Board Thread:Roleplaying/@comment-3293219-20140927193312/@comment-3293219-20140930193919

(Sorry, this took ages to write, had dinner and it took me a while to think it through.)

Robin approached the Skaal village, checking it out from afar, the Breton decided that they would try to sneak inside, wanting to see this tribe and see if they were dangerous before they saw Robin. They slowly crept around the outside of the village and cautiously approached it, the dark, eery, winter feeling loomed over the young Tribal and the biting cold was quickly getting to them. No wonder the Skaal wore large coats, to protect themselves from the cold.

The Breton stopped by one of the shacks and pressed their hand against it, observing two of the Skaal from afar, seeing an old, milky eyed nord conversing with one of the children. He seemed to be somewhat close to the child as he placed his hand on their shoulder and spoke calmly to them before the child looked away and went back to his hut. Robin couldn’t hear, over the loud, biting, wind but it was most likely time for the child to eat.

Robin wasn’t able to resist the cold for long, feeling cursed as they kept going from one extreme temperature to another. They grabbed their shoulders and shivered, furiously as their sleeveless, leather armour seemed like a terrible choice of clothing to wear in a frozen wasteland.

“S-Should’ve brought a cloak or something…” They mumbled, seconds before feeling something jab them, in the back of the neck.

It was like the tiniest pin prick, that lingered, it didn’t even hurt but it soon became obvious that Robin was in grave danger as they had just been discovered. The Breton swallowed, hard, if the one who discovered them were to push any harder, into their neck, with the sword, it would be the last time that they did so.

“No sudden moves…” A Nord woman’s voice said, sternly, Robin nodded to indicate that they understood.

“Slowly, stand to your feet… Drop your weapons to the ground…”

The Tribal did as they said; dropping their bow to the floor and raising their hands as two more Skaal appeared, from behind cover.

“Good…” The Woman commented, looking up to her associates.

“Take him back to my cabin.”

The two Skaal nodded, blindly following her orders and snatching Robin by both arms, dragging them away to the nearest cabin to their right. They were dragged up several, wooden steps before being, unceremoniously, shoved to the floor. As Robin pulled their head up and looked around, the front door was slammed shut and barred from the outside.

The Breton stood up, dusting themselves off, with a sigh as they stared up at the rafters, the building creaked as the howling wind hit it, with everything it had and they couldn’t hear what was going on, outside, because of it.

“Great…” They sighed, relaxing their shoulders a little.

They were going to be here for a while…

-

Robin sat, curled up, in the corner of the room, shivering away in the dark. They’d been gone for hours or what felt like hours and the Tribal was pretty sure that this room was just as cold as outside.

It was then that the door clicked and creaked, slowly opening to reveal a tall-ish figure, in a big Skaal’s coat, completely obscured by the blizzard. Robin lifted their arm to shield their eyes from the light as the natural light, from outside was the only light source in the room. This small blessing was quickly diminished as the Skaal stepped forward, obstructing the light with their large form.

They stopped in the doorway, staring at Robin, for a second or two before turning around and shutting the door and removing their hood. They appeared to be holding a lantern, which they quickly lit with a small fire spell, which lit up the room, with an orange glow.

“We don’t often get many intruders…” The strong voiced Nord Woman from before said; her face was lit up by the orange glow of the lantern, revealing herself to Robin for the first time.

“You were the first one who made it to our village before being discovered, blizzard or no, that’s quite a feat…”

Robin remained silent, not sure as to whether they should be flattered or terrified…

“Now…” The Nord placed her lantern on a nearby end table and took two menacing strides forward, looming over Robin.

“Who are you and why do you threaten my people?”

“I-I…” Robin stammered, shielding their face with their arms as this woman scared the crap out of them.

“I was looking for you! – The Skaal, I mean…”

“Why?”

“I was looking for… information, advice.”

The Nord raised an eyebrow, somewhat intrigued by this answer; she folded her arms and looked down on the Tribal before her, narrowing her eyes.

“People looking for information just come to us, we aren’t savages…”

“I didn’t know that… You could have been like my people and if you were? Well, we wouldn’t be talking right now…”

“Oh? And who are your savage people?”

“Ever heard of the Forsworn?”

