Board Thread:Roleplaying/@comment-10197675-20140101230137/@comment-3293219-20140106192647

Nish had, at some point, drifted off to sleep, though it probably wasn't a long slumber...

He slowly opened his eyes, his eyelids felt like dumbbells and no matter how much sleep he got, he always longed for more. Perhaps sleep was all he had left in his life, love, hope even despair had all decayed overtime until all he had left was the desire to sleep. At the end of this, he'd sleep forever anyway...

He slowly shrugged off his 'jolly' state of mind as he noticed that the others were asleep, making him wonder if he had slept at all and simply believed that he had slept. It was then that he noticed Helseth move, the old dunmer seemed to be looking around and he had noticed Nish's faint movements.

"Ah, good morning... or evening, I can't remember anymore." The old dunmer chuckled as he finished. Somehow, he saw some strange, demented humor in all of this...

Nish didn't respond, he simply sat up, noticing that he was able to with far less effort than before. "Is it Fredas yet?" Nish groaned, He asked out of curiosity and because Fredas would most likely be the end of this nightmare.

"As Tabith said; we don't know what day it is... I don't think they want us to know either."

Nish sighed as everything caught up to him and confirming the dunmer's statement.

"I heard you, talking about the life you used to live..." The old dunmer began, "you must be bored out of your damn, tiny mind but you can't give up on everything now."

"Can't I? My lover left me, I don't know where the bloody hell my sister is and every friend I've never had either thinks I've abandoned them or that I'm waiting for them in Cheydinhal!" Nish didn't know where this rage had come from, perhaps it had been pent up during the two days that he was docile or maybe it was because this was the first time that he had said his feelings about the situation aloud.

Helseth didn't seem intimidated or angered by his outburst, he simply sat there, stroking his beard.

Nish didn't want to talk about it and tried to change the topic, before the old man had time to think of a response or a question of his own.

"You were in the army, weren't you?"

"Nepht told you? Odd... she never spoke to anyone else."

"Yeah, she came over and asked me if I was in the army, that's how we started talking..."

Helseth glanced over to his grandaughter, they have had several cell mates since they arrived but Nepht was always afraid of them or reluctant to speak to them at least. Some of them were 'normal' people, farm hands and the like... Nish in comparison seemed dangerous, not evil but... intimidating. Perhaps it's because of Helseth's attempt to get to know him or maybe she's just gotten braver over the last few weeks.

"I assumed that you had started talking to her..." Helseth admitted. "And yes, I was in the army. I fought my way through three campaigns..."

"Who'd you fight for?"

"Legion." He replied, proudly. "Or what's left of it, anyway. I retired after I met my wife, whilst on shore leave..." the old dunmer explained, "second wife..." he added.

"Did you live in Cheydinhal?" Nish pried, pulling himself out of bed. He didn't feel any discomfort until he tried to support himself but thankfully, there was a stone wall behind him that could support him.

"No, too rich for our blood..." Helseth laughed, "we only got the farm house, because it's original owner froze to death, during the winter."

Nish paused as he realised how rough these people must have had it, before they came here... It took him way back to his childhood in Riften. "How long have you been living here?"

"Two months..." The dunmer sighed, "Ever since that army came through Morrowind and our home town was destroyed. We fled with nothing but the clothes on our backs..."

"Army? You mean... Vidron's army?"

"I don't know." Helseth admitted, "I don't keep up with the politics anymore..."

Nish sighed and looked away, they had no idea how lucky they were to have escaped Vidron's army, before it massacred them. Before he could continue, the door swung open and a guard entered the 'prison' area of the lair. Nish hid in his sleeping bag, hoping to play the weakling and get out of a beating or... worse.

The guard was a nord with an executioner's hood on, one eye had been stitched up, implying that he was blind in it. Nish also noticed how it had been hastily stitched in over the forehead and the material was darker, it's most likely that this guard or the people who employed him, killed a real executioner and took his hood. Nish lay still, pretending to be too weak to sit up...

The nord's eye scanned the room, looking for trouble or trouble makers... If he didn't find any, then he'd simply 'look harder.'

The nord paced around, causing Helseth to freeze in place, like his body was being inspected, inch by inch. Nish just lay there, trying not to draw attention to himself and hoping that this would be over soon.

The guard stopped as he got to the cell door, glancing at Helseth, eyeing him up and down to make sure that he was obviously conceiling any items.

"You, dunmer! What are you hiding?"

Helseth turned around, assuming that the guard was talking to him... "Me? N-nothing sir..." He replied, timidly as if he had to hide any trace of personality from these people.

"You're always sat in the same spot... you must be up to something! Stand up!" The guard balled at him, causing Nish to jump in his sleeping bag.

Helseth trembled to his knees to reveal that he had been sat infront of some rocks but they looked naturally formed from where the guard was stood. The guard paced around the cell, hoping to get a better angle and catch him in the act.

Nothing...

"Alright... but know, that if you even tr-"

"I wouldn't risk it..."

"Good, you know what we do to the insubordinates here!"

"Don't remind me..." Helseth muttered under his breath, causing Nish to worry somewhat.

The guard paced away, as slowly as possible to keep the intimidation up a little while longer as he left the room and slammed the door behind him, waking the sleeping prisoners and causing the awake ones to  jump.