Post by K'elevas the Potent . on Dec 12, 2012 21:36:27 GMT -8
It doesn’t cost much to be anything in this crazy world. Just a bit of time and a little bit of money is all you need to be anything you want to be. If you have enough septiums, you’re a god damn king in everyone’s book, if you train long enough then you can be everyone’s hero. Yet, what about the things that ain’t so pleasant for people? In the world there were only two types of people in the codex of their minds, there are those that do good and those that do evil. Thieves were seen as the later, it didn’t matter if they repossessed it to ensure others could survive, or the fact that they were little more hired hands. That’s all a thief generally was, a thief was nothing more than a very subtle mercenary. People never see a thief as a hired hand though, they just a grubby pair of sticky fingers and someone to put a the boots to.
K’elevas never forgot that lesson as he was never one to forget who and what he was. A khajiit, even when he was younger, K’elevas could remember the scorn in people’s eyes whenever he was around; he was the untouchable of Skyrim, he and every other member of his race alongside of the Argonians. K’elevas never grew up knowing the racial problems between the two races of beast-men; rather, he grew up knowing only the harsh reality of a life without any real biological parents. Didn’t really mean anything to him, his family had always been the thieves, the other untouchables. Most of the time, they cared for each other and made good on their word.
Othertimes, the thieves were rougher with each other; especially when it came to ‘runners’ guild members that decided life in the thieves guild was too much or they decided they just wanted to get out and start anew. Problem was, the thieves guild wasn’t recognized as an actual guild anymore, they were recognized as the immoral scum of the world. Guards hated them, people hated them, everyone but the people who paid them and themselves hated them. A thief was a thief and the only good thief, was a dead thief; at least that seemed to be the motto of every guard and civilian that ever witnessed a theft in progress. K’elevas had the scar under his heart to prove it, some bastard without proper knowledge of Khajiit anatomy put it in him. Now, it was just a reminder of what happened when you botched a job.
How many years had it been since he had thought about that? Probably at least three, but now there he was laying on his back in the middle of the night. The college of Winterhold’s walls creaking lightly with the whistling of the wind in the middle of a tempest that had brewed in the early days of Sun’s Dawn. Every moment the wind whipped around another rancorous creak of stone would resound, generally followed by snow smacking into the ground and piling up around the grounds. Hail smashed against the walls and if an icicle happened to be hanging, it was soon to smash right against the ground. Most of the mages were asleep by now, long since unconscious as the storm had kicked up in the middle of the night; the day had been cold, but with some relative light; now, it was just a barrage of wind and snow.
Laying there in the quiet of the moment, he stared at the flickering flame next to him, the candle wick burning down to nothing against the oil of the container.
Beside it lay the letter from Vex, his ‘handler’ How long had it been since the imperial female had sent word for him? Longer than he realized, he hadn’t spoken to anyone inside of the thieves in the last two years, he had just been managing and bidding his time inside of the realms and wings of the College; learning what he could. In fact, the thieves guild was something he had pushed away from his life, honing his talents only to pull pranks. Some students found things missing from time to time, but K’elevas was not the thief he once was. The students didn’t try to hide their coin pouches from him, nor did anyone suspect him of running away with their bread.
As he laid there with the flickering flames of the lantern wavering slightly as some of the cold air from outside managing to infiltrate into the confines of his room. Laying there bare-chested and with a single hand on his chest, the orange and white khajiit pondered what he should do. Vex’s letter was a demand, he needed to come back to Riften and he needed to talk to the Thieves guild. Obviously the weather was too harsh for him to leave at the moment; meanwhile, he had waited a week since receiving the letter from one of the messenger birds that had been since to him. Sighing, he turned his head towards the wall and closed his eyes; he had at least a month to wait before the weather would be kind enough to permit him travel to Riften. Not to mention how long it would take him to convince his teachers to allow him passage to the area. Huffing a sigh, K’elevas could feel doors being closed around him, his gates to the two worlds closing before him rapidly.
To one side, his passion and love for alchemy and the magical arts, the very thing that he had sought for so long and would do anything to continue; on the other side, his family, the people who had loved and cared for him since he was a child, the Thieves guild, he would do anything for them. Yet, there was stuck between his personal desires and the desires of his family, wedged between the two like a nail between two planks, he could feel himself being yanked out. He had to choose one or the other to stick to or risk being expelled from both, which was something he couldn’t afford to happen. It left him in a precarious position of being forced to choose: being ousted by one to the other. If he dropped from the Thieves guild, they might come and ruin things for him in the College; however, if he dropped from the college, they may follow him back to the Thieves guild out of curiosity. At which point, he would screw not only himself, but all of Thieves guild as well.