The Nord paused for a moment, trying to recall the name; they lingered for a moment, as if it sounded vaguely familiar but then shook it off as nothing.

“No.” She answered, truthfully.

“Our knowledge is limited to the island of Solthstiem and even then, it isn’t complete.”

“Well, the Forsworn are hill tribe in Skyrim… Kind of like you but… less civilised… They are savages and I was one of them, until I escaped…”

“Escaped? You can’t escape your home and family, boy…” The Nord replied, somewhat disgusted by this response as the Skaal consider family to be one of the most important things in the world as did most tribes and tribals.

“I escaped… They were going to cut my heart out and… replace it with… something else.” Robin mumbled, slowly rising to their feet and timidly standing up in front of the Nord and catching her eye, it went from disapproving to sympathetic in an instant. She immediately saw Robin’s problem, fearing their own family and having to ‘escape’ from them. No wonder they sought another clan for help and considering that most of her people couldn’t even make it to Raven Rock on their own, Robin must be truly tenacious, if they made it to a whole other tribe, on a different island.

“Everyone hated me… My father? He used to call me a ‘mistake’ and…” Robin’s voice broke as their eyes welled up, feeling like it was safe to let down their defences, not, because they felt safe but, because this was the end of the road for them. No matter what happened now, if this Skaal wanted to kill Robin, then so be it as Robin had nowhere else to go.

However, to their surprise, they felt a steady hand rest on their shoulder, taking a firm grip of it and cutting them off as the Breton looked up to the Skaal leader, who quickly brought herself down to their level.

“It’s okay child… I believe you… You seek guidance?”

Robin nodded, wiping their eyes on their arm and sniffing, trying to swallow their emotions back as they did so.

“Y-Yeah… I… I want to know how to blend in with ‘civilised’ people, to… fit in.”

The Nord nodded, seeing why they would want this but Robin was sadly looking in the wrong place as the Skaal were an isolated community, who didn’t interact with ‘civilised’ people much, even the ones closest to them.

“I’m sorry, child… Our people are isolated, we try to avoid others. We can’t help you, not effectively.”

That answer caused Robin’s face to drop as if it had shattered their heart on the spot, everything they’d been hoping for, up until that point was now gone and they were destined to be an outcast for the rest of their days.

“Then… I’m alone?” They asked, helplessly, looking up to the tribal leader, with shimmering eyes.

The Nord rose to her feet, standing tall as she looked down on Robin, placing her hand on their shoulder again, like the old hunter did with the child, though Robin was too distraught to notice the similarity.

“No one is ever, truly, alone… You’re more than welcome to stay, as long as you need to, maybe you can find someone, friends in Raven Rock. If you do, maybe they can guide you, towards becoming what you seek to become.”

Friends… Robin thought, questioning themselves, of course, they didn’t need the Skaal or a Tribe, clan or… anything, because they had someone who cared, at least a little for their well being, even when they hated them. Someone who they helped, on numerous occasions, never asking for anything in return.

Maybe they were the answer they sought…

“Th-Thank you, M-Miss… But I… I think that I do have somewhere, where I can go.”

The Nord gave the faintest hint of a smile, seeing the hope restored in Robin’s voice as she stepped back.

“Well, come back to us, if that changes, so long as you pull your own weight, we’ll happily provide you with shelter. It’s… The least we can do, for someone as unfortunate as yourself.”

Robin didn’t appreciate being pitied but they did appreciate the gesture and bowed graciously as the Nord stepped aside, allowing them safe passage to the front door. They stopped, just short of it and placed their hand to it, quickly turning around to his Skaal interrogator.

“Thank you… Miss…?”

“Miss’ nothing, I am Fanari Strong-Voice.” She replied, sternly, using her legendarily level voice or at least, that’s what Robin thought that she was named after.

“Well… Thank you, Fanari… I’m Robin and… You’ve helped me so much, whether you know it or not, I… I don’t feel as lost now. I’ll make it up to you and your people, one day, I promise.” Robin then opened the front, immediately greeted by the blizzard outside, which was so intensely cold, that it felt like their arms had turned to ice on the spot.

The Breton slammed the door shut and turned around, smiling sheepishly as they shivered.

“B-Before I go? Y-You wouldn’t happen to have a spare coat for me, would you?”