[Story] Morning Thoughts

[Dust]

((Little follow-up to Tracks in the Snow ( thecheshirecatseso.proboards.com/thread/171/tracks-snow ), picking up after the conclusion of an in-game RP which followed that thread, where Kieg was invited to stay at their destination. ))

———— Morning Thoughts ————

For the space of several seconds he has no idea where he is; the walls and ceiling that come into focus as he opens his eyes are foreign and disorienting until his mind has time to fully push through the clouds of sleep.

“Oh. Right.” He murmurs. “I’m at the place.”

Had Shari’Adune said what The Place was called? He couldn’t remember.. Well, The Place would do for now.

He rubs the last wisps of sleep out of his eyes and sits up in bed.

There is a little pain in his torso, as he expects; he’s always sore the morning after a fight. But otherwise he feels better than he has in a long, long while. Scrubbed and fed and rested.

He slides out of bed and onto his feet. He stretches a little, getting a few satisfying pops from his back and neck. He pokes experimentally at the new wounds from yesterday, arrow punctures and a mess of criss-crossing stabs along his flank. Hardly any pain, they’d healed well and were little more than raised swells of off-colored skin, like his others. He sighs, drawing his ring finger along the raised cut that ran across his palm as well. He needed to be more careful.

He begins to pull his shirt on in the relative quiet of the house; something tells him the place is empty for now.

Time to think about the day.

He recalls he made an offer to help with…. Something.. what- Oh! A jewelry workstation? He’d been excited because in the course of his mining he often came across Pewter; he has a heaping bag of the stuff, and no idea what to do with it. But thinking about it now, he suspects it is more of a money problem than a supplies problem. Money was something he has a little less of… But perhaps today he can figure out what exactly was involved.

He is anxious to help with something; Shari’Adune’s seeming refusal to acknowledge his debt to her made him feel.. Anxious, somehow, unbalanced in a way he can’t explain clearly. The scales weren’t even. Well, he would find some way to be useful, somehow, even if he never got a chance to pay her back fully.

His cheeks redden as he abruptly remembers staring at her face the prior night, -That- had been embarrassing. He had been caught.. Twice?
He lets out a low groan, simmering in mortification. Stupid. And rude. He hadn’t meant for that. But both times seeing the look of happiness on her face had blasted all other thoughts out of his head. For a moment it had been like time had stopped… But it obviously hadn’t. Just him.

Stupid. Rude. He barely knew her. For all he knew she was spoken for, … or was planing to truss him up as an offering for the Lady she had talked about. Shari’Adune didn’t seem like the Daedra-consorting type, but he was far less sure about the other one…

He abruptly realizes he has been standing with his shirt over his head for close to a minute, and finishes pulling it on. The thoughts he tucks away in the back of his mind. Plenty of time to chew on those during his ride today.

His armor goes on next. As always he finds it’s weight comforting. Finally, he lashes up his weapons and hauls his pack up over one shoulder.

Where to today…? He isn’t entirely sure. He’ll play it by ear. Somebody always needed help, somewhere.

He touches his brow in respect to the skeleton that shares the room with him. “Hope your struggles are ended, friend.”

On his way to the front door he finds a note. Reading it brings a smile to his face. He thinks about what to write in response, but he knows he’s not great at composing and his handwriting only gets worse the more he writes. In the end he settles on ‘thank you’.

Outside, the morning sun feels like blessing on his skin. He makes his way to the front gate and turns to look back over the place one more moment. “Be back!” He calls cheerfully to whomever might hear him, and then heads outside.

[Dust]

Well, the third time had done it!

He sighs in relief as the blue light of the wayshrine portal fades to reveal the stone courtyard he'd been trying to reach.
Thank goodness. He'd wound up in ... Alik'r? on the first attempt, and he still isn't sure where he'd gone on the second try.

But here he was! Practice makes perfect.

