(happy 4/20 to those who celebrate! I know I do lmao. my eternal thanks and love to everyone who comments, reviews, or leaves kudos. :) thank y'all for indulging myself. Special thanks to someonebored0100 for commenting and giving feedback on every chapter so far, and giving me great ideas to think about! You're awesome and I really appreciate you!)
Lydia asked over supper that night if Joe knows that he is mispronouncing her name. He immediately shot back with,
"You do know this one's name is Jo'shak, not Joe, yes?"
"Well, yeah, of course. But Jo'shak doesn't necessarily roll off my my tongue, now, does it?" Lydia queried right back, his name indeed sounding rough and foreign sounding in her accent. Joe-shack. The mentioned khajiit had winced slightly as he heard the butchered pronunciation of his name;
"Joe it is, then. But no, this one was not aware, and makes his apologies known. It was an honest mistake." He spread his hands wide, shrugging his shoulders slightly. Lydia smiled, then murmured loud enough for him to hear,
"It's fine. I like Lilija better anyways."
Both adventurers were clean, yes, but their clothes were not. Joe merely had some ragged trousers and a threadbare shirt under the pilfered Imperial armor, and Lilija was still in her hiking garb; breathable green cotton shirt, sports bra, her husband's black carhartts, Darn Tough wool socks and lace up hiking boots. They had an impromptu slight wash from the rain they traveled in yesterday, but they both smelt ripe even after their wash. Lilija made the decision to strip down to her bra and boyshort underwear. Joe yelped and turned away, covering his eyes with his hands,
"What are you doing?!" he asked, a tone of embarrassed horror lacing his voice.
"Relax, Fluffy. I'm keeping my underwear on. I'm not climbing in a clean bed with with gross clothes, Joe. You either." Lilija said, with a pointed look in his direction. She kept her gaze firm until he brought his hands away from his eyes.
"This one is not fluffy, he is sleek and groomed!" He proclaimed indignantly, the fur tufts on his cheeks floofing and trembling with each motion. He was not proving his point well. Lilija struggled to not laugh at how cute he was, and how much he looked like a big ol maine coon.
"Ye- yeah dude. Just strip before you get into bed." She left all her clothes on top of her backpack, grabbed one pillow at the head of the bed and moved it to the foot, then climbed right in. She slid over to the wall, getting comfy on her side of the bed.
There was plenty of room for Joe left, and he hesitantly peeled his armor off. His shirt came off, but the pants stayed. Lilija could only assume he didn't have anything else under there. Not that she was watching, damn furries. He climbed into his side of the bed, but laid on his side facing her, his tail hanging out from underneath the covers. The covers were pulled over each other, with a little logistics issue considering their heads were at opposite sides of the bed. Eventually they got the blankets to sit diagonally enough for both parties to be satisfied, and they both eventually slipped off into sleep.
Jo'shak woke up feeling constricted. He grumbled and shifted to his side, then snapped his eyes open when he realized his legs were being held. He sat up in bed abruptly, ready to claw apart what was restraining him—
Oh. It was just Lilija, sprawled out across his legs, sleeping peacefully. Her head and upper torso rested on his shins. He consciously sheathed his claws, then rubbed the sleep from his eyes roughly. He was way too high alert. He wished he didn't have to be. He slowly extracted his legs from underneath Lilija's sleeping form, barely getting a twitch from the woman. He hovered his hand in front of her face, and felt a gentle warm breath. Good, not dead. He covered her up with the blankets and then set about dressing himself. He regretted having to put on dirty clothes over his clean fur. As he was wrapping his feet in protective rags again, his ears were swiveling, tuning into all the noise in the Drunken Huntsman. The name rang a very familiar bell in his head, yet he could not, for the life of him, remember where he had heard it. The memory seemed right in reach, yet obscured behind a black wall of forgetfulness. He finished wrapping his paws, adjusted his armor, then set out down to breakfast. If Lilija wasn't down in a half an hour, he would go rouse her. For now, she could remain a rock.
Jo'shak descended the stairs, eyes fixed on the path ahead of him. Not much else registered except for his trek to the front desk to inquire about breakfast. The innkeeper, a shorter Bosmer, looked up to the tall Suthay-raht Khajiit as he approached. He greeted his patron with no hesitation, "Hello, what can we do for you?"
Jo'shak smiled with closed lips at him, then requested, "This one would like to request breakfast, please."
