Board Thread:Roleplaying/@comment-3293219-20140308235607/@comment-3293219-20140319091946

It had been a few minutes, since Nepht went upstairs to Daniel’s room, but already the atmosphere of the place had changed. The tourists and the wealthy had arrived and the bards were brought out to perform, turning a quiet, working man’s tavern into a fun pub, in the blink of an eye.

The Dunmer hadn’t noticed until now of course, as she was too deep in thought as she played the small reel of memories that featured Nish, in some shape or form as she sat at Daniel’s table. Every now and then, she’d break away and think about what this meant, her entire childhood, the reason that she was here…

It was all for nothing…

She remembered their imprisonment in Edgar’s cave, Nish’s wedding, the dreams, stories, adventures, plays and the countless times that she trained by his headstone.

Her eyes welled up with tears, like he had flat lined moments ago, when actually, it had been ten years.

Everyone leaves me eventually…

The Dunmer buried her head into her hands and began to sob to herself, oblivious to her surroundings.

''Dad, Nish, Grandad, Mikasa, Petra and that orc… ''

Mum… Tabith… I bet they would leave me, if they were allowed…

She swallowed and sniffed, glancing up at one of Daniel’s candles, which shone into her eyes, causing her vision to blur and be obscured by several colours. She continued to stare into its light, entranced by the pattern in the wax as it momentarily distracted her. She eventually found that her eyes began to hurt, so she glanced away, getting up and shuffling over to Daniel’s bed, she threw herself onto it and buried her face into the duvet.

''How long do I have with Lucian? Daniel? Maybe Lucian was just too polite to say it; I’m insufferable… ''

''Maybe he’s left me already… Gone back to murdering people on the road and left me here and I’m sure that Daniel will soon join him… ''

''Of course, why wouldn’t he? I’m not good looking, smart, clever, funny or good company… ''

''I’ve never been needed or wanted… not really… ''

''Only a few, kind, people put up with me for a bit, like Veneficus and Mikasa… ''

I’m just a burden and an annoyance, I… 

Suddenly the door burst open and Daniel stepped in, holding a tray with several drinks on it; he spotted Nepht, lay face down on his bed and sighed, kicking the door shut behind him. Nepht jumped out of her skin as she heard it shut, slightly embarrassed to be seen in such a way. Even if she had just found out that her best friend had died, it still felt like she had dropped her guard, she liked to express her emotions privately, especially negative ones.

“Hey…” Daniel whispered, putting his drinks down on the mantle and sitting on the bed, next to her.

She hunched over and hung her head, draping her arms over her knees as she went back to her depressed slump. Not even Daniel’s hand on her shoulder changed the way she felt, as she longed for it to be Nish’s hand…

“I…” She didn’t know what she wanted to say at this point, instead she just stammered, unable to get any words out.

Her Breton friend shushed her and pulled her closer, wrapping his arms around her as she dug her face into his chest, which slightly resembled the duvet from earlier.

His embrace reminded her of her grandfather’s, when she came home with bloody noses, skimmed knees or a gashed soul and he always held her like this; until mother or Tabith came home to properly deal with the situation.

Helseth was never a ‘family man,’ he just dedicated his life to providing for his family. Whether it was food, money, love or whatever else they needed, he was always there, when needed. During times of calm, the war veteran just sat in the corner, in silence, staring out of the window as he remembered his glory days as a veteran campaigner…

But now, it didn’t help her, it could never shield her from the truth; that nobody wanted her…

Dad didn’t want her, not even when she was a baby… Before she was even a baby, in fact, he got back on his boat and sailed away…

In a way, it was a small mercy, at least she never knew him before he inevitably abandoned her…   At least he never got to see her grow up, never got to regret his decision to bring her into the world.

She shuddered as these thoughts hit her. If someone else had said them, she would have gotten angry and defensive but they were coming from her own mind, so they must be true. She felt good about it actually, finally knowing why everyone hated her, why nobody wanted to stick around… Finally, she knew her place in the world and she could make peace with that.

''My best friend only spoke to me, because I was locked in a cell with him… ''

''My childhood friends left me or were kidnapped… ''

''The first friend I‘ve made in years was murdered… ''

''The only people who stick around are my family but that’s not through choice… They have to look after me! They’d leave as well, given the chance and who could blame them? ''

Nepht began to cry again, wrapping her arms around Daniel and clutching at his coat as he stained the fur lining with her tears. The Breton didn’t mind, he just wished that he could do more to help her, as he was in her situation, thirteen years ago…

He remembered what it was like to be lost in a foreign land, not knowing who to trust, not knowing if he could make it but knowing that going back home was the worst fate imaginable.

