[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=style, width: 400px; background-color: #171818; padding:20px; border-top: 10px #171818 solid; border-bottom: 10px #171818 solid;] Like your face getting forced to the floor {WORDS } 823 {TAGGED } Tedril {WEARING} Armor! Lydia merely nodded in agreement when he was talking about Balgruuf. Lydia had a deep respect for her Jarl, and was happy that he had thought her worthy to become the housecarl of one he deemed worthy of being a thane. She realized he was busy though, and had to agree with her thane on that face. She didn’t, however, have much else to say on that subject – at least not anything that she thought important enough to comment on, never having been one for idle chatter. He seemed to want to have that idle chatter however, and continued on even after she had thought they were alright for the time being. Lydia had to admit that he surprised her a bit on that level. After all, when she had first met him she had taken him for a man that would be as desiring of silence as she herself did. At the same time, she supposed she could understand his desire to learn more about her, just as she had a strong desire to know more about him. If she would spend the majority of her years protecting him from harm, it would be nice to know a small amount. Unlike him though, she trusted Balgruuf’s opinion of her thane and already respected him because her Jarl did. And he just reinforced that when she found out what he thought of bandits. Indeed they would get along well if he despised them as much as she did. Hopefully he felt the same way about the supernatural, such as vampires, werewolves and the like. She herself thought they were repulsive creatures, and had no love for any of them. That being said, she hoped that Senex wasn’t a supporter of such nonsense. If he was, she supposed she would just have to learn to be okay with it…as hard as that would be. And she also hoped that he would drop the subject of her father. Lydia had yet to grieve for him in any sort of open show of emotion – and would never do so, but it still had left an empty space in her heart. After all, he had been the only parent she had ever known, and she had looked up to him for a many number of years. “He was a good man.”, she said simply and quickly, taking her out from the conversation that he was offering – or so she hopped. Along with her simple comment was the appreciation that he had decided to ride to this bandit cave on horseback. The horses in Skyrim were very sturdy and dependable, so to not use them would be a waste. That…and she would have to walk less distance carrying any of the objects that Senex asked of her. Was it some sort of a requirement for a thane to have a good amount of items for his housecarl to carry at all times? ------------------------------- As soon as he spoke, Lydia had a desire to groan slightly. She couldn’t say that she had any problem with the idea of going and taking out the watchman, she wasn’t so sure about this whole reanimated business, and conveyed her distaste – or perhaps lack of assurance in his plan on her facial features. Glancing at him once, she turned her dark eyes toward where she was sure that they had their watchman kept. “I have no problem killing him.”, she said finally, before raising her eyebrow at him. “But what exactly are you talking about...with reanimating him?” Lydia was prepared to just simply run into this cave, sword swinging while they took out the bandits. She was confident in her own abilities in order to do so, though he seemed to have a desire to sneak around that she couldn’t quite understand. She had never quite understood that desire actually…and wasn’t sure she understood it now either. But he was her thane…so she had to make an effort, even if it was going to be hard for her to do so. She’d never snuck around anything successfully in her entire life, relying more on her physical prowess to accomplish what she set out to do. Once more she gave him a look that spoke of her hesitation over this plan, and hoped that ‘reanimation’ wasn’t what she was thinking it meant… {NOTES} MUSE! *gives with a bow*

table by CALIFORNIA DREAMING of CAUTION 2.0, lyrics by maroon 5

Tagged : Lydia | Words : 536 | Notes : If anyone's terribly lost, we're picking this up in medias res.

Senex studied the man at the entrance to the cave for another few seconds, rubbing at the light scruff on his chin. The man’s height couldn’t have exceeded Senex’s own, and he was certainly not noticeably thicker or narrower. In fact, Senex would imagine that for all intents and purposes, he could be called a similarly-framed man. Fortunately, he was no elf, either. If Lydia was able to take him down rather cleanly, with no particularly bloody results or any noise that would warn the figures somewhere behind the door, Senex could see no reason why anyone inside could be the wiser as to the loss of their man watching their front entrance, lest they had a man inside to watch their watchmen. Senex knew bandits, though, and no one could call them zealous followers of Julianos. They were likely so absorbed by their recent successes that the idea of outside danger short of a military force was foreign to them for the time being.

In spite of the situation, Senex could not help but let his mouth tear into a wide smile at hearing Lydia’s tone at his reanimation comment. Ah, the Nords truly did not trust the various schools of magic. Senex supposed he could understand why, what with many of them blaming the loss of the majority of one of their finest cities, Winterhold, on mages. Luckily for the raven-haired warmaiden, Senex had far different plans that involved no magic whatsoever – because, between them, he figured they had as much magical knowledge as the typical beggar in Cyrodiil despite his journeying in his youth with a man learned in spells.