"Of course, take a seat and we will serve you promptly." The innkeeper returned, and Jo'shak went to a corner table to settle himself down. Before he could even pull his chair out, he was tackled to the floor. His claws were out, teeth bared, snarling commenced and–!
"Jenassa!" Jo'shak proclaimed joyfully, hugging the dusky elven woman that had tackled him. Her joyous laughter mixed with his as they embraced on the floor. Both of them spoke at once, voices bleeding over one another, "Jenassa, you're alive?!" "Jo'shak, you're here!" "How did you survive?" "How did you get away?"
Both of them paused for breath, then laughed together just like old times. Jenassa helped Jo'shak up from the floor, and they sat down for breakfast and a recap.
"Look, we kin do this the easy way, or the you-die-now way." The burly man's breath stunk awful for how far he was away. The rest of his (admittedly large) gaggle of ruffians didn't look or smell any more pleasant. Their various weapons gleamed dull in the weak Skyrim sunshine. Jo'shak and Jenassa stood flanking Ta'rhija and her small company. Ta'rhija. His radiant beauty. Pining for her for years, he was ecstatic when she expressed even the slightest interest in him. He should have known it was for ulterior motives; Months later she asked him to guard her new caravan on their way through Skyrim and he was powerless to say no. All she wanted him for was a guard. Her heart was far away, and not with Jo'shak. Alas, her ethereal looks were what these nasty people in front of them were after; her pelt. Apparently, these backwater countries had a booming black market for Khajiiti pelts.
"We take yer pre'iiest member, and the rest of y'all can go on yer way." Stinky paused, the snowberry bouncing around inside of his head trying extra hard to think of a complete sentence, "Or, y'can fight n' we take all yer skins and yer stuff."
"We'll take our chances." Ta'rhija's voice rang clear, then not a heartbeat later, chaos erupted.
Jenassa relayed her tale to Jo'shak other with low, murmuring voices. Both their breakfasts were slowly being picked at, but mostly had turned cold. Tears were shed by both at times, but the overall consensus was that all the caravan members made it— except it was uncertain if that stuck up gray Khajiit survived, which neither were too mournful of the snooty mage. Ta'rhija and the rest returned to Elsweyr ASAP, and were home in Corinth. Jenassa made sure to get into contact with everyone she could- except Jo'shak. She couldn't find him and he wouldn't budge on where he was; when she asked, a haunted look pinched his face and he said nothing. His fur was still missing in some patches on his wrists and ankles, from where manacles rubbed. He showed her these and they spoke no more of that. Jenassa instead asked how he came to be in Whiterun, and then there was another recap to give. He told her everything. Well, most everything. He left out the bits about Lilija being from Elsewhere, not Elsweyr.
That was where Lilija found them, at the tale end of the story. Jo'shak was pausing in his sentence, attempting to remember which inn it was that refused them with a crossbow to the face,
"It was the Dragon's Breath inn. Nearer to to the Cloud district." Lilija piped up, dragging a seat over to their table. Jenassa looked up curiously at Lilija, already having heard much about her. Her accent came as a surprise; softened and dropped T sounds, losing the tail end of her words into the next, and a distinctly backwoods tone. Very odd, and almost indecipherable. "We should pay 'em a friendly-like visit some day in the future. I have a, uh… harmless revenge in mind."
Jo'shak raised his eyebrow at her, then shook his head and chuckled, "Get your revenge on your own terms, when this one is not in the city under your name and good will."
Lilija smiled mischievously at the Khajiit, then focused on the Dunmer. "So, as I heard, you prob-probably know who I am already, but I'll introduce m'self anyhoo 'cuz it's polite. My name's Lyd- Lilija, nice to meet you." She inclined her head towards the dusky woman. Lilija could only guess who she was, and the guess was-
"I am Jenassa, friend to Jo'shak here. You have my gratitude for all you have done to assist him." Jenassa's lips quirked up at the redhead. Lilija just nodded, her guess confirmed.
" 'Course, any decent person would help out another in need. It kind-kinda helped that I was in need too, by hap-happenstance." She shrugged, then her stomach growled. "Be back, I'm hungry."
After breakfast was had and dishes cleared away, the three adventurers went upstairs to talk a bit more privately. Lydia settled at the foot of the bed, Jo'shak at the head, and Jenassa on the singular chair. Jenassa made no comment about the lodgings except for a singular raised eyebrow. Jo'shak asked Jenassa if she wouldn't mind a job where she'll be paid afterwards.