Collecting himself, he heads toward the front door, casting an uneasy glance upwards at the statue that presides over the inner yard.
Still hadn't run into that one yet. And as happy as he usually is to meet new people, maybe he's okay with waiting a bit longer in that case...

Shouldering through the high front door he takes a moment to listen. Nobody home, at least as far as he can tell. "I'm back!" he calls anyway.

I hope they remember that I'm supposed to be here...

He makes his way upstairs to the bunkroom and slings his pack down, stripping wearily out of his armor.
He is exhausted after two long days in the field. His mouth tightens into a smile. They'd been fine days though; including a pretty good party with the Undaunted.
Also he's a Goblin warleader now? ...Is he remembering that right?

Freed of his armor he returns downstairs to the cooking area and concocts something mostly passable as food. Practice had not yet made perfect.
He takes his plate and a fork into the center of the hall. The fire is down to ashes and embers but it is still pleasantly warm as he settles down into one of the couches.
His plate is still half full when he nods off, chin against his chest, plate and fork in his lap.

((open for a short interaction that can happen before whenever the next in-game meeting is. ))

[Dust]

Kieg awakens as a sliver of light sneaks past the edge of the boulder that is currently serving as his door and falls upon his eyelid. He flinches away from the morning sunbeam and sits up, nearly hitting his head on the low ceiling of the cavern that is currently his bedroom. The tiny cave was little more than a hollow in a rock face, with one wall formed by two large flat stones he had pulled into place. The place was barely large enough to hold him and his pack and weapons. He remembers hiding here last night because-

Huh.

How had he wound up here again?

Ohh, right! Those Kaguouti had been after him (or had they been Alits? No, probably Kagouti) and he’d needed to protect…

…What was it he’d needed to-

Oh!

He feels around in the space around him and almost immediately finds a warm, furry body next to his. A wet tongue laps his hand.

The dog! He grins happily as the animal playfully catches his hand between his teeth.

“Good morning!” He pets the dog’s head. “I feel strong again, should we get out of here?”

Knowing better than to wait for an answer he rolls over in the small space and pushes against one of the large rocks sealing them in. The near-boulder resists for a moment and but then gives way, falling outward.

Kieg shimmies out, drawing his sword, but there is no sign of the monsters that had chased them last night. They must have given up.
In retrospect, he probably should have checked outside before unsealing the cave, probably. He shrugs. Well, he’ll remember next time.

The dog pads out and sits next to him as he reaches back into their former enclosure and pulls out his pack and other weapons. He splits a hunk of dried meat and offers half to the dog, who sets about devouring it with gusto. The dog is more than a puppy but not quite an adult, with tan fur and big paws and a measure of lanky clumsiness.

“Hm. What should I call you?” Kieg muses and he gnaws on his own portion. The dog had a collar, but no tag or other marks of ownership …”Shipwreck?”

That has been where he’d first seen the dog, amidst the broken timbers of a partially submerged shipwreck offshore. The poor creature’s panicked barking had just barely carried to him over the sound of Morrowind’s low surf. Even though the sun was almost down, Kieg had swum out a hundred yards through floating crates and snapped planks (and past more than one floating corpse) to reach the animal.

And then he’d swum back, holding the creature above the water with one hand. (Which.. thinking about it, he maybe hadn’t needed to do.. Dogs could swim, he now remembered.) The moment he had set the dog down on shore it had jumped on him and licked his hand, and he had fallen in love with the animal instantaneously in that moment.

Kieg looks down his new friend, happily chewing on its breakfast. No.. Shipwreck for sure wouldn’t do.

“Kagouti?”

Well obviously not, he thinks as soon as the suggestion leaves his mouth. But those were what had menaced both him and his new friend within a minute of them both reaching the shore. It had been a long day and a long swim (twice, once holding a dog entirely out of the water) and Kieg had not felt like fighting… but was also worried he might not be able to protect the dog against that many. His horse wasn’t where he had left it, probably the Kagouti had already chased it away. So he’d scooped up his pack and the dog (again, thinking about it after the fact, he probably hadn’t needed to do that either, dogs could -run-, as well as swim) and dashed until he found (or made, really) a suitable spot to hide and rest until the Kagouti lost interest.