”My plan is not so much to reanimate him, but…to recreate him, arguably,” Senex informed her with a knowing look, pointing at the man again. ”Any man that they would leave to the world outside would not be worth a second glance to any inside.” The situation could be called similar to what the process was on most ships – the new recruits were assigned to what was typically the most dangerous position on the entire ship, and rarely were they ever of any concern until a situation arose that allowed them to prove themselves. After, if they’d survived, they typically received a little more attention than before, and a better position. Senex had been around enough bandits in his life to assume they would act the same way. The man guarding the door was not their fast friend, yet – he was a newcomer to be disregarded until his actions made him regarded.

Senex again looked down to the man, noticing some sort of object strewn across the ground beside him that it wasn’t difficult to recognize as a long, thin rope, probably meant for some menial task. Again, Senex’s hand found its way to his chin, as he gathered a few more thoughts, cutting his eyes over at Lydia’s form before his eyes again settled on the entrance. ”Your slaying him should be the wisest way to start. I have an idea from that point, so long as you don’t cause a ruckus or destroy his armor.”

Senex paused, fixing her with a rather sly gaze. ”And assuming you can tolerate being bound.”

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=style, width: 400px; background-color: #171818; padding:20px; border-top: 10px #171818 solid; border-bottom: 10px #171818 solid;] Like your face getting forced to the floor {WORDS } 956 {TAGGED } Senex {WEARING} Armor While waiting for Senex to give her his answer, Lydia had the strangest urge to get on her knees and beg Talos to be kind and not have him mean what she thought he might. That might be a bit dramatic, but when you were faced with the possibility of having to be involved in magic, that was what it took sometimes. Though Lydia fancied herself as much more liberal than the previous generations, she had a strong sense of distrust when it came to any magic. One reason for that could be how indoctrinated it was within her by her father and grandmother that magic was normally used by races like the Altmer, which of course already left a bitter aftertaste in the mouth of any true child of the sky. The problem was that anything her thane came up with to do, she would have to go along with, even if she would rather stab her own eye out with the nearest sharp object. And despite wanting to voice her concerns when it came to magic, she had to bite her tongue and realize that Senex didn’t happen to be a Nord. Did Imperials welcome the magic? They sure seemed to have cozied up quite close to the Thalmor anyway, which also left a bitter aftertaste in her mouth. And somehow, him telling her that they were going to ‘recreate’ him didn’t sound much better than reanimate. Lydia found herself nodding despondently when he continued to explain that he wouldn’t be missed by his friend. At least a despondent acceptance of the situation was better than what she wanted to do. She had to admit that she had lost some hope of this little adventure they were on would be even mildly bearable. Instead though, she was trying to accept his decision, even if it hurt her somewhere deep inside to do so. It wouldn’t be the start of having a good name as a Housecarl if she couldn’t get through the first day without questioning his judgment and making some sort of a scene. She did find a small bit of relief when he went back to the easy to understand part of his idea – that of slaying the man they were now talking about. With a firm nod, Lydia glanced back at the man that she was supposed to be doing the killing of. He didn’t seem like all that much of a scrapper anyway, especially for someone like her, who had been fighting her entire life. “I’ll get it done.” That being what she thought was her cue, Lydia started to pull her sword from her sheath and step forward when she was brought to a very sudden halt. Bound? Slowly resheathing her sword, Lydia turned and looked directly into the gaze of her Thane. Lydia did not want to be bound. That was one thing she had never quite wanted to have done to her, and she could honestly say that her hopes of this going well at all was ever slipping downward at each new part of his idea that he revealed. Still, he was her thane, and though she wanted to argue and demand that he didn’t use her as someone bound, she grit her teeth and finally agreed. “Of course, my thane.” As she turned on her heel and walked off, she muttered a mocking, “Anything you say, my Thane.”, out and continued on toward her target. Men… Quickly she turned her mind away from the thought of being bound – and wondering why in Skyrim that would be necessary – back to her current command. With as light of a step as she could muster, Lydia made her way up behind her target, careful not to step on anything that might make noise. (Though she’s probably making plenty of that anyway. …Maybe that could also mean yelling and make Senex happy?) A good ten feet from him however, Lydia stepped on a stick that had been in her path. Swearing under her breath, Lydia launched herself into a sprint and blazed a trail toward the man while he scrambled to get his own weapon. Thankfully for her it seemed as if shouting a warning to those inside was an afterthought, and by the time he opened his mouth to yell, Lydia was there to silence him. With a low grunt, she curled her fingers into a fist and slammed it into his abdomen, quickly followed up by catching his neck to steady him and hurling him to the ground while he stumbled. Quickly lowering herself – or allowing her full body weight to slam into him - to where her knee pinned him to the ground, Lydia slipped her dagger from her waist and made a quick job of silencing him by a slice to the throat. Brushing her dagger against the snow to clean it, Lydia slipped it back into her waist and patted it, before looking over her shoulder and gesturing for Senex to come do whatever it was he wanted. In the meantime, she stood back up, grabbed the dead man’s arms and started to drag him back toward her Thane, remembering to keep a look out in case more decided to spill out of their little shelter. {NOTES} I had too much fun with that

table by CALIFORNIA DREAMING of CAUTION 2.0, lyrics by maroon 5

Tagged : Lydia | Words : 754 | Notes : She's going to love this.

