperial spy or was against Jarl Ulfric, she was fine in his book. She seemed harmless enough, even though her name was followed by "the Fearless". It was rather interesting and Grim was quite curious to know how she had earned that name. Grim usually left out the "Bone Breaker" part of his nickname, he didn't particularly like talking about it to strangers or people that weren't a part of the Stormcloaks.
"Well then, welcome to Windhelm, Raziah the Fearless," the argonian said in a friendly tone, "Mind if I join you? Free sweetrolls and mead."
(Sorry for the wait and length =[ )
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Post by raziah on Feb 7, 2012 2:13:13 GMT -6
Raziah smiled lighlty. She was on her own time and own coin, so why not spend the evening with this Argonian. He didn't seem to mind the fact she was a Khajiit, and Raziah didn't mind anybody being what they were. She was actually rather glad at the prospect of company.
She giggled softly at Grim's comment of free mead and sweetrolls, her tail waving lightly in contentment.
"You certainly know the way to this one's heart, Grimnir," she stated, nodding to her own half-finished plate. "I take it you live here in the city and not... well..." She didn't really want to bring up the Argonian Assemblage, even though she had a few friends there. In fact, the entrance from the docks was the one she always used to get into Windhelm, since it led to the Grey Quarter, which had fewer guard patrols, meaning fewer questions. The Argonians on the docks generally welcomed her company, since she normally would bring them good mead and food when she stopped by.
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Post by Tells-Grim-Tales on Feb 7, 2012 2:41:35 GMT -6
He set the sweetrolls and mead on the table and sat in the chair opposite of the Khajiit woman once she gave him the okay. So far, Raziah seemed quite pleasant, which was nice for a change. Most of the drunk nords that managed to drag their ancient carcasses up the stairs were horrible company and reeked of vomit and stale ale. It was rare to see a woman there too, unless it was one of the serving girls or employees.
Then she asked him about where he lived since he wasn't on the docks. Grimnir hadn't visited his first home in quite some time since the other Argonians were angry with him for joining up with the Stormcloaks.
"The Argonian Assemblage? Nah, I live near the Palace of the Kings." he told her, "I'm the only argonian that lives inside of the city."
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Post by raziah on Feb 7, 2012 13:31:22 GMT -6
Raziah hummed softly at that, resting her chin on her hands as she looked the Argonian over. He was obviously well-kept and well-fed. And she was full aware that the area near the Palace of the Kings was the area where the most well-off citizens of Windhelm lived. Those were the types of homes that Raziah could only dream of having, mostly because no one ever sold those types of places to a Khajiit, especially a Khajiit allied with the Thieves' Guild, even in Riften...
"You're very lucky, then," she commented, smiling slightly, relaxed as she ate another part of her sweetroll. "Few people truly understand the plight of the beast races and look down on us far too often for my liking."
Raziah was a bit bored... and rather lonely actually. She was glad the Argonian had asked to join her. It had been a while since she had a chance to really talk to anyone outside of the Guild. One of the things she had vowed to herself was to never get involved with anyone in the Guild, such things usually ended badly. But, a well-off Argonian in Windhelm was fair game as far as she was concerned...
"So..." she began, sipping at her mead. It would take a while before she was in her drunk-and-flirty stage, but sober-and-flirty was good to in her book. "Have any significant others I should be warned about?"
She smiled a mischievous Khajiit smile.
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Post by Tells-Grim-Tales on Feb 7, 2012 19:00:32 GMT -6
She was right, Grimnir was very lucky. Most Argonians never saw past the gates, let along set foot in Windhelm. He was a very important ally to Jarl Ulfric, probably could've been his right hand man if he wasn't an argonian... but that didn't really matter, Grim was grateful for what he had and what he didn't have to endure.
With a nod Grimnir said, "Indeed, I am very fortunate." He took a bite of one of the sweetrolls on his plate and then downed a quick swig of mead to wash it down. When she asked if he had any significant others, Grim was rather confused. Who'd want to be involved with some slimy argonian? Another argonian maybe, but the others of his race didn't really like him for doing little about their living conditions. Grim did, however, long for the companionship of loving wife, but he was a bit too timid to ever look for somebody. He did have an amulet of mara, but kept it hidden yet available, just in case...
"No... why?" asked the confused Argonian, almost sounding a bit nervous. He was really awkward when significant others, lovers, or anything of the sort came up. That was the department he lacked the most experience in.