“Here…” He said, softly, tearing himself away from her embrace as he reached over for Nepht’s mead. He pulled it over and offered it to her, surprisingly she pulled away, repulsed as the smell of the honeyed mead hit her nostrils.

“Are you alright?”

“Y-Yeah… It’s just… I’m not really a fan of mead…” She confessed, feeling a bit awkward but she couldn’t even pretend to like it…

“Oh… I see…” Daniel said, pulling it away and placing it on the table.

“Sorry…”

“It’s no trouble, I just assumed, since you ordered one before…

What would you like?”

Nepht suddenly felt embarrassed but what did it matter? She didn’t exactly feel big, crying into a pillow…

“Grape juice…”

“Grape juice it is!” Daniel said, cheerfully as he got up, throwing his arms into the air and almost knocking Nepht to the floor. She managed to save herself from falling off of the bed, pulling herself back up.

“I’ll be back before you know it.” The Breton smiled, closing the door behind him as he went downstairs.

Nepht sighed, alone again…

Her self doubt crept in, like the shadowy hand of the man with the scythe, wrapping its cold, bony fingers around her brain and implanting its ‘wisdom.’

-

Daniel returned, some time later, with the grape juice in hand, he knew that he had a long night ahead of him and he constantly asked himself how he got himself into this mess…

As the Breton returned to his room, he looked around for his Dunmer friend but to his surprise, she wasn’t there…

Odd… He stepped in and placed the cup on her bedside table, glancing around for any sign of her. He then noticed that the bathroom door was shut, causing him to sigh with relief as it made sense now, he knew where she was and he could relax. He sat down, with his usual goofy grin and drew a sweetroll, examining it before biting into it, embracing the sweet taste of the icing as it melted in his mouth.

-

Nepht stared at herself in the mirror, tightening her grip over the wash basin as she hung her head, letting her tears drip into the sink.

''I’m so… ''

She sniffed and looked up at her own reflection, her eyes were bloodshot, from the tears and she had tear stains around her eyes. She hadn’t noticed any of it as she wasn’t looking through the mirror but rather at it…

Inside, she saw a way out, no more loneliness, no more fear of people like Edgar and that Black Argonian…

''I don’t want to be alone anymore… ''

Don’t want to be afraid…



Daniel jumped out of his skin as he heard the sound of shattering glass; he leapt to his feet, dropping his sweetroll to the floor as he did so.

“Nepht?”

The Breton ran over to the door, trying the handle in an effort to break in and see what was going on but it was locked.

“Nepht!” He shouted, hitting the door with his fist to get her attention but all he heard was sobbing.

Daniel then tried the only thing he could do, he took a tight grip of the door handle and threw his shoulder against it, hoping to break the door down, however, this wasn’t an action novel and he had no effect on it.

He stepped back, running his hand through his hair as he looked around for a way to open the door, he didn’t know how to pick a lock and he knew that she’d be dead by the time he got back, if he went to get help.

He stepped forward and knocked again, this time more desperate than anything.

“Nepht, please!” He begged, knocking again as he finished, though Daniel was a brilliant thinker, this seemed like a hopeless situation.

It was then, that he heard footsteps behind him. The Breton turned around to see an Imperial, matching Nepht’s description, stood in the doorway.

“Are you Lucian? I need your help!”

The Vampire then noticed the gravity of the situation, quickly figuring out that Nepht was in the bathroom and that she wasn’t coming out. But why? What had this Breton done to her?

“What have you done?!” He snapped, almost ready to kill the Breton if he had done anything.

“Nothing, she’s just…” He didn’t bother to finish as he noticed that the sobbing had stopped. He was desperate to get in now; he threw himself against the bathroom door again. However, like last time, it had no effect…

“Move!” Lucian snapped, prompting Daniel to step back as the Imperial put all of his force into an almighty kick.

He’d done this before in Morrowind, Falkreath, Bravil… A lot of targets locked themselves in their bathrooms or closets, to prolong their lives, shame that it never works…

The door swung open and the two of them burst inside the room, where they froze on the spot, horrified at the field of glass that lay in front of them, the shards of the mirror floated in a pool of blood.

Gods no… They both thought, in unison as they saw her propped up, against the wall. Her wrist was stained with blood, creating a large puddle underneath her and she clutched a shard of glass in her other hand.

Nepht was no longer sentient, she had lost so much blood that she was no longer aware of anything, not even that her friends had come to save her.

