Homesick [Felicia!]

[Runa]

She shouldn't have come here to this tiny town in Whiterun; it was too much like her childhood home. The town was small, the people were simple, trees towered every few feet. It was even raining. Everything about Riverwood reminded her of the only place she wished she could be. It was close to Falkreath, too. A few hours' walk would bring Runa to the Falkreath gate. The adults would recognize her. "How much you've grown!" they would exclaim, and welcome her to their bright hearths with hot food and merry songs while thunder rolled outside.

But she couldn't go back there. Anyone could rat her out to the Thalmor. She supposed. She didn't even know for sure that they were after her; she'd just taken old Orvar's word for it, but there was no way Runa was going to risk going home, where everyone knew who she was, just because she had yet to see any evidence that the Thalmor were after her. The Thalmor were terrifying. Just the thought of being captured by them made her shudder. She knew what they did to people they didn't like.

Stendarr, I need a drink, she sighed as she realized how dark her thoughts had become.

It was dusk and Riverwood's main road was nearly deserted as she walked through town, scanning the buildings for any sign of a tavern. She passed a forge, a mill, a general goods store. Chickens sat peacefully by the side of the road, a dog barked somewhere. Rain pattered gently on the hard mud road.

An inn. Okay, she thought as she neared the edge of town and red another sign. "Sleeping Giant Inn." I guess that'll do. Perhaps she would sleep in a real bed tonight. She had just sold a bunch of jewelry and goods from her latest bandit slaughter. Maybe she'd treat herself. She climbed onto the porch and opened the door.

Unlike the road and house porches outside, the Sleeping Giant Inn was not deserted. Several people sat, talking and eating, at the tables edging the room; others stood with mugs and bottles in their hands. A few seemed to have had too many and were singing over the bard.

All this pleased Runa: the anonymity provided by large, talkative crowds always made her feel safe.

Her steel armor clanked as she approached the bar where an Nord man busily wiped tankards clean. "An ale, please," Runa said stiffly. The Nord handed her a bottle with a cheery "Here," and Runa removed herself to a seat near the alchemy lab where she could watch the goings-on in the inn.

[Felicia Greenwood]

Stepping into the inn, Felicia removed the cowl from her face, her breath ragged as drops of water dripped onto the floorboards. What she really needed right now was a nice mug of mead, a hot meal and maybe to be left alone in peace so that she could calm down before going to bed. As she surveyed the room, she realized that the latter of the wants went straight out the door. The inn was practically full. Or near to it. There were still a few empty spots here and there, but most places were full. Felicia considered turning around and just walking around the small town a bit more. She stopped herself however, since she knew that if she went back out, the guards would become suspicious, especially after what she’d just done. The inn would be the perfect place to be right now. She could easily hide behind a crowd of people if someone came snooping around thinking something had happened. She hadn’t managed to awaken anyone in the house or anyone else in the walk to the inn itself, so there was little chance of that happening. Until tomorrow that is, when the occupants had noticed that one or two of their items had gone missing. Felicia would’ve laughed at the image of their faces, but she didn’t want to give anything away just in case.

She pulled her cloak tighter around her shoulders, despite the ever growing warmth from the crowds of people. Felicia didn’t want anyone to see that she had items in the sewn in pockets of her cloak. If they did, they might start to piece things together from the news they got tomorrow. The last thing she wanted was someone to find out about the thievery she’d just committed. She wasn’t that stupid to take the cloak into the house with her, she’d left it stashed in a bush behind the house for when she’d come back out again. The extra clothing would disguise her from any prying eyes that had caught her walking down the street. It was also an added protection against anyone seeing her face clearly. While the cowl provided good protection, it wouldn’t hurt to add more. The dark evening and the rain had helped to cover her tracks even more. She wasn’t careless when it came to doing her job. Though it was times like this that could make her a bit reckless. A cramped space, full of people who were half drunk and paying little attention to their belongings? Perfect. Felicia smiled at the thought of the unsuspecting minds that were going to have a few septims stolen from their person.