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Post by raziah on Feb 8, 2012 1:56:13 GMT -6
Raziah smiled lightly, having finished her own sweetrolls she playfully swiped a bit of the icing off of one of Grimnir's with a finger, lifting that finger to her lips to clean it off, smiling at the taste. The sweetrolls here weren't quite as good as the ones in Solitude, but there was something about the way they made the icing here... of course, when Raziah made her own icing she tended to add a touch of moon sugar.
"Let's just say that I'm a student of the mysteries of Dibella and leave it at that, hmm?" She said, glancing up at him from under her lashes. That was also practically a statement of her intentions. Raziah was bored, and a bit lonely, and she didn't limit herself to one race or the other, or one gender or the other for that matter. In fact, she very rarely flirted with males of her own kind. It wasn't that she didn't like other Khajiits, it simply had a lot to do with the fact she wasn't interested in settling down at this point in time. As well as the fact that due to the differences between the Khajiit and the other races, there was no risk of pregnancy when fooling around with the males of different races.
She had decided long ago that it would certainly take someone very special for her to be willing to marry. She was also extremely flirty and couldn't help flirting with anything she liked that crossed her path, making it hard for her to find lovers who didn't get upset or jealous because of that.
The awkwardness in Grimnir's voice brought a gentle, amused smile to Raziah's face. So, she was dealing with a virgin? This would be fun....
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Post by Tells-Grim-Tales on Feb 8, 2012 2:15:16 GMT -6
The whole situation got increasingly more awkward for Grimir as time slowly ticked onwards. While the argonian was used to attention from others, he wasn't at all familiar with flirtation. Tells-Grim-Tales felt rather nervous, but oddly... curious. He glanced away from the khajiit when she licked the icing off of her fingers and stared at the bottle of mead. Now Grim just felt rather uncomfortable and had no idea what to do. When he approached the stranger, Grim hadn't been expecting much more than a friendly conversation and now all of... this was going on. Maybe changing the subject would ease the thickening tension in the air, but a part of him wanted to know where, exactly, she was going with her advances.
"Oh, that's very... interesting," Grim said in response to her comment about being a student of Dibella. He inched away and was practically on the edge of the chair now. Glancing around the rest of the room, Grim realized how very alone they were and it scared the crap out of him. The argonian could slay a dragon but when it came to women....
"So... I've killed a dragon before," he told her, removing his iron sword from it's sheath. "With this very sword." Oh. Gods. Now everything just sounded sexual and awkward to him now. Grim just wanted to smash his head against the table and pass out, then this embarrassing nightmare would be over. He just laughed quietly and awkwardly, which certainly didn't help at all. Maybe if Grim made up an excuse and just disappeared... that wouldn't be rude right?
"Oh, look at the time. I've got to get to the Palace for an important meeting." Grimnir told her in a hurried tone, "Enjoy the mead and sweetrolls." He put his sword back in it's place, quickly stood up, and made his way towards the door.
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Post by raziah on Feb 8, 2012 2:31:15 GMT -6
Oh gods... Raziah couldn't help herself.... she giggled, but at least had the decency to cover her mouth with a hand, eyes closed in mirth. It wasn't a malicious giggle, but a sort of "gods this is so cute" giggle. It had been a while since she had managed to fluster someone this badly and she was rather enjoying herself. She watched him, resting her head on her hand. Her tail flicked lazily, watching him with a mischievous glint in her eyes.
"Well, I hope you slay many more dragons, Grimnir. If the great Jarl Ulfric requires you I shan't keep you... but if you wish I'll be staying here in Candlehearth tonight. Consider it an open invitation if you wish instruction in the mysteries of Lady Dibella," Raziah stated, smiling flirtatiously.
Heck, if nothing else she had gotten a few extra sweetrolls out of the deal. It would have been fun to play more with the Argonian, but she wasn't about to force him into something he didn't want, or wasn't ready to face. It was entirely up to him what he wanted and Raziah was good enough to understand and accept that, no matter how interested she was in someone.
"Have a good evening, Grimnir. It was good to have met you," she stated softly, relaxed and at ease with herself.
