Part 1.1
"Profitable hunting, lads?" asked Arrille as he looked at the two Dunmer before him. The left one was bald, with a scar where his left eye had been, and various other scars besides. He was covered in chitin armor, save helmet and shield, and had a shortsword at his belt. Jiub grinned and nodded to his counterpart, a slightly younger Dunmer. This one also looked shifty, but in a different way. Jiub looked like he'd won, well, survived, countless street fights. The other mer, Dasreth, looked as if he'd managed to trick his way out of them every time, and had something cocky to show for it. Dasreth was less muscular than Jiub, with a face that the poets could be inclined to call 'darkly handsome'. Whatever that meant. His short black hair was dishevelled, and he had three earrings, one in his left ear and two in his right. He was less heavily armored than Jiub, with only a cuirass, greaves, and boots, and also carried an iron shortsword.
"Well enough. Feast your eyes on these assembled pieces of plunder, Arrille. I'd say the lot's worth about hundred drakes total."
The Altmer nodded, his eyes gliding over the pile of items looted from the smuggler cavern of Addamasartus that Dasreth had pulled out of his backpack and onto the table. He did not know about the two bottles of skooma and the thirteen packets of moon sugar that they had also found, and this, Dasreth thought, was for the better. With the Census and Excise Office right under his nose, he likely wouldn't be quite inclined to trade in those things. Arrille shoved the assorted pile of weapons, alcohol, armor scraps and clothing into a crate. "Tolvise, pay these gentlemen, please. I'm going down to sort through this."
A pretty young Dunmer woman nearby nodded, gliding over to the counter and counting down exactly hundred drakes from Arrille's money box, then put them in a pouch and handed it over to Dasreth. Dasreth took it eagerly, putting his hand on hers and caressing it with a finger. While doing this, he said:
"Thank you...Tolvise. If I can ever do anything for you, just tell me. It'd be my pleasure."
Tolvise removed her hand from Dasreth's, and looked him in the eyes. Dasreth, not taking the time to check the expression on her face, gave her a wink and a grin.
PETCH!
And was returned a slap. Tolvise walked away in a huff, muttering darkly. Behind him, Dasreth heard Jiub emit a raspy chuckle. Still rubbing the fiery red spot on his cheek where he'd been hit, the Mer turned around angrily.
"What's so bloody funny, scarface?"
"You are," Jiub replied.
"I don't see you doing any better! Besides. That used to work. I tried it so often. Must've gotten rusty in the clink... happens often, I heard. There weren't a lot of pretty ladies around there, and they put me in a cell with this orc who took male bonding and prisonerly brotherhood a tad too seriously."
"What happened to that one then, Dasreth?"
"Well, Jiub, he got shivved mysteriously after telling me how cute he thought my butt was. End of story."
Post scriptum: this is my new attempt at a story based on Morrowind which I recently resumed playing. Do not expect the protagonist to be a noble good guy. Do not expect him to be completely stark raving evil, either. For the time being these may seem like tales of humorous incompetence, but do bear in mind that this personage is still Level One. My game uses many mods, such as the CM Partners mod which allows me to have Jiub as a companion. By reading this work of fanfiction, skimming it, laying your eyes on its title on the topic list or breathing, lord_wanhoop legally owns all rights to your soul and the soul of your firstborn child. Many NPCs were hurt physically, mentally, and/or emotionally during the making of this fanfiction. Who cares? We sure don't. LaToaSSD is sponsored by Hlaalu Egg Mining Inc. If you are still reading this, comment already. lord_wanhoop's writing efforts are supported purely by positive yet honest feedback and dubious skooma mixtures.
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Nobody crosses the Shadow Thieves and lives. *shluk*
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