A day off [OPEN]

[Drooga]

Solitude docks were bustling as usual, people were shouting over each other as they hurried to carry supplies off the two ships that had stopped. Drooga sat at the end of the docks with both feet dipped into the ocean simply watching the world go by. People of all races seemed to make a living off this venture, a tiring and hectic one at that with few days off to simply enjoy their life and spend septims on items they actually wanted instead of food and rent.

With a smile crossing his scaly face the Argonian stared into the calm waters. His life was a little different, he already had a rent free home in a hidden cavern nearby with plenty of other people to take care of the place. Being in charge had its perks, the lizard had not scrubbed any floors in years.
"That is a nice ship... I wonder if I could take it" thought Drooga as he stared at the boat nearby. It was a fine vessel towering over anybody that stood besides it, although it was almost playing with fire. With so many guards nearby the risk of being caught was far too high so the Argonian decided against it although rather miserably.

It turned out having a day off was not so fun after all, there was little to do except sit and stare.

[viss]

Guards were sometimes too nosey. Normally he could just walk by them, but today it felt as if they'd been staring at him since he'd entered the gates of Solitude. To any other person, the Guard's greeting at the gate would have been friendly; but in the Argonian's twisted and aggressive mind, it had been intrusive.

He had stopped at the inn to inquire about a Redguard who may be passing himself off as a sell sword. He got nothing. Through the rest of Solitude it was different variations of 'what? I don't know.' and 'You should try the Winking Skeever', which was all useless because he'd tried the Winking Skeever first.

Eventually he wound up on the docks, glaring at the ocean and weaving around dock workers and merchants. He was wearing his usual Dark Brotherhood armor, but kept the red and black uniform hidden under much more average looking clothing and a long dark cloak. His hood was up, hiding most everything but his long snout and eyes if you looked directly into the hood.

He came to a stop next to another Argonian sitting on the docks, looking up at a large ship and wondering if the man he was hunting had gotten on a ship and left Skyrim. Wouldn't that be an annoying waste of time?

[Drooga]

Drooga listened carefully as footsteps came nearer and nearer causing the wooden panels under foot to creak but then it stopped, as well as the boots hitting the floor softly with each step taken. Twisting his head around the argonian noticed another of his race standing still, simply staring at him.
"What? Never seen someone have a break before... I don't work here" said Drooga as he shifted his weight onto both feet and now standing face to face with the mysterious person.

The docks were still bustling with people, none of them noticing two argonians staring at each other near the end.
'Does he know who I am?' questioned Drooga in his own mind. People that stared usually received loss of eyesight closely afterwards, but this one was clearly able to fight. Drooga's eyes noticed two fine daggers attached securely to the argonians waist, he highly doubted they were used for such a menial task as gutting fish...

[viss]

Viss's yellow eyes flicked from Drooga back to the ship, and then to Drooga again, trying to identify why the Argonian had made the comment that he did. After a second it clicked, and Viss vaguely wondered if he should get out more for reasons other than business. He didn't get much contact other than his brothers and sisters back at the Sanctuary, so dealing with strangers was a rusty sort of skill of his. But he wasn't terrible at it,

"Are you on this dock often?" he asked, maintaining his straight stance with both hands hidden under the cloak. He moved the fabric to cover his body better, crossing his arms slightly in front of him and bringing the cloak with him.

[Drooga]

Drooga eyed the argonian cautiously.
"I occasionally come here... Why do you want to know?" he asked tentatively and almost defensively. Drooga did indeed come down the the docks very often, it was a nice place to recruit others that had knowledge on how to sail ships but maybe it was catching on?
The argonian was acting strange, he kept shifting his clothing to further cover up himself.

Drooga took a step back hitting the edge of the dock with both heels ready to dive in if any trouble occurred. He appeared not to get out much, even on scaled species such as argonians you could usually tell if they received sunlight every so often, this one though... Looked pale and cold in comparison.
"Who are you?" asked Drooga after a short pause. It was always good to get names, even if they were fake.

[viss]

Viss clicked his teeth in an unconscious tick of irritability, "I am looking for a Redguard. Nearly six feet in height and a foreigner to Skyrim. He may have come through here," he stated, eyes darting when it caught a sign of movement and analyzing the person walking. Behind him were just dock workers and merchants, but he looked at them none the less in a way that a predator checks out possible prey.

He really did need to get out more,

"Outside of my family, I am called Rango." he replied, yellow eyes back on the other Argonian.

[Drooga]

'Outside of his family?' thought Drooga. This argonian was a very shady figure indeed, so far he was not willing to reveal whatever was hidden underneath the cloak, and his eyes could not stay still as both darted about wildly checking every sound as if he were paranoid and not wanting to be noticed.
"A redguard you say?" said Drooga now relaxing slightly, turned out he was not here to cause harm after all... At least not at the moment.

"Yes as a matter of fact. I spoke to one about a day ago... Although I don't give out free information" said Drooga with a swift smile crossing over his face. Easy money was always welcome in his mind, but this person could be loaded for all he knew. Maybe it was time to earn a little more...
"That'd be fifty Septims, and I hope you know how to fight because he did not look to be in a good mood" lied the argonian as he extended his palm out expecting to be payed in full for the information.

[viss]

Viss, or 'Rango', tilted his head a little at the offer and change in demeanor, disgust curling his reptilian lips slightly. He served a larger cause than just himself, so he had come to look down on the idea of giving money for information. But it was necessary. The cloaked Argonian made no move after the offer,

"Was this Redguard named Aldaman?" he asked a bit airily, testing the Argonian before him. In truth the man he was looking for was named Bartello, but he didn't know that. Viss was testing to see if he was being lied to. If he had a liar before him, he would walk away right now and continue his search elsewhere.