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Post by Tells-Grim-Tales on Feb 8, 2012 2:49:11 GMT -6
Standing awkwardly at the door, the Argonian turned around to face his mysterious new friend. Was friend the right word? They had barely spoken, so did that make them acquaintances? Ugh, Grimnir couldn't think right and just loomed there awkwardly for awhile. Now that he had gotten up out of his seat, it would have been very awkward to just sit back down and act like he hadn't made a fool of himself. But he hated lying about anything, so the argonian just felt guilty and stupid. Grim was just a swirling mess of weirdness... he didn't know what to do. Sit back down and look like a complete idiot or lie and just keep on walking?
Grimnir did his walk of shame and sat back down at the table in a slump. The argonian didn't look at Raziah just yet, but he just sat there. "I hate liars, so if I lied to you i'd just be a hypocrite," the awkward lizard explained, drinking some more mead. Maybe enough mead would calm his nerves? "I've spent my entire life dedicated to the Stormcloak cause so when it comes to.... this..." he gestured the khajiit, referring to her flirting, "I'm completely... lost..." Grimnir looked and sounded ashamed. He was twenty-six years old and had absolutely ZERO experience in anything romantic. "So I won't waste your time because i'm definitely not what you're looking for."
Raziah seemed like she was into brief romantic encounters, which was fine and everything, but Grimnir was... well, looking for a potential wife. The argonian let out a sigh of relief, feeling as if he was about to be let off the hook. Experienced lovers usually were looking for the most enjoyable encounters, right? That's what Grim thought, but then again, what in the hell did he know?
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Post by raziah on Feb 8, 2012 3:06:46 GMT -6
Raziah smiled lightly, finding his honesty refreshing. Many men would just simply push her away, seemingly disgusted even if they were slightly interested, or bill themselves as greater lovers than what they truly were. She lightly placed a hand on one of his reassuringly, a gentle smile on her features. She actually rather liked the scaly texture of his skin...
"Everyone has their firsts," Raziah stated softly. Being a Khajiit from a very liberal clan, she had been playing at this game of flirting and love since she was a preteen. "Hard to say what you really want in a lover... or permanent companion... unless you do a bit of flirting first."
Gently she took his hand to nuzzle lightly against it, a soft noise related to a purr emitting from her throat. Even if they didn't do anything, she was really more interested in just being close to someone. It had been far too long in her opinion since her last lover and this Argonian was the first person to show any sort of interest, even if it was the curious interest of an inexperienced young man.
"No offense, Grimnir, but I think I should be the one to decide if I'm wasting my time. Seeing as you decided to sit back down, it seems like you're curious, at least," Raziah stated, smiling gently.
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Post by Tells-Grim-Tales on Feb 8, 2012 3:30:13 GMT -6
The fact that the Khajiit hadn't left or jumped all over him was almost encouraging. When her hand touched his, Grim didn't flinch nor pull away. For being as flirtatious as she was, the argonian was glad that Raziah wasn't pushy. Had she have been pushy, Grim would have keep on walking and never looked back. The more and more he thought about it, the more at ease he felt, even if his nerves were on end. Yet at the same time, the more Raziah spoke, the increasingly confused he felt. What was she after? A good time or a possible companion?
Tells-Grim-Tales' eyes followed where the khajiit led his hand, almost as if he were mesmerized. He thought about his upbringing and how his adoptive parents, mostly his mother, stressed that he should only ever love one person and that just made everything extremely confusing again. Everything was so clear to Grimnir before, but now that he was actually confronted with the situation, he was at a complete loss.
"I've never flirted with anybody before, nor has anybody ever flirted with me," Grimnir stated randomly, though it made complete sense to him. "Of course i'm.... curious." It was almost embarrassing to say. "But i'm much more curious about you personally." That definitely ruined it, Grim was sure of it. Was there even anything to ruin? He didn't know, but he was being honest. As interested as he was in what Raziah had to offer, Grim was, oddly, more interested in getting to know her.
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Post by raziah on Feb 8, 2012 23:43:52 GMT -6
Raziah glanced up at him with curious eyes. The young Khajiit of her clan had been mostly encouraged to follow their hearts on such matters. Love and affection was something to be given freely but genuinely. While most of the other races believed there was a difference between love and lust, the clan had no such view and rarely imposed any such restriction - if the activities were mutually agreed upon and the boundaries understood between all participants, there was no harm seen. Of course, if the clan thought differently, Raziah likely would never had been conceived...
Lightly, she petted his hand and arm, just relishing in the closeness and the fact she was allowed to touch.
She giggled gently at his statement. "Well, if you want to learn more about me personally, you should ask questions," she said, smiling lightly.
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