Settling it in his mind, he figured he would at least find his path and follow it. At best, what he could do was at least speak with Vex and see what was going on. The confusion that was churning in his head and everything that was him as a mage and him as a thief was starting to divide and expand outward. Various memories and ideas came hurtling through his dreams. Sleep didn’t come that night, he was too busy planning and arranging his trip. It was going to be a long one, that much was for sure; the rest of it needed to be carefully organized and he would have to have something to help him travel quickly. What this meant was he’d need a horse…that or he’d be walking through the wilderness for some time longer than was necessary. There was no use thinking about it for the moment though, sleep was what he needed to attempt getting or things wouldn’t exactly be great for the next morning.
A month later, K’elevas stood before the gates of Riften, the towns water-way and the giant wall around it reminding him exactly what had depressed about the city when he had been here. It was oppressive, well…in all due honesty so was the College of Winterhold, there was just a lot less water involved with it. K’elevas hated water and the fact that it was EVERYWHERE in Riften, the ocean and then the waterway, houses built over the water; the only good thing was the fish market….delicious….delicious fish. Shoving that thought away, K’elevas entered into the city once again, sneaking around the guards whom were demanding the typical ‘visitor’s tax’ K’elevas never paid it. He and the rest of the thieves knew enough about getting around the guards in this city that the two at the front were a joke.
Standing on the main bridge, dressed in his normal attire, the mage college robes, K’elevas leaned over and stared at the various boats coming in and out of the waterways. It was like staring at his past floating by and his old memories came flying by. Images of him and a few other members of the guild leaping high over the railings and coming crashing down into the water; only to use claws to climb their way up the sides to swipe whatever goodies would come their way. So many times, it was so pathetically easy; especially in the middle of the night, guards couldn’t always watch the various points of interest in the town. If they focused too much on one area, then another would get robbed and there were so many ways to get into various areas. It never mattered, no matter how they had tried, the thieves always had the lady of luck on their side.
“K’elevas remembers so much. Its funny, so many little memories of this place; he remembers jumping into the river so many times. K’elevas hates water, but the rush of leaping in and doing a job always, always got him excited. “ Laughing at this, K’elevas slowly turned around and leaned against the railing next to the waterway. As his back pressed against the hardwood, he could feel out the grooves where his feet had pressed in more times than he could count. Feeling the splintery wood next to him, he allowed his hands to run against it slowly. His calloused hands running them against the smoothed parts, where the rain, wind and friction had worn the wood down to nearly its core; that feeling…it brought so many memories to mind.
The warmth of Heartfire, the sun-beating down on his back as he pulled up a fish from a line of rope that he had let down, a few of his fellow thieves were laughing in the background as he hauled up the three pound fish. The smell of sea salt, wet wood and fur, the aroma of fish sitting out in the sun, fresh meats and sweetbuns being cooked, there were so many good memories, so many good scents and good times. Just feeling out the wood, it reminded him of those, it reminded him of how tight knit his family was; maybe it wasn’t Vex and maybe it wasn’t any of any importane, but the Thieves guild would always be his family. Standing straight up and looking back across the water for a moment, he sighed and knew that someone from the guild would be coming his way soon enough.
Who or what that person would be he found out soon enough and was led away down to the rat ways. The smell of lost hope, mildew and rotten pieces of fish and meat immediately filled his nostrils, it was sickening, the utter depravity and depression of the region was enough to make him vomit. Yet, at the same time it was an intoxicating sense of the complete thieves guild experience; they were the shadows, the unwanted, the discarded of society and they took it back piece by piece. Smirking as he wandered through his old home, he found himself standing before the blonde. Her name was Vex, an imperial and one of the best damn thieves that K’elevas ever had the pleasure of knowing.
Seeing her face to face again, was a bit of an oddity; however, he knew that this time their meeting wasn’t a pleasant one. It was about his current situation at Winterhold and why he hadn’t given anything back to the guild. Quietly standing before her, amongst the rubble of the rat-way and in the afterglow of his travels; the Khajiit slowly let a wide grin stretch across his face. “Who is this vision of a woman that stands before K’elevas? Surely, it is not little Vex! You’ve grown so much since last he saw you, or perhaps K’elevas walked on too many sands and just forgot how much Vex had grown. How many sands have you walked upon since last he saw you, have you seen the many moons that K’elevas has?”