Unorthodox plans tended to take shape in Senex’s mind whenever he found himself presented with a problem. The orthodox ones, by his observation, tended to be the ones that failed; base pirates and the like tended to rely on the first idea that appeared in their minds and failed to find any success because of their lack of creativity. Perhaps Senex fancied himself more of a tactician and strategist than he ought, being more familiar with sea battles than landed battles, but he’d certainly picked up a few worthwhile skills when he’d been a younger man, wandering Tamriel with other open-minded youths. Obviously, he’d learned to look at situations from several different angles in order to conquer his problems. The angle here seemed simple – deal with the simple-minded, overconfident fools who had thought to leave only one guard standing at the door in a region as dangerous as Skyrim. Senex almost felt embarrassed for those inside, knowing they’d be bested by two individuals when they probably thought they could outfight an army. Such an attitude was born of foolish, Talos-born delusions of grandeur, but would be an advantage for Senex and Lydia.

Assuming he could convince the Nord to adhere to his idea. She seemed more than ready to perform the slaughter of the guard, and he had few doubts that Lydia could throttle him without much of an issue so long as she could keep the kill relatively quiet. He watched her contently as she stood, drawing her sword to perform the work. Aha, but his words seemed to be a catch to her, as he had assumed they might. Senex eyed her intently as she glared back at him, letting her know through his neutral gaze that he was being completely and totally serious to say that part of his idea was to bind her. What better way to get them both into the hideout than to pose as a guard with a captured prisoner who just so happened to be a housecarl of Whiterun? Senex could think of no better alternative, and to be honest, he needed no alternative. The idea would work flawlessly, he knew.

He couldn’t help but grin to hear her reaction to him, knowing she would agree to the plan but not with a smile on her face. She was indeed an accommodating one underneath her steely exterior, he could tell already. Ah, but she would eventually warm to his ways. And she never stopped to turn back, return to him, and assault him with the sword instead of the guard, so he supposed she was agreeable enough with his plan. Senex propped himself up, standing in better position to see her assault the guard, a hand on one of the two daggers at his belt in case the situation went poorly for his housecarl. He watched her with confidence, however.

That confidence faltered a moment when he heard the crack underneath her foot, and Senex perked his head up to spring to action if he needed to do so. The housecarl had skills, though, and she corrected the mistake far better than Senex would have managed to from such a distance. He watched, pleased, as she took the man down silently and ceased his flailing with what he assumed to be an equally silent weapon. A small spray of crimson against the snow beside her told him all he needed to know – her work was done, and impressively so. Senex decided that he and the lovely Nord might get along quite well indeed.

Moving before she gave her cue, he dropped quietly down from their previous perch and landed softly on the snow, creeping his way up to her as he kept his gaze on the doorway. He could hear nothing from inside. Good, they were still unnoticed. ”You made fine work of that,” Senex told Lydia upon his arrival, patting her lightly on the back as he crouched down beside the dead body she dragged. Blood spilled from the dead fool’s neck, but thus far, his armor remained unstained. Senex worked to undo the clasps that held the man’s chestplate in place. ”Keep an eye on the door and fetch the rope, and we’ll have ourselves one step closer to seeing these bandits done away with.”

Senex unfastened his own leather armor and sat it on a nearby rock. Agh, this bandit’s armor was going to be uncomfortable…but he supposed he should not complain. Lydia’s part in their little stratagem would be much more uncomfortable…

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=style, width: 400px; background-color: #171818; padding:20px; border-top: 10px #171818 solid; border-bottom: 10px #171818 solid;] Like your face getting forced to the floor {WORDS } 723 {TAGGED } Senex {WEARING} Armor For a moment Lydia actually hoped that she could stare him down and cause him to go a different route besides what he was suggesting. Despite realizing that Imperials often thought of Nords as pure muscle and sporting absolutely no brain, she was a sharper thinker than you would imagine, and stubborn in her ways. Talos knew that she would rather die painfully in a battle than allow herself to be tied up and presented in such a way as he had suggested. Really honestly, if she could get out of it, she would try - thus the glaring eyes sent his way. But he gave her the same measured look that she had been giving her, and she realized that she wouldn't back him down easily. "We could walk in and slaughter them.", she said hopefully while she paused and hoped that he would go for that. Unfortunately, it didn't seem like he was going to go for that, and so she just sighed and tried to adjust herself to the notion of being tied up. It didn't set well with her, but perhaps he would be convinced to do otherwise when he actually saw how talented she was as a fighter. She could already tell that it would be challenging at times to do what he wished as her Thane, but she was already attempting to do it for him. And so she went and got her rage out a little after she had slaughtered the guard and called Senex over. It was with arrogant pride that she inclