[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=style, width: 400px; background-color: #171818; padding:20px; border-top: 10px #171818 solid; border-bottom: 10px #171818 solid;] I’ll spread my wings and I’ll learn how to Fly {WORDS } 800 {TAGGED } Cole {WEARING} Fur armor! Of course they were thieves. Elmira twisted in her seat to look behind her at where her mare was tied up a moment after Cole mentioned that she should steal from the thieves. Everything she had of importance was strapped to her mare, and so if anyone got any ideas, she would have to fight her way out of this camp. She was used to fighting, but still, she wanted no fights that she could avoid. While she was glancing back to make sure her mare was still where she had left her, Elmira rested her spoon back in the bowl, her appetite having almost disappeared. Once she realized that Esper was still where she had tied her, she straightened back in her seat and looked back over at Cole. Suddenly, she was at a loss for anything worthwhile to add to the conversation, and so she simply nodded her agreement to what he had said before. At the same time, she was planning her escape route away from the camp if anyone tried anything that would detain her. Still, talk of the Blades pushed thoughts of a quick escape from her mind, and instead Elmira was leaning forward in interest. Whoever this Cole really was, he seemed to be at least fairly knowledgeable about the Blades, which was valuable to her. Once more she sized him up from her position on her seat, wondering not just his name, but who he was and how he seemed to know so much about the Blades. Was it all speculation? Or did he simply like to read about this certain subject? She herself had read the one book she could get her hands on about the Blades. And while she was disgusted with the information he had given her, she perked up again when he told her that they could be alive. And though it was a slim chance by far, there was still the chance that they were indeed somewhere around. She nodded when he started to explain that they would hardly regroup. “That makes sense.”, she said softly while thinking to herself. At the same time, she took another bite of her soup and thought some more about it. “If they are still out there, any of them, I’m going to find them.” Though she was still talking to herself – a habit she had picked up from the long days and nights with just her horse and wolf for companionship, she was also talking to Cole in response to what he had said. Why did she care so much about the Blades? It was…her duty, as a nord, but really anyone that called Skyrim their home was in this as well, with the dragons now on the loose. “From what you say, there’s a chance.” Out of what he said, that was the part she had decided to focus on. His comment about the Thalmor earned a look of disgust from her, before she once more leaned forward to drop her empty bowl on the ground, earning Storm’s tender snout to lift and inspect it. Patting his sleek shoulder, Elmira lifted a shoulder in a shrug. “I’ve never thought of joining the Stormcloak rebellion, but the Thalmor can die by any sword that proves itself ready.” Though Elmira was nowhere near as racist as many other Nords, Elmira still couldn’t help but feel that an Altmer were bad to have around. At his question about what she wanted with the Blades, Elmira hesitated a moment before standing. “I’ll show you.” Thankfully Esper was close by, and it took her only a few strides to make it to the dappled mare, her silvery wolf very quick to lope after her. Digging into her saddlebags, Elmira pulled out her dragon scale, before she lifted out her dragon bone that she had extracted from the dragon she had helped to kill. Hefting them in her grasp, Elmira retreated back to the fire and returned to her seat before she leaned forward to hand him her prizes. “Dragons.”, she said simply. {NOTES} Well I promised you three, got one done. I FEEL SO ACCOMPLISHED RIGHT NOW

table by CALIFORNIA DREAMING of CAUTION 2.0, lyrics by Kelly Clarkson

Tagged : Elmira | Words : 1002 | Notes : Holy musefest, Batman!

Cole might have thought he was the best-looking man on earth from the way Elmira spent far too long sizing him up from her seat, but he knew better and assumed his bronze nuggets (not good enough to be gold) of information about the Blades brought him her entranced attention. Well, she should…know that her staring at him in such a way only distracted him from his ability to recall information about the Blades and left him to stare at her intently in return. Fortunately, though, he managed to avoid stumbling over his words to her despite them being a mere foot’s length apart and her being…well, as he’d initially thought, a credit to Dibella. Years and years of speaking to women who didn’t exactly care what he had to say had finally done him some good, apparently. Remembering how dangerous someone could be who pursued the Blades, though, did temper him and forced him not to link eyes with her for too long. The last thing Cole wanted was to suddenly believe her babbling on about a long-disbanded group of agents who protected the Dragonborn and who were now fugitives had some sense to it.