Laughing again, K’elevas motioned away from the escorts that had lead him here, fishing into his satchel and retrieving two loafs of bread and a brick of cheese that he had swiped during his visit inside of the town. “Vex, Vex, Vex….let’s not be too hasty in these proceedings; K’elevas offers you fresh bread and cheese, let us sit and eat together. Remember moons passed and fill our bellies, K’elevas will regale you with stories of his time at the college.”
K’elevas never forgot that lesson as he was never one to forget who and what he was. A khajiit, even when he was younger, K’elevas could remember the scorn in people’s eyes whenever he was around; he was the untouchable of Skyrim, he and every other member of his race alongside of the Argonians. K’elevas never grew up knowing the racial problems between the two races of beast-men; rather, he grew up knowing only the harsh reality of a life without any real biological parents. Didn’t really mean anything to him, his family had always been the thieves, the other untouchables. Most of the time, they cared for each other and made good on their word.
Othertimes, the thieves were rougher with each other; especially when it came to ‘runners’ guild members that decided life in the thieves guild was too much or they decided they just wanted to get out and start anew. Problem was, the thieves guild wasn’t recognized as an actual guild anymore, they were recognized as the immoral scum of the world. Guards hated them, people hated them, everyone but the people who paid them and themselves hated them. A thief was a thief and the only good thief, was a dead thief; at least that seemed to be the motto of every guard and civilian that ever witnessed a theft in progress. K’elevas had the scar under his heart to prove it, some bastard without proper knowledge of Khajiit anatomy put it in him. Now, it was just a reminder of what happened when you botched a job.
How many years had it been since he had thought about that? Probably at least three, but now there he was laying on his back in the middle of the night. The college of Winterhold’s walls creaking lightly with the whistling of the wind in the middle of a tempest that had brewed in the early days of Sun’s Dawn. Every moment the wind whipped around another rancorous creak of stone would resound, generally followed by snow smacking into the ground and piling up around the grounds. Hail smashed against the walls and if an icicle happened to be hanging, it was soon to smash right against the ground. Most of the mages were asleep by now, long since unconscious as the storm had kicked up in the middle of the night; the day had been cold, but with some relative light; now, it was just a barrage of wind and snow.
Laying there in the quiet of the moment, he stared at the flickering flame next to him, the candle wick burning down to nothing against the oil of the container.
Beside it lay the letter from Vex, his ‘handler’ How long had it been since the imperial female had sent word for him? Longer than he realized, he hadn’t spoken to anyone inside of the thieves in the last two years, he had just been managing and bidding his time inside of the realms and wings of the College; learning what he could. In fact, the thieves guild was something he had pushed away from his life, honing his talents only to pull pranks. Some students found things missing from time to time, but K’elevas was not the thief he once was. The students didn’t try to hide their coin pouches from him, nor did anyone suspect him of running away with their bread.
As he laid there with the flickering flames of the lantern wavering slightly as some of the cold air from outside managing to infiltrate into the confines of his room. Laying there bare-chested and with a single hand on his chest, the orange and white khajiit pondered what he should do. Vex’s letter was a demand, he needed to come back to Riften and he needed to talk to the Thieves guild. Obviously the weather was too harsh for him to leave at the moment; meanwhile, he had waited a week since receiving the letter from one of the messenger birds that had been since to him. Sighing, he turned his head towards the wall and closed his eyes; he had at least a month to wait before the weather would be kind enough to permit him travel to Riften. Not to mention how long it would take him to convince his teachers to allow him passage to the area. Huffing a sigh, K’elevas could feel doors being closed around him, his gates to the two worlds closing before him rapidly.
To one side, his passion and love for alchemy and the magical arts, the very thing that he had sought for so long and would do anything to continue; on the other side, his family, the people who had loved and cared for him since he was a child, the Thieves guild, he would do anything for them. Yet, there was stuck between his personal desires and the desires of his family, wedged between the two like a nail between two planks, he could feel himself being yanked out. He had to choose one or the other to stick to or risk being expelled from both, which was something he couldn’t afford to happen. It left him in a precarious position of being forced to choose: being ousted by one to the other. If he dropped from the Thieves guild, they might come and ruin things for him in the College; however, if he dropped from the college, they may follow him back to the Thieves guild out of curiosity. At which point, he would screw not only himself, but all of Thieves guild as well.
