The next morning Marcurio woke slowly, groggily, and somewhat grumpily. He had had one too many bottles of mead that night in celebration of his newfound employment. He was in less that perfect condition to go tromping around in search of Windhelm all day.
He had pretty close to no idea where he was meant to go. North someplace, he assumed, as any farther south and they would end up in Cyrodiil. He was sure there would be plenty of roadsigns that would help prevent him from looking like a fool in from of his brand new boss.
He sighed dramatically as he sat up in bed, ignoring how dizzy that left him. He pulled on his robes and boots and whatever else mages wear and stomped off out of his room, hoping the girl was still in bed so he could have breakfast before they left, perhaps even glance over a map.
He sat himself down at the bar and tried not to be too satisfied with the way Keerava snarled under her breath.
"Shouldn't you be gone by now?" The lizard's raspy voice grated against Marcurio's harldy awake and mildly hungover ears.
"Pass me something to eat will you."
She gritted her teeth in disdain. "Your new sucker left without you an hour ago, why is your butt still sitting at my bar?"
He shrugged. He had already been paid, what did it matter to him if she actually decided to use him or not? Keerava practical growled at his flippancy. She wanted him out of her in as much as he wanted to be out. Times when he had jobs were always far more exhilarating and satisfying than sitting on that dusty old bench day after day. He couldn't rightly leave on his own, he had nowhere to go. Besides perhaps bar-hopping at inns that would be far less tolerate of his freeloading that Keerava was. Despite her bad attitude, she never actively kicked him out, even after he was out of money. Perhaps he could be more appreciative, but as he watched her idly humming in a way that sounded like a horker making love to a cheese grater, he figured it was unlikely.
Mercifully before that image could root itself to far into his brain, the front door swung open wildly and banged against the wall, making both the imperial and the lizard jump. Had the mage been sitting on his usual people-watching bench, he might have been smacked by that violent door. He wondered if maybe he should find a new spot.
The perpetrator behind this hearty door slamming was none other that the missing adventurer herself, carrying a large sack that was full of something making the sound of metal scraping against metal. A sound which felt just lovely against the mage's post-drunken skull.
The blond wandered in under the weight of this bag in a set or everyday clothes, much different that the chunky armor she was donning the night before. The lack of thick rust covering her frame reveiled her to be much stronger looking that the wizard had thought. Perhaps she can use that Warhammer on her own, he amused himself. She had a thin waist, like she was pulling it in with one of those torture devices women seem so fond of -corsets, Marcurio thought. She had slightly broad shoulders for a woman, but it was offset by the hips that rivaled their width and thighs that spilled over the edge of the stool as she sat next to him. Her breast were-
Now, that's quite enough, Marcurio thought, and looked away to maintain his gentlemanly dignity.
Unfortunately though it seemed that Keerava had noticed this unsavory staring and shot him a knowing look that made a shiver traverse his spine. God he couldn't stand that nosy lady.
"I almost thought you'd planned in sleeping all day. I've already gotten all my shopping done. Managed to wrangle a deal out of that rude lady who runs that little armor stall." She said rather cheerily. She seemed in a better mood than the night before, and the deep bags under her eyes had faded somewhat significantly, though they were still noticeable.
"Easy on my door next time or I'll have you paying to replace it." Keerava injected.
As the barkeep turned her back, Marcurio saw the pretty Nord girl mock Keerava's patronizing. He started to think he could really get to like her.
He tapped his feet a bit as he thought of how to remove the silence. "You must enjoy shopping." He offered, gesturing to her purchase on the floor between them.
"Actually," she pulled the bag up to her lap, "I enjoy taking things from idiots for less that what I could sell them for elsewhere. Great way to make some gold here and there. But this time was for necessity, not profit."
Out of the bag she yanked a shiney piece of yellowy metal that the mage eventually figured out to be a chest plate. He was glad to see she was replacing that tin can she walked in with, it seemed more likely to do her harm than anything they could find outside the gates. He looked down at his own attire and wondered if he should invest in a new set of robes. These weren't in particularly bad shape. A few fraying threads here and there. But the glow from the enchantment seemed to have faded a bit over the years, yet perhaps that was just from lack of use. The last time he actually had to fire off any Sparks was when a thief had tried to make off with the few coins he had left between jobs. He silently hoped that their quest wouldn't put them in the way of too much harm.
