18+ New Beginnings

[The OP3RaT0R]

Gorim was evidently disappointed to find that Nachael and Ferisa were part-elf, but then, a lot of people were disappointed at that. Nachael was used to it. Ciel announced that the group could find their room keys with the innkeeper and he was off to sleep; the others gradually began to follow. Avitus nodded to him across the room before departing - the man had displayed not the greatest social sensibility and more than a little resentment at his spot on the trip, but Nachael would defend his act of healing the man. Nachael nodded in return.

Ferisa yawned as she glanced over the Bosmer who had accompanied Nike and Adidas in; she was a petite little thing with exotic style, her hair cut into a mohawk and a green tribal tattoo covering the left side of her face. She's a little cute, the Red-mer thought, the observation accompanied by the fact that her brother would be at least a little irked if she were to try and hit on the elf. While she kept the most irksome fact of all, her fighting skill, to herself, she liked pushing Nachael's buttons. For one thing, her brother would never allow her to go for a stranger; and what would people think of poor Nachael if his sister played for both sides, shall we say? Ferisa drank the last bit of the glass of white wine she had been nursing before asking the innkeeper for her room key.

"Goodnight," she said walking by both Nachael and the elf on her way to her room, winking a little so that only the Bosmer could see. To Ferisa's puzzlement, the elf's face simply took on an inscrutable look of pondering. In her lavish room, she unbuckled the various pieces of her armor and removed her plainclothes, sliding into bed in only her thin undergarments.

Downstairs, Nachael shook his head at the prospect of having to protect her. Ferisa meant well, Nachael thought, but she wasn't exactly screwed together too tightly. "You're a smith?" He said to the Bosmer who sat next to him, lost in her own thoughts. He had noticed the hammer on her belt, and overheard her say something of that nature to Ciel. "Good thing. I imagine my sister will be needing your services on this trip before too long. Goodnight," he said, before claiming his own key and going up the stairs to sleep in his room.

 

[Rextoret]

Ciel woke with a start - and a splitting headache. He felt like he had had some crazy dream, something about... Skyrim? It was a vague, and the thought was soon pushed out by the pain inside his head. He pushed himself up, and headed towards the door. He cast a fancy mirror-like illusion spell, trying desperately to fix the tangled mess of hair that sat upon his head. He failed, and with a sigh, left it in it's bedraggled state.

He returned the chairs that were propped against the door to their original spots, and headed out into the hallway. He looked around, noticing someone sleeping on the stairs. He stepped around them, making his way down into the main room. Hopefully no one would be too hungover. He cringed, holding his head, as if the thought brought up some odd memories. He slumped down into one of the stairs that was near the door out of the tavern. He peered outside the window, then pulled back, slightly disoriented by the sunlight. Ciel sighed, annoyed at how early it was. He just hoped the others would wake up soon, so they get their journey underway.

He was about to start napping, but not before the innkeeper walked out of the basement. He spotted Ciel, and started to speak. "Hey, Breton. You gonna pay that bill? Hope you brought plenty of septims, seeing as your 'friends' didn't exactly hold back." Ciel smirked. "Money's no problem here, my good sir." He pulled a large bag of coins out of his pack. The innkeeper's eyes greedily followed it out. Ciel handed it to him, and surprised the innkeeper with the weight of it. The man's eyes widened. "Isn't this a little too much?" Ciel's smirk spread even longer. "Keep the excess."

The innkeeper took the bag into the basement, likely to count out his treasure. Ciel slumped further down into the chair, and fixated his eyes onto the stairs. He hoped that his companions woke early and were ready to move. He'd hate to have to wait.

 

[The OP3RaT0R]

Ferisa woke at the sound of footsteps in the hallway, somewhat pleasantly surprised to find herself in such luxurious accommodations; she had slept rather deeply last night - probably due to the plush bed she lay in, the Redguard-elf assumed - with the exception of her strange awakening in the middle of the night. She remembered dimly glancing at the moons shining through her window and feeling some residual sense of being back in Skyrim, albeit far from her stomping grounds of Winterhold. Shortly after the strange episode, she had slipped back into sleep's embrace.

Now she pulled her clothing back on, and in a mirror hanging over a desk she fiddled with her hair a bit until it looked presentable. Her armor followed, and finally the womer slung her things over her shoulder and exited into the hall. She found Nachael standing against the wall opposite her room, arms crossed, all dressed up and ready to go. "Hey, how'd you sleep?"

"Decent, I guess," Nachael returned just a tad languidly. "I had the strangest dream. Anyway, ready to go?"

"As ever," Ferisa said, perking up with enthusiasm for the adventure before the party. The twins plodded down the stairs, finding Ciel waiting at the bar.

 

[Delusional]

"Ooooh, hey there..."

Alleras smirked as he stood in the center of his luxurious hotel room, taking in the sight before him. A majority of his body was numb, and he felt like he was levitating, but he was used to the feeling. It was a common trip he experienced when mixing moon sugar and skooma, which he could have done before he ended up in this "situation"--though, he couldn't recall.

"Hey... come here, baby..." Alleras spoke softly, his voice smooth and serene. She smiled and approached the Imperial man, wrapping her arms around his torso. He was a good half a foot taller than her, but he didn't mind; in fact he preferred the short ones. Her bare body pressed up against his and the two shared each others' warmth. It had gotten rather cool in the room in the past few seconds. Though, that might have just been another side effect. Alleras truly had no idea; nor did he care. He was about to get busy.

The Imperial led the woman over to the wide bed, with its soft and plush mattress and blankets. This hotel room was way too nice for the rugged, drugged up mercenary, but hey, it was a gift. Or was it a gift? Didn't some kind knight buy him the room? Or was it that bisexual fisherman?

Alleras snapped out of his not-so-thoughtful musings and returned to the fantastic present as he felt her climbing on top of him. He smiled and let her continue. Her soft giggles were soon replaced by moans, but Alleras didn't take any notice of the change. He was too busy trying to chase the rainbow spider that was scampering across the hotel walls with his eyes. The creature seemed to be pulsing with a vibrant array of color, and it left a trail of various colors across the wall in its wake. "Whoa," he muttered with a grin.

Alleras turned back to face the moaning woman who was enjoying herself as she bounced around on top of him, but to his surprise, she was gone. Suddenly, the bed disappeared from beneath him and he was plummeting through a black abyss. He began to panic, flailing his arms around helplessly, to no avail. He looked down into the dark abyss to see a floor sprinting up to meet him.

Thud. Alleras slowly blinked awake and tried to look around. Why was the bed as hard as a wooden plank? And why did his head hurt so much? The dazed Imperial laid motionless a few more moments before becoming fully aware of his surroundings. He was on the floor of the lavish hotel room that he had the pleasure of staying in last night. Why was he on the floor?

The Imperial rose from the hard floor and stumbled around the room, trying to locate his belongings through this splitting headache. He didn't even remember shedding his clothes the previous night, but evidently he did, and his garments were strewn across the hotel room. Alleras grumbled to himself as he retrieved his clothing and got dressed rather lazily.

Eventually, Alleras had collected his belongings. He exited his room and started down the hallway, hoping he wasn't the last one to wake of the small group that was to depart for some ruin today. He descended the stairs and took a seat at the bar next to Ciel, their wealthy Breton employer. He looked like a hot mess. Then again, Alleras wasn't one to talk about hot messes, because he had an odd tendency to always be a hot mess. Though, he had the excuse of being a druggie, which was more than enough for him.

"Hey there, Ciel. Rough night?" Alleras said with a chuckle as he ran a hand through his greasy hair. However horrible he looked, he was as ready as ever to embark on this expedition.

 

[Rextoret]

"Hey there, Ciel. Rough night?" Ciel looked over to the druggie, eyelids droopy and lips slightly open. "Quite. Weird dreams, not that I could say exactly what was it was about. You don't look your best, either. I suppose you had a rough night as well? Hopefully it wasn't bad enough to impair your ability to fight, seeing as we'll need that today."

That much was true. Ciel knew that everyone would have to be ready to fight if they were to retrieve the artifact. He couldn't even say he was at his best, but he hoped that at least a few of his comrades were.