Settling it in his mind, he figured he would at least find his path and follow it. At best, what he could do was at least speak with Vex and see what was going on. The confusion that was churning in his head and everything that was him as a mage and him as a thief was starting to divide and expand outward. Various memories and ideas came hurtling through his dreams. Sleep didn’t come that night, he was too busy planning and arranging his trip. It was going to be a long one, that much was for sure; the rest of it needed to be carefully organized and he would have to have something to help him travel quickly. What this meant was he’d need a horse…that or he’d be walking through the wilderness for some time longer than was necessary. There was no use thinking about it for the moment though, sleep was what he needed to attempt getting or things wouldn’t exactly be great for the next morning.
A month later, K’elevas stood before the gates of Riften, the towns water-way and the giant wall around it reminding him exactly what had depressed about the city when he had been here. It was oppressive, well…in all due honesty so was the College of Winterhold, there was just a lot less water involved with it. K’elevas hated water and the fact that it was EVERYWHERE in Riften, the ocean and then the waterway, houses built over the water; the only good thing was the fish market….delicious….delicious fish. Shoving that thought away, K’elevas entered into the city once again, sneaking around the guards whom were demanding the typical ‘visitor’s tax’ K’elevas never paid it. He and the rest of the thieves knew enough about getting around the guards in this city that the two at the front were a joke.
Standing on the main bridge, dressed in his normal attire, the mage college robes, K’elevas leaned over and stared at the various boats coming in and out of the waterways. It was like staring at his past floating by and his old memories came flying by. Images of him and a few other members of the guild leaping high over the railings and coming crashing down into the water; only to use claws to climb their way up the sides to swipe whatever goodies would come their way. So many times, it was so pathetically easy; especially in the middle of the night, guards couldn’t always watch the various points of interest in the town. If they focused too much on one area, then another would get robbed and there were so many ways to get into various areas. It never mattered, no matter how they had tried, the thieves always had the lady of luck on their side.
“K’elevas remembers so much. Its funny, so many little memories of this place; he remembers jumping into the river so many times. K’elevas hates water, but the rush of leaping in and doing a job always, always got him excited. “ Laughing at this, K’elevas slowly turned around and leaned against the railing next to the waterway. As his back pressed against the hardwood, he could feel out the grooves where his feet had pressed in more times than he could count. Feeling the splintery wood next to him, he allowed his hands to run against it slowly. His calloused hands running them against the smoothed parts, where the rain, wind and friction had worn the wood down to nearly its core; that feeling…it brought so many memories to mind.
The warmth of Heartfire, the sun-beating down on his back as he pulled up a fish from a line of rope that he had let down, a few of his fellow thieves were laughing in the background as he hauled up the three pound fish. The smell of sea salt, wet wood and fur, the aroma of fish sitting out in the sun, fresh meats and sweetbuns being cooked, there were so many good memories, so many good scents and good times. Just feeling out the wood, it reminded him of those, it reminded him of how tight knit his family was; maybe it wasn’t Vex and maybe it wasn’t any of any importane, but the Thieves guild would always be his family. Standing straight up and looking back across the water for a moment, he sighed and knew that someone from the guild would be coming his way soon enough.
Who or what that person would be he found out soon enough and was led away down to the rat ways. The smell of lost hope, mildew and rotten pieces of fish and meat immediately filled his nostrils, it was sickening, the utter depravity and depression of the region was enough to make him vomit. Yet, at the same time it was an intoxicating sense of the complete thieves guild experience; they were the shadows, the unwanted, the discarded of society and they took it back piece by piece. Smirking as he wandered through his old home, he found himself standing before the blonde. Her name was Vex, an imperial and one of the best damn thieves that K’elevas ever had the pleasure of knowing.
Seeing her face to face again, was a bit of an oddity; however, he knew that this time their meeting wasn’t a pleasant one. It was about his current situation at Winterhold and why he hadn’t given anything back to the guild. Quietly standing before her, amongst the rubble of the rat-way and in the afterglow of his travels; the Khajiit slowly let a wide grin stretch across his face. “Who is this vision of a woman that stands before K’elevas? Surely, it is not little Vex! You’ve grown so much since last he saw you, or perhaps K’elevas walked on too many sands and just forgot how much Vex had grown. How many sands have you walked upon since last he saw you, have you seen the many moons that K’elevas has?”
Laughing again, K’elevas motioned away from the escorts that had lead him here, fishing into his satchel and retrieving two loafs of bread and a brick of cheese that he had swiped during his visit inside of the town. “Vex, Vex, Vex….let’s not be too hasty in these proceedings; K’elevas offers you fresh bread and cheese, let us sit and eat together. Remember moons passed and fill our bellies, K’elevas will regale you with stories of his time at the college.”