As if on cue, she mentioned that something he’d said had made sense – probably that the Blades likely disbanded and went their separate ways for the few of them who had survived. Eying her closely as she seemed to distance herself into her own thoughts, Cole thought the conversation might end there as she considered that going after the Blades would prove to be both pointless and dangerous to anyone who did so. Instead, just as he looked away, she said the exact opposite of what he had hoped she would say. Apparently, informing her that all the Blades had gone to great lengths to separate themselves and hide from the Thalmor that walked every pathway in Skyrim served only as a reason for her to pursue them with more reckless abandon. Cole narrowed his eyes as if in physical pain and looked into her face again, though he knew he shouldn’t. The serious expression there seemed pretty terrifying to him when he regarded it. ”I…was saying the opposite of that, but take it as you will.” He…what…else could he say? He thought he’d given her a genuinely good reason not to go after the Blades – the best reason he had, in fact – but his reasoning had the opposite effect on her. It might have been official by now – Elmira here likely was crazy.

And yeah, there was that look that all Nords gave when the Thalmor were mentioned. Utter disgust and a desire to kill all of them in one swipe of a sword. Elmira’s movement to put her bowl down and resulting reaction by the wolf cause Cole pause before he saw fit to say anything about her opinion on the Thalmor and her likely adherence to the fanatical racism and whooping and hollering of the Stormcloaks, but she answered his questions before he even asked them. His eyes slowly trailed back up to her face from the wolf. Oh…well, at least she claimed not to be a Stormcloak. Cole didn’t have to worry about being put on a chopping block or exiled forever for being a Breton. Still, she did carry their oh-so-high opinion of the Thalmor. Again, Cole did think the Thalmor needed to have their scrawny necks wrung by someone a lot larger and beardier and brawnier than Cole himself, he didn’t think suddenly declaring war on the Nords and Imperials that were only trying to avoid a different war from taking place was the way to hinder the Thalmor. The more and more Nords and Imperials fought among themselves, didn’t it mean the Thalmor were just standing back and getting stronger? Why hadn’t anyone else thought of that little fact?

Enough of his philosophical thinking though. He needed to reinforce just how crazy Elmira’s plan was. His tone was warning, but surprisingly caring, as he spoke. ”Is your plan to kill all the Thalmor you meet while you go after the Blades? You know they’re going to…catch on. They have ten times as many agents going after everyone in Skyrim than there are Blades left in the world; I can guarantee you that.” He cringed noticeably in the firelight as he gazed at her. ”Take it from a complete stranger when he says he’s seen the Thalmor come and arrest a whole lot of people that have done a lot less to them than start talking about the Blades.” Someone could even make one bad comment about the Imperials and get dragged to the Thalmor Embassy. It was ridiculous. And as much as Cole didn’t know Elmira or…understand where she was coming from, really, the idea of her being on a torture rack didn’t exactly appeal to him.

Not expecting her to stand, his eyes quickly followed her up, wondering what it was she was doing until she started walking towards her horse. Cole couldn’t stop himself from…watching the back of her as she walked, appreciating that the frame of this particular Nordic woman improved considerably on the frame of most others of her race. He could tell she was fetching something from her bags and turned his head away briskly when she turned around to walk back, acting as if he’d been staring into the fire the whole time. The only thing he could stare at when she got back, however, were the giant objects she held out to him. Cole stared at them with his eyebrows knit a few moments, reaching out to feel the top of the one that looked like a bone, before he took them in his hands and struggled with their weight a moment until he got them in his lap. He inspected them closely, having a little bit of trouble understanding what she was saying. ”You found these?”

[/b], he asked, holding the bone up before his face, still in disbelief at seeing it.
[/div]

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[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=style, width: 400px; background-color: #171818; padding:20px; border-top: 10px #171818 solid; border-bottom: 10px #171818 solid;] I’ll spread my wings and I’ll learn how to Fly {WORDS } 756 {TAGGED } Cole {WEARING} Fur armor Despite trying to discourage her, all Cole really did was the opposite. And even though he tried to tell her once more that he had been thinking the opposite, Elmira shook her head stubbornly and looked at him from the corner of her eyes again. ]"But you're saying there's a chance. Right now, that's all I have.", she pointed out. Perhaps she was being stubborn - her race was certainly known for it - but Elmira refused to allow a chance to go by without taking it. Besides that, she had gotten this far and had uncovered a few clues about the Blades along the way. With the dragons reappearing and the war that was raging around them, Elmira couldn't walk away and pretend that she had never started on this quest. She had started on it, and still was. It was time to finish it. Besides, what else could she do? With the dragons raging around Skyrim and the war that was ripping her country apart, Elmira had to do something in order to try and save it. And while she didn't agree with everything Ulfric Stormcloak said or did, if she didn't attempt to fix the problem with the dragons, she would have to go to war for his cause...for their cause. "It's not a choice." When he asked what she was going to do about the Thalmor, Elmira paused briefly. It didn't take her a moment to finally decide that yes, she would do that. "Yes." So she realized she wouldn't be able to outrun and outfight all of the thalmor, but Elmira was toned in the way of survival."If it comes to that, yes, I will." Eventually the thalmor were going to desire to wipe out the nords anyway - to eliminate a threat. It didn't take someone so obviously book smart and studied as Cole was to figure that out. As with anything, you took out the strongest before you moved to the weaker links. Cut off the head and the snake would die. The nords were holding out against the thalmor, a threat they would not allow to live if they could tame the war and do it strategically. She didn't know why he was trying so hard to convince her not to do what she had already set her mind on doing. "Exactly why I must.", she countered when he mentioned what the thalmor could do. Attempting to get him to realize why she needed to do this particular quest, Elmira promised to show him and made a beeline for her mare. Fetching the two items from her saddle, the young nord returned to the breton and held them out for him to take. She had won those in a battle that had nearly cost her her life, with the help of a few dead giants and a khajiit. At his question, Elmira dropped once more into her seat and shook her head. "I killed the dragon they belonged to." Not allowing herself to take full credit, she rested her arms on her legs and glanced over at him. "With the help of a few dead giants, their pets, and a khajiit." Elmira had rarely - if ever - had an experience in her life as terrifying as that one. Even being alone after her parents had been killed was nowhere near as terrifying, and that...had been heartbreaking. "It can be done, Cole! It's a risk of course, but the Blades if anyone would know how to hunt dragons and exterminate them. I can't let Skyrim fall to dragons." {NOTES} He's going to age prematurely hanging around with Elmira

table by CALIFORNIA DREAMING of CAUTION 2.0, lyrics by Kelly Clarkson

Tagged : Elmira | Words : 1002 | Notes : Hope you like it, baby. :3 Have a good night!

Despite his dislike for a great deal of people in Skyrim, Cole considered himself at least reasonably capable of reading those around him, simply because he saw it as a pretty reliable means of surviving day-to-day life. Elmira, however - he could not get a read on this woman for the love of the Divines. As she cut her eyes to him, he regarded her with rather pained features, waiting for what she would say next. She did not fail to give him a reason to look pained, either, because he could not understand why anyone would be so determined to find the Blades. Why would a young Nord woman even have a need to find the Blades, much more a desire? The Blades were as extinct as some of the creatures that the harsh cold and winds of Skyrim had killed off over centuries of existence. The Blades no longer remained a factor in the world; one could look at the current civil war in Skyrim and see endless proof of how gone the Blades truly were. They could do nothing, if they still existed, to help with the war beyond going and killing off Elenwen. And, honestly, killing Elenwen would make the war worse. Yet Elmira said that the Blades were all she had. That they were her only choice. Cole could not bring himself to question why, only searching Elmira's face for a sign - any sign - that anything but foolhardy determination fueled her search. He found no such sign, and thus, fell silent as his eyes slowly fell from her face down to her hands and finally to his feet.

Oh, but she could perplex him even more! Those same falling eyes immediately shot back to her face when she, in all seriousness as far as Cole could tell, said that she would indeed kill the Thalmor in her way. His pained expression intensified, the sudden image of this poor, confused woman strapped down to something in a Thalmor torture chamber - since everyone knew those existed - while they poked and prodded her and...well, he knew that anyone who crossed the Thalmor directly would end up in such a position, and though he'd only met this young woman a short time before, he didn't want anyone to experience torture at the hands of a bunch of manic, pompous elves. He really had to talk some sense into Elmira here, or he was going to pass out by their little log with the simple thought of the horrifying path onto which she seemed ready to run off. Raising his hands desperately as if they would help him make his argument, Cole shifted in his seat to face Elmira more. He didn't know quite how much more logic he could throw at her with the hope that she would listen, but apparently, she needed the most extensive of arguments. "I'm not sure I understand you completely," he began, staring straight into her eyes before he faltered a bit and glanced down between them. "Your plan is to both attract the attention of countless Thalmor by searching for the Blades, and then, once you find yourself facing down dozens of elves with powerful magic and large swords, you're going to kill them all." Cole blinked a few times and fell silent to let the words sink in. "Does this really seem like a wise idea when you have insanely low chances to find the Blades?" He waited, and hoped - very much hoped - that she would say no.