Holding her head high, Felicia started to make her way through the crowd towards the counter. Her eyes locked onto a target not two metres in front of her. Male. Definitely drunk. Not focusing on anything around him apart from the woman sitting next to him. It was almost like he wanted his coin to be stolen. She continued to make her way through the crowd, only gently brushing up against the guy as her hand whipped out and slipped the coin pouch from his belt and into her pocket. The male didn’t even notice she was there. It was a dirty move, considering how crowded it was, but when it came to thievery, Felicia was like that. She continued walking onwards, holding her breath to see if anyone would notice what she’d done. If they had, they didn’t say anything. She pushed her way through a few other people and eventually plopped herself down on one of the stools. “A tankard of mead, a grilled chicken breast, tomato soup and some bread please.” She smiled at the bartender. In a quick five minutes, he placed all four items on the counter in front of her. “25 septims.” She’d already rented a room out for five days, so she didn’t need to pay for that. Felicia slipped the appropriate coin out from the stolen pouch of money and slid them over to the bartender.

Bringing the tankard of mead up to her mouth, Felicia took a sip and proceeded to look around. Someone caught her eye, over by the apothecary table. That was a bit of a weird place to sit. What with what went one at those tables. But the woman seemed fine enough sitting there. In fact she seemed kind of lonely. Felicia was tempted to go over and see if she wanted any company. But first she wanted to get some food in her stomach. Starting off with the chicken breast, she nibbled at the edges of it, waiting for it to cool down.

[Runa]

Only seasoned thieves are able to recognize the subtle movements and postures that mean a thief in action, and Runa was such a thief. As a person whose only source of income had, for several long months, been other people's hard-earned coin, and who still often dipped her hand into innocents' pockets, Runa had to be aware of how she appeared to other people. If she looked and acted like a thief, people would be wary of her and she would not eat that evening. Her livelihood depended on her ability to go unnoticed.

So it was without much difficulty that, as another Bosmer, mysterious and cloaked, entered the uproarious inn and made her way across the room, Runa noticed her hand slip into the pocket of a unsuspecting, merry man, and transfer his coinpurse to her own pocket. Her execution, although performed on an easy target, impressed Runa. She wondered what treasure such a skilled thief might have hidden on her person.

The woman went to the counter and sat down, so Runa turned her attention back toward the rest of the bar-goers in the room. Generally Runa didn't like to pickpocket in small, crowded, well-lit places, so it had not occurred to her when entering the inn to try it on anyone in here. She could see the possibilities, but it still felt too risky to her. She preferred taking things off people walking around outside in the evening. Guards, for instance, were a great source of arrows.

Suddenly Runa felt the urge to turn her head toward the counter. The other wood elf woman was looking at her. Normally Runa would have looked away or glared at her, but she didn't feel like she had to be defensive toward her fellow thief. Instead she held the woman's gaze neutrally for a few moments before taking a champion swig of her ale.

[Felicia Greenwood]

It didn’t surprise her when the woman’s eyes moved around and met up with hers. Maybe she had been seen. But that could mean this woman was someone who either was a thief herself, noticed everything around her or possibly a member of the Dark Brotherhood. If anything it made Felicia smile ever so slightly. She looked down at her meal. She had more than enough for just herself. She took a bite out of the grilled chicken before placing it down and taking a gulp of the mead. Looking back at the female, she beckoned slightly for the woman to come over and join her. There was an empty seat next to her that thankfully hadn’t been taken yet and Felicia didn’t want to move all of the food to where the female was sitting. Not to mention there was no place to put it all apart from the alchemy table and she got the nagging feeling that it wasn’t the right place for food. Felicia wasn’t going to abandon her food while it was steaming hot still. She was hungry and she needed to eat something to calm her stomach. Food seemed the best way to do that at the moment. Normally she’d go hunting or possibly for a climb through the trees, but now wasn’t really the time for that sort of stuff. Plus if people started noticing that she’d disappeared for a long time, they might get a tiny bit suspicious.

Felicia glanced over at the female again, a small, sly smile on her face as she did so. Turning around a little bit more, she gestured more prominently this time and then patted the chair next to her, hoping that the female got the idea to come over and sit beside her. If anything, she would need to have a little chat with her new…acquaintance. Taking the risk and leaving her with the knowledge of what seen was dangerous for Felicia. She hadn’t seen the females face the Guild before, so there was very little chance of the girl actually being part of it. Felicia wouldn’t kill the girl, she was highly against that. In fact, it was against the rules of the Guild. If she killed anyone that was related to the case she got or glimpsed at her doing something she’d shouldn’t have, she’d be booted out the Thieves Guild so fast it would make her ancestors dizzy. So, to make sure the female didn’t speak, Felicia would have to make sure that she got the message. Anyway, if the girl was a loner and a Thief, there was a chance she could get her to join the Thieves Guild. She seemed mysterious enough, sitting alone in the corner of the inn.

While she waited for the female to make her choice and come over, Felicia looked back at her food. She might as well finish the chicken off now. It was slowly starting to cool down and would loose it’s appear if it did. Peeling off parts of the chicken, she at the meat as quickly as she could without making a mess of herself. It wasn’t long after she’d finished the chicken did she sense a presence beside her. Felicia pushed the bowl away from her and then pulled the soup and the bread of her, ignoring the person for a few seconds longer. She ripped the loaf of bread in half and held it out to, who she suspected was the female who had been sitting by the alchemy table. Felicia then pushed the soup in between the two of them. “Help yourself.” She mumbled, just loud enough for whoever it was to hear. She kept herself facing forward as she tore off a piece of the bread and placed it in her mouth, chewing slowly. “So, see anything interesting in here this fine evening?” Felicia asked after swallowing the piece of bread. It was then did she turn around to face the presence she felt.

[/size]

[Runa]

The woman smiled at her. Was it a wary smile? An awkward one? A condescending one? Runa didn't know. She looked away for a moment, nonchalant, taking another gulp of ale, but her curiosity about the only other wood elf in the bar had been piqued and after a few moments later she looked back. The woman gestured to the seat next to her. Surprised, the girl hesitated. Runa was not a very social person and came off that way, so rarely did anyone try to converse with her beyond "Oh, a bit of this and a bit of that" or "The finest weapons and armor." And Runa liked it that way. Anyone was a potential target, and she didn't want to get to know someone from whom she might steal later. So being invited to sit with a strange woman was unexpected to say the least. It wasn't an unpleasant feeling to be welcome somewhere.

The gesture came again, so an unsure and wary Runa picked up her near-empty bottle of ale and made her way up to the counter. The woman was absorbed in a chicken breast, so Runa paused again, now unsure of whether she had actually meant to call her over; but then the stranger held out a chunk of bread to her, so she knew that was the case. Yet again Runa hesitated, but this time out of indignation rather than leeriness; generally, she did not accept handouts. She preferred to do at least a little work--thieving wasn't always easy, you know--to earn her food. Then her stomach rumbled. The girl reached out, took the bread and sat down on the stool next to the woman. "Thanks," she replied, and ordered another ale.

Then, the question: "See anything interesting in here this fine evening?" She knew, then, that Runa had seen her steal that man's coinpurse. "I have," answered Runa quietly, "but out of concern for the wellbeing of one of my fellows, I will not say out loud what I saw." The bartender was occupied with opening a new crate of wine. Runa dropped her voice to a whisper. "Are you with the Thieves Guild?"

[Felicia Greenwood]

Felicia felt hesitation, but eventually felt the bread slip out of her fingers. It almost made her chuckle. She tore off another piece of bread only nodding in response, dunking the bread into the soup and placed it in her mouth. She smiled as she chewed the food. She’d forgotten how good tomato soup and bread could taste together. It was a shame they didn’t have it more often back at the house. After swallowing the bread, Felicia took another sip of the mead. Looking into the tankard, she saw that she had only drank roughly half of the mead already. “Hmm.” She could have sworn she’d drunk more than that tonight. She shrugged to herself and focused back on the female that had sat beside her. Felicia dunked another piece of bread into the soup and started eating it as she turned around further to face the female. She inspected her companion. Her features let Felicia know that she was dealing with a fellow Bosmer here. Her sharp features and eyebrows combined with the red eyes made the Bosmer look quite fierce some. But at the moment, Felicia wasn’t fazed; the woman posed no threat to her at the moment.

At the moment that the woman spoke, a small grin appeared on Felicia’s face. When she next spoke, her voice was barely above a whisper. “I am.” She let a slight nod answer the question as well as her spoken one. “I take it you are not, since I have not seen your face around those parts before. I would recognise one of my fellows if you were.” She leant forwards ever so slightly, looking the girl straight in the eyes. Felicia wanted to make her message clear; the best way to do that was over both eye contact and speech. Eye contact she could do, speech on the other hand might be a bit tricky unless the female got the message clearly. “Are you with anyone? If so, will you speak of what you saw?” Felicia hoped that the woman would keep quiet, otherwise she would have to scarper as quickly as she could. However, if she had wanted to say anything, she would’ve said it by now.

The one thing she liked about the small ability of speech that she had was the fact that she could get straight to the point pretty quickly. Keeping the eye contact for a few seconds longer, Felicia turned around in her seat and carried on eating until the bread was empty. Then, she placed both hands on the sides of the bowl, lifting it up and drinking away the rest of the soup. It was much easier than using a spoon and less messy too. Though when she placed the bowl down, Felicia had a line of orange soup over her top lip. She quickly licked it away.

“I’m Felicia by the way. What should I call you by my fellow Bosmer?”

[/size][/blockquote]

[Runa]

The Thieves Guild. From what Runa had gathered, they were just a bunch of thugs who took advantage of decent folks' past deeds they might not want revealed to the general public and inserted themselves into other people's business where they were not wanted.

From the corner of her eye she saw the woman turn her head, so Runa did too, and found herself looking into two very intense eyes. She could not look away, but she didn't want to. She would not appear weak. That was one of Runa's defining traits: bravado. The woman was clearly warning her against telling anyone what she had done, which Runa wasn't planning on doing anyway, but she couldn't just say that. It would be like backing down.

Runa narrowed her eyes, and after a few moments of tense silence, looked away and returned to her beer. "I don't work well in groups," she said finally.

Watching the woman eat made Runa hungry as well, and she motioned the barkeep over. "Can I get a salmon steak?" she asked. She wasn't sure how readily salmon was available this time of year. Luckily the inn had some, and after a few minutes it was stitting, steaming, before her. Runa dropped a few coins on the counter and dug in.

"Runa," she replied to Felicia's question, almost without thinking. Then she realized her mistake. She should have used a fake name, what with the Thalmor after her and all. "And if you tell anyone else my name I will cut your throat."

((Sorry it took so long! Last week was finals. Ugh.))

[Felicia Greenwood]

Felicia let a smile creep onto her face as she watched the female’s eyes narrow in her direction. “Clearly.” She let her eyebrows rise as she looked over the female once again before doing back to her food. She was down the crust of the bread now and her stomach was very nearly full. If she was alone, Felicia would’ve chuckled. Where did the food go? She hadn’t realized just how hungry she was until just then. Her work must have tired her out more than she realized. She listened to the Bosmer’s order, letting the hard crust of bread soak in the soup before chewing on it. The ends of the bread were always her favourite, especially if they were dipped in soup before hand. It made the bread inside soggy and weakened the crust in just the right way. It was a shame that the soup was gone less than a minute after she’d done this since she was tempted to order another loaf. But she would have to conserve her coin for later on when she truly needed it. Who knew what sort of things would happen in the near future. There was a chance she would hand it over to the Thieves Guild so that they could go at each other as to who would get the most of it. But then again, Felicia had done it after she’d finished her original job after all, so it might be her little secret.

It was almost funny. The way in which Runa had tensed up after realizing her mistake. While Felicia had used her real name, the Bosmer next to her clearly had some issues about using hers. There was little chance that anyone would know who this girl was. But since she’d caused so much of a fuss about it, it meant that someone was obviously after her. “As long as you don’t go poking around in my business than I won’t have to.” Felicia muttered, smirking slightly. The smirk dropped off her face as she pushed the bowl towards the other side of the counter. Taking the last swig of her drink, she turned to look at the female Bosmer. “Though I wonder, little one, as to why you’re on edge this evening. Making threats like that don’t come without a good reason.” Felicia had been on the receiving end of threats many times. Some were empty, which she could see straight through. Others were true to their word and the vide that she was getting off Runa right now made it feel like this was no empty threat. Felicia had trained herself over the years to never let her emotions show on her face as these could often be used against her.

“Though if you need to make a threat, at least don’t do it in the vicinity of such company that could get you thrown out.” She inclined her head ever so slightly towards the bartender, who was throwing glances their way. Felicia turned back to the counter and pushed her cup towards the other side, much like she did with the bowl. “Another mead please.” She called to the bartender.

[/size][/blockquote]