 

[Mr.Self Destruct]

Gorim was sprawled across the stairs, surrounded by empty bottles and glasses and snoring with his mouth agape. With every heavy breath the sleeping dwarf took, he let out a nearly bestial rumble which seemed to shake the glasses around him.
"Milkdrinkers..." Gorim muttered, his deep slumber slightly disturbed as Ciel stepped over him. However, in moments Gorim fell back into complete unconsciousness and resumed his guttural snoring.

As the room began to light up with the sun's morning rays streaming in through the open windows, Gorim began to fidget and grumble to himself as he slowly began to drift towards consciousness. Suddenly, Gorim rolled over and began tumbling down the remaining steps dramatically before hitting the floor with a hard thud. "Hnngh..." Gorim groaned as he came to, opening his eyes and sitting up.

The dwarf glanced around, his beard and hair a disheveled mess and his eyes squinted. Gorim looked up at the stairs, and realized that he hadn't even made it to his bedroom. "Heh," he snickered as he took hold of the staircase's handrail and pulled himself to his feet.

Over at the bar was Ciel, the half elves and Alleras, the others likely hadn't awakened yet. Gorim pulled up his trousers and hobbled over to the bar while letting out an impressive yawn.

"Mornin' ladies," Gorim said as he clambered up onto a bar stool. He was feeling somewhat hungover from the night before, but Gorim was more than familiar with the morning after that came from binging on alcohol, and by now he was used to it.

 

[Aerin]

Vanya's eyes popped open as she awoke, the bosmer looking about perplexed as she took in her surroundings. Last night was hazy, as if her memories were being obscured by some noxious purple smog, her thoughts slipping away each time she attempted to grasp at the weak memories flitting about her confused mind. The small elf ran her hands over the shaved sides of her head and nails pressed against her scalp as if she planned to reach into her head and pull out her own thoughts. As her skin blossomed from the pain of her nails pricking her scalp, Vanya took a deep breath, inhaling heavily through her nose. No, it was no use trying to make sense of the extremely perplexing dream she had suffered, all that there was left was to pack her things and make her way downstairs.

The soft morning light broke through the moth-eaten curtain that was nailed above the window, a surprisingly haphazard decoration for such a plush inn. Narrowing her eyes Vanya focused her mind, her eyes picking at the fraying edges of the hemp cloth, the snags in the material from hastily hammered fixtures, the one nail near the left edge of the rough board that seemed to emerge at a different angle from the others. Humming Vanya began to move from her perch, wriggling her toes to encourage blood flow once more. Working through the pain and discomfort that comes with newly awakened limbs Vanya gingerly stretched out her legs before resting her weight on sleep-heavy legs. Bouncing up and down a few times on the balls of her feet the elf stretched out, flexing and extending to remove the last vestiges of sleep from her body.

Satisfied she was suitably ready for the day Vanya patted her hammer at her hip and slung her pack over her shoulders in haste, all the while desperately trying to hold a strip of dried meat in clenched teeth. Bare feet padded down the tavern hallway, her toes catching briefly on one of the decorative rugs that lay across the stone and wood flooring. Regaining her balance and her pace Vanya continued to hurry downstairs, pausing at the top of the staircase to see who was already awake. Pleased to see a reasonable number awake and alert Vanya skipped down the stairs, her heel slipping on the last step, a motion that caused her to lose her balance as her other foot struck out for balance, only to land on one of the many empty bottled left by Gorim. Landing on the ground with an ungainly cry Vanya looked about her and huffed her frustration, an animalistic growl leaving her throat as she set about dusting herself down and righting her clothing, which now appeared even more dishevelled than it usually did.

Hoping she looked presentable, the elven smith moved to joint he small group arranged near the bar, Vanya pausing before choosing to arrange herself near Gorim. Striking what she hoped to be a relaxed pose, Vanya leant her elbow atop the bar, though her short height meant that she could not do so comfortably, the muscles in her shoulder and upper arm straining as she attempted desperately to appear nonchalant and "normal".

"I hope you all slept well. I for one had the oddest dream. I think it involved a lot of drinking and some nakedness, but I'm really not sure. I seem to remember you all being there, so it would make sense for you to have had the same dream." Vanya's eyes fell on Alleras and a small amount of recognition filtered through her mind. "Oh, you were definitely there. I remember. You tried to give me your sugar or something. It was very odd."