He still wasn’t sure where his horse was, but he could probably find it sometime today.

He finishes his breakfast and nods to the dog as it scarfs down the last scraps. The meal isn’t very satisfactory, but maybe as soon as they reached a settlement he could give one of the new recipes Shari’Adune had given him a try. But for now a proper breakfast could wait, and perhaps a proper name for the dog, too. Besides, maybe the dog still had an owner. Though Kieg can’t conceive of anyone who would willingly abandon their dog on a shipwreck without having first already drowned, so he assumes they have.

Brushing the remaining slivers of dried meat from his hands, Kieg stands.

“Well,” he turns to his new friend. “Are you ready to go?”

A brief thought occurs that pulls the corners of his mouth down. He had basically carried the dog everywhere so far; Did the animal even want to actually follow him?

He takes a dozen steps away from the cave. The tan little dog scrabbles along at his heel, nipping at his hand when he stops.

“Alright,” Kieg laughs. “Let’s go, happy to have you along!”

[Dust]

Kieg rolls in his sleep, the bed creaking a little under his shifting weight. One hand slips out from beneath the covers, drooping down over the side and near the floor. The touch of a warm, wet tongue against the back of his hand brings him all the way out of slumber.

"Ah..G'mrng Snoot," he mumbles, face still buried the pillow as he blindly fumbles until he finds his dog's head and pets it.

...Where is he this time? He turns his head and opens one eye, waiting until things come into focus.

Oh, the palace, right. Comfortable beds, peculiar atmosphere.

He rolls over onto his back and puts his hands beneath his head, scrutinizing the ceiling for a long moment as the events of the prior evening come back to him.

He winces.

Well, he had finally met the Lady hadn't he? That had been a somewhat nerve-wracking experience.

It wasn't very often he was intimidated by anyone, man or beast, but from the moment he'd walked through the door, his instincts had screamed at him to be wary. But maybe it was just that anyone who was responsible for 'decorating' the place the way it was was worthy of a little caution.

He hadn't made a good impression, he was certain of that. He was having a little trouble recalling exactly why; the memory of the encounter resided in his mind as a sticky web of overlapping words, as often happened when conversations got confusing or complex. But however it had happened, it was a shame. He had really wanted to make a good account of himself the person whose home he had been invited to. Or at least be able to show politeness to a person who Shari'adune seemed to... respect? Hm. what was their connection, anyway? He strained his mind trying to remember if he knew, but it was all drafts and cobwebs up there, worse even than normal this morning.

He groans and raps himself hard in the center of his forehead with a knuckle, suddenly miserable. -Normal- people could keep things like this in their heads; important things, couldn't they? Why not he??

The Lady had called him 'funny'. Not funny like making people laugh, but funny like what the people at home meant when they called him names. It had hurt. He sits and dwells on it for a long moment, until Snoot notices his stillness and plants his paws on the bed. Kieg smiles and pets his friend's head.
"Thank you." He scratches under the animal's chin. "I was stuck in some bad memories."

In any case, he was surprised the Lady and Shari'adune were living in the same place. The Lady was mean. Shari'adune was the kindest person he had ever met. It was hard to imagine what could have driven them together, or how they managed to get along.

Well, he was basically up, he should probably get moving. It takes him the space of a few minutes to get his things together, snag a bite to eat (and something for Snoot) and then be on his way out the front gate.

With the sun on his skin, the confusion and anxiety of the past night begins to melt away. He'll find some way to make the Lady understand him a little better and prove he can be valuable, he feels sure. ...Though he isn't certain how exactly he'll do that.

Well, he's got all day to think about it.