She fell deeper and deeper into the inner recesses of her mind, embracing her most cherished memories as she felt herself slipping away…

She cast her mind back, to ten years ago; she was in her cell, with her family and Nish. The happiest day of her life, or at least it seemed that way, the amount of times that she revisited it…

She could tell that he was deep in thought, she didn’t know exactly why but she assumed that he was thinking about his wife. He must have been away from her for so long and he probably missed her dearly…

Everyone else had gone to sleep but she was still awake, so she watched him for a while, trying to figure him out. Eventually, he realised that she was staring at him, causing him to snap out of his trance, when she looked back on it, it was a pretty intrusive and creepy thing to do but it seemed like he was glad that she brought him out of it.

"Were you in the army?" She finally asked, noticing that he had returned to the land of the sane.

“N-no..." Nish forced, he seemed confused by her question and he took a moment to think as he rolled onto his side, she could tell that it took a great deal of effort.

"Oh..."

"Why?"

"You're hurt." She replied, baffling him. She had never seen anyone that badly hurt before, so she assumed that he must have been in a war or a battle of some sort.

"You can get hurt outside of war..." Nish explained wincing as he got settled; he must have been in a lot of pain.

"Yeah but not like you..." She muttered, looking quite disturbed at the sight of his fragile state. She never thought that grownups, especially men, would get this weak…

Frail…

Fragile…

Perhaps it was this that warmed her to him that made her see him as a hero. He wasn’t like C’laro, indestructible, who felt no pain. The way the other kids used to talk about the khajit, it sounded like he had no burdens, no emotional pain or physical weaknesses, which made him incredibly dull in Nepht’s eyes…

But Nish? He felt pain, but pushed past it for the greater good.

He was human…

-

Some time had passed as they sat, awkwardly, in silence...

"I used to be an adventurer..." He said, out of nowhere.

"Really?!" Nepht got excited and knelt up even higher, she’d been cooped up in ‘Edgar’s paradise’ for weeks and she never thought that she’d hear something so interesting again and it wasn’t like her life before all of this was especially fun and exciting either.

"Did you meet any goblins?" Nepht loved goblins around that time, though she eventually grew up to favour the minotaurs above all else. Still, at that age, goblins ruled and she nearly died of jealousy when Petra told her that she had been attacked by one.

"Goblins? Yeah, we did... not far from here actually. Near Lake Arrius..." Nish paused at this point, this place must have meant something to him, why else would he be buried there?

Another awkward silence hung in the air as they both looked away from each other, feeling each other’s pain.

Nepht shuffled over to him, dragging her knees along the floor, hoping to get him talking again, so that she could hear more. "Grandad used to be a soldier; he doesn't like to talk about it though..."

"Yeah, soldiers rarely do..."

"He sometimes talks about it, when he's had ale but mum always tries to stop him." She looked over as her tone went grim; they momentarily watched the old dunmer as he scratched his nose in his sleep. Helseth was a bit more open with his war stories as she got older; she loved listening to his tone more than anything… He was so full of pride and excitement, like he was reliving it again, his glory days on the battlefield.

"You know what I saw?" Nish began, trying to shine some light on the situation. "I saw a dragon and I rode it from the Red Mountain to the Imperial City..."

The girl looked at him in amazement but then started to show expressions of doubt, a doubt that grew stronger as she got older but she still loved the tale.

"Didn't it try to eat you?"

Nish paused, "N-no, not when they're on your side."

"How do you know that they're on your side?"

"They don't try to eat you..." Nish laughed, pulling himself up until he was almost sat up.

"And it let you ride it?"

"Yep... Me and a few others." Nish sighed on reflection.

She noticed that he had mentioned ‘others’ before and he often mumbled things in his sleep…

"W-what happened to them?" She asked, noticing his change in tone as he mentioned them, she had assumed that they had died.

Nish sighed again and looked to the door that lingered just outside the cell. "They're... I don't know, they're still alive, if that's what you're asking."

"But they aren't your friends anymore?"

"I... wouldn't say that. We got split up and...

One of them left me..." He quickly glanced around as he lay on his back, desperate to change the topic of conversation.

"We saw the Blades as well... went to the White Gold Tower..."

He continued listing the things that he and his group had done, anyone older probably would have dismissed his story or at least expressed doubt but she hung onto his every word. He no longer seemed to notice that he was talking as the tape of his memories spun on end, recounting everything in as much detail as possible.

Nepht’s tape had almost reached its end, taking comfort in the memory that inspired her to travel to Riften and travel with a dangerous highwayman. Despite all of the darkness in her life and the pain and loneliness she had   been put through, she thought of her friend, the light of her life…

Her last thoughts were of Nish as she accepted death’s embrace…