"For you, my friend, you have my services free, as long as I get to loot something." Was Jenassa's response. Lilija laughed and said she liked Jenassa.
"Perfect. No offense, Lilija- this one thinks you are a wonderful person, yet you are, ah, let us say, lacking in the combat department, yes?" Jo'shak stumbled along his sentence, looking more awkward as he went. A hand came up to rake through the fur on his cheek. A nervous tic if Lilija ever saw one. She shrugged nonchalantly,
"Prob'ly the worst, my guy. No offense taken, but you should know that if you're thinking of startin a sentence with, uh, 'no offense,' it may offend the person it's pertaining to." Lilija gave him a mock side eye, a playful smirk on her lips. Jenassa was hiding her smile behind her hand, expertly placed on the arm rest so she could obscure her face at will.
"Fair enough. Advice heeded. In the event of this one successfully retrieving this 'Dragonstone,' this one must delve into a dangerous ancient ruin. So, this one would be more confident in leaving Lilija in Riverwood whilst Jenassa and I go pilfer the ruin." Jenassa nodded her agreement to the plan. Seems as if she was a woman of few words.
Lilija immediately replied, "Sounds great to me, you two should do that, I am NOT a great candidate for combat. But could I, uh, just stay here in Whiterun? I'm sure I can find somethin to occupy my time. I don't think my hips are up to makin that hike again."
Jo'shak contemplated it for just a moment, then shrugged, "this one doesn't see any reason not to. Just don't get yourself killed, or worse, in trouble with the law."
"No promises."
Lilija struggled with herself internally the entire walk down to the front gates with the two other adventurers. Joe had Alvor's pack to return (or buy, if the blacksmith would allow it,) Jenassa had more than enough potions on her for the both of them, so Lilija kept the coin purse. Joe said it would be safer with her, anyhow. Her fingers worried the small pouch of coins in her pocket as she thought. She knows she already told Joe she was from another world, but she hadn't told him that his entire universe was the subject of her favorite story franchise. And that she had exact foreknowledge of what events were to take place. She was more than confident that he was the Dragonborn, and she definitely wanted the cute red khajiit to survive. But time ran out while she was wondering how to broach the subject, and they were crossing the threshold of the gates. Lilija paused.
"Good luck you two; I um…. I think the guy at the Riverwood Trader mentioned something ab-about that barrow you're heading into, Joe. May- maybe ask him before you go in." Lilija's stomach was a pit of worry for her new friend(s?).
"We will be fine. I am sure we can keep each other safe." Jenassa patted Lilija's shoulder. Lilija looked up at the taller woman and grinned slightly.
"Just make sure you don't tread on his tail in the dark, he makes an awful funny squeaking noise when you do." Lilija cautioned, to Joe's embarrassment and ire. He huffed grumpily.
"This one was going to say good luck, but now will only say may your roads lead you to sandy butts." He snorted in what was obviously mock-derision, crossing his arms and pouting his chin upwards. After a moment he opened one eye to peer down at them to see if either of them were pitying him. Both women were trying to stifle their laughter. Lilija grinned widely and patted his shoulder, mimicking what Jenassa had just done,
"I'll be jus- just fine, big boy. May your road lead you to cold stone, in the form of that stupid Dragonstone."
Lilija leant out of the window of her- now unshared- room at the Drunken Huntsman. It was still early- using her fingers to measure the distance between the bottom of the sun and the horizon, Lilija estimated it was only around 7 or 8 in the morning. She ruffled through her backpack, pulling out most of the contents onto the bed. She found her desired items in the bottom inner pocket, nestled in her change of clothes, safe from breaking.
Lilija had smelled the unmistakable musk of tobacco smoke earlier while in the dining room, she was sure cannabis was no different. Her nerves needed this. Grind up, wrap up, light up. Inhale, exhale out the window, and then she didn't quite care as much about being alone in a strange world.
(postscript, would you call a female mer a womer or a woman?
fun fact- I grew up in a town called Corinth. I saw that there's a city called Corinth in Elsweyr, and hey, guess that's where Joe's from!
So, lots of background is established in this chapter. I realllllyyyyy focused on doing more dialogue. Please let me know what you think!)