And now what was it she was showing him?

Cole didn't know all that much about bones - he couldn't tell one from the other - but the bones she handed him were...big. And they belonged to some kind of creature, so that ruled out giants. He'd seen too many mammoth bones for anything from a mammoth to be a particularly big deal - large hunting bands killed mammoths every few days. So what in Oblivion were these bones supposed to be? Cole continued to stare at the smaller of the two in disbelief before his wrist tired. He started to move it into his lap again-

And dropped it right on the ground after he processed what Elmira had just told him.

His immediate intention was to laugh. He snickered once with a smile and looked into her face, ready to discredit her as a jokester. But she looked totally serious. His face fell. And these...these bones. Cole looked at them again. So he didn't know about dragon bones, but he knew what dragons looked like. What...that one...the larger one...the flat one...that one...it wasn't a bone, was it? No, those were...those were big scales. Big, thick, armored scales. Nothing in Skyrim or anywhere else in Tamriel had...scales...like that, and Cole did know that much. But she was clearly lying to him. There hadn't been dragons in Skyrim in...in...well, a long time, even if Cole couldn't remember how long right at the moment. But these...where else had she gotten these? They were stained with blood. She wouldn't have stolen them from some strange grave and slathered blood on them. Why would she do that? Why would...

Cole could have been holding a piece of history in his lap right that very second. He stared, almost scared to pick them up again, in total amazement at both of them. These body parts could belong to a dragon. Cole didn't even listen to what else she was saying. These body parts could belong to a dragon. The most mythical of creatures in all of Tamriel. And Elmira was claiming that she had killed a living one. Blinking again, Cole picked up the bone and held it beside his head as he looked to Elmira, having to get one thing straight before his mind absolutely popped. "Swear on Talos that you are not lying to me," he more requested than demanded, his awe still evident.

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=style, width: 400px; background-color: #171818; padding:20px; border-top: 10px #171818 solid; border-bottom: 10px #171818 solid;] I’ll spread my wings and I’ll learn how to Fly {WORDS } 680 {TAGGED } Cole{WEARING} Fur armor While Elmira figured that like everyone else, Cole thought she was insane, his silence encouraged her. Normally she got weird looks and discouragement more than simply his strange looks and gentle reproof. At least there was a chance that he could understand why she needed to find the Blades. Anyone in their right mind that resided in Skyrim (Or any part of Tamriel, since eventually the dragons would reach the other countries too) should be concerned about the plight that the Blades had been on - that of killing the enemy dragons. Elmira couldn't imagine Skyrim with the threat that they had now faced. Perhaps that was why she didn't understand the multitude of strange looks she got when she approached the subject of Blades. Had other people themselves not seen a dragon yet? Sure, they weren't commonplace yet, but soon they would, she was sure of it. But here came his speech. Elmira was prepared for it with the way he shifted until he was facing her directly and seemed to take a moment to catch his thoughts. She listened to what he said without changing the expression on her face, merely leaning back in her makeshift seat a bit to watch him while he went into a somewhat passionate rant about what she would do. Once he was done, however, she nodded. "Yes." Leaning forward then, she opened her hands as if imploring to him to understand her. "If asking about the Blades gets me their attention - and I refuse to give up looking for them - than that would lead me to no choice but to kill Thalmor before they could do the same to me. No nord, Stormcloak or not, would simply allow themselves to be taken to Thalmor. We all know how that ends, so either way I'd be dead." Her reasoning seemed perfectly logical. To finally persuade him, Elmira returned to her saddlebags to retrieve her bones and show him. The look on his face was one of perplexity, though nothing in comparison to the look on his face when she told him that she had been the one to kill it. While she corrected herself and explained she'd had help, it didn't seem to wipe the look off his face. While she waited for him to recover, she simply stroked the sleek coat of her ice wolf and watched him. Soon enough he did - or at least enough to close his mouth to ward off any flies (Not that there was bugs in the cold) and pick back up her possessions. When he asked for confirmation, the puzzled look she gave him was one of truthfulness. "Why would I lie about this?", she asked in near amazement. There were some situations she would have to lie, but Elmira had never thought one of them was to simply gain a little glory. The look he was giving her was one that wanted that confirmation though, and so she shrugged. "I swear on Talos. They're returning to Skyrim. I don't know why or how, but that's why I need to find the Blades, Cole. Who else would be able to train another to hunt and fight dragons?" {NOTES} Again, poor man

table by CALIFORNIA DREAMING of CAUTION 2.0, lyrics by Kelly Clarkson