[Drooga]

"Honestly I know not of his mans name, he seemed rather adamant not to give it to me or anybody else for that matter. He asked me if I knew of any safe shelters around the area that he could stay in hoping to escape any preying eyes... It so happens that I did and sent him to one I know rather well, I can show the place to you if you'd like, he may still be there with any luck. But as I said, fifty Septims, take it or leave it" said Drooga rather confidently, he stood up straight and made sure to keep eye contact trying his best to show that this information was actually the truth and not a blatant lie as it were.

[viss]

Viss's eyes narrowed on the Argonian, thinking. Without a word of warning he unfolded his arms and let his hands disappear beneath the cloak. They came back out with a handful of Septims that was probably about half of fifty. He checked his handful to count it by glancing at the coins before he handed them over, "Half now. Half when we get there." he replied, holding the coins above the other's hand but not letting them fall until he heard an agreement.

[Drooga]

"Or how about you give me all of them now? I'm not traveling and putting my life in danger from the wilderness for a measly twenty five Septims. I have nothing to lose whether you walk away or not, so are you going to pay me or waste my time, I have other things to be getting on with after all" said the Argonian whilst standing his ground firmly. He was not afraid of this man, over the years Drooga had encountered many shady figures due to his line of work and as a result was rather handy with a sword that was sheathed to his side at all times in case of any troubles. Although there was no reason to attack somebody in the middle of the docks filled with guards, unless bullying answers out of people was his method of business.

[viss]

Viss's eyes narrowed in distaste. No, he wasn't going to start anything in broad daylight like this, no matter how much he did want to.

But why didn't he just pay up anyway? It wasn't as if money was his own main objective here. He was doing this for the Family, and he would do anything for the Family,

"Have it your way." he replied with considerably less contempt than he had been feeling a few seconds ago, dropping what he had in the Argonian's open hand. His other hand withdrew into the cloak to get more of the Septims, coming back out with another hand full and counting them with a glance before handing them over as well.

[Drooga]

Drooga smiled as he got payed in full, taking his time to count each Septim the argonian finally nodded in improvement and lent backwards falling into the waters below without any warnings given.

The water cooled Drooga down nicely after sitting in the sun for quite a while, he always loved swimming feeling the water glide by as he pushed through with ease. His scaly right fist was clenched tightly around the bribe money making sure not to allow it to escape his grasp. Keeping underwater near the oceans bed the argonian passed by many fish and seaweed, eventually arriving alongside the bank leading away from Solitude and into the wilds of Skyrim.
"It's this way... I presume you can swim" called Drooga as he noticed Rango still standing atop the docks staring over at him with the same cautious eyes.

Not bothering to sit and wait Drooga began to make his way towards his set destination whilst placing his payment into a small leather pouch for safe keeping. The redguard in question was highly likely not to be there as everything Drooga had said was a complete lie but another surprise was awaiting the argonians instead. Hopefully a profitable one for Drooga at that too.

[viss]

In all honesty, Viss had not expected the dive off the docks, and was about to just assume that the vagrant had stolen the money and run off. But when the Argonian surfaced in stead of just escaping under water complete, Viss inclined his head. Assassinations near deep water were his favorite.

He dove in to the water without a single thought to his clothing, having walked straight out of rivers in the past without feeling discomfort. The Assassin dove deep in the water, relishing in the feel of the water pressure before he surfaced and walked in the shallower water. Viss disapproved of how the water made his hood sag into his vision, and took it off after thinking it over. It wasn't like his face was shown very often in public anyway, and his life was dedicated to the brotherhood.

His green feathers were completely wet, and unable to support the extra weight of a wet hood. His scales themselves shone due to the water and his good hygene, but were otherwise rather boring shades of pale brown-green. Some extra time in direct sunlight would probably do him good.

[Drooga]

Drooga looked behind him as he carried on walking and saw the argonian come out of the waters dripping wet with the suns warm beams bouncing off his rather unhealthy looking scales. Although his footsteps quickly stopped as he spotted another living animal directly in front of them.

Droogas hand slowly grabbed the leather hilt of his sword and unsheathed it trying not to make too much noise as the metal grinded against its holster. For a man of stealth he really needed to upgrade the equipment he brought along. Maybe Rango had some spoils about him that Drooga could claim for himself. Although both eyes were now set upon the figure in front. Luckily it had not noticed the two argonians yet, crouching down he presumed Rango would do the same and so set off towards the animal cautiously. It was risky to attack with such basic weapons especially when Drooga realised he was hunting a Saber Cat but having such a beast following them was not worth letting it go free.

Gripping his sword harder Drooga edged forwards even more until he was only a few feet away. Both ears flicked nervously as the sounds of heavy breathing rattling against a rib cage could be heard. This cat sounded hungry, it can't have eaten in a few days although this was the worst case scenario. Almost all creatures would put up a hearty fight in order to gain a potential life saving meal. There was nothing for it, Daygon leapt forwards and crashed onto the animals back buckling its legs in the process. The cat gave out a mighty roar that faded away quickly as a blood soaked blade sliced through its neck killing the savage beast in an efficient manner.

"Well that went better than expected" said Drooga calmly as he climbed off the sabers back. Unfortunately there was nothing of value inside the beast after cutting its belly open so Drooga set off once again happy in the knowledge that there was one less enemy to deal with.
"The entrance is just over there" stated Drooga to Rango pointing his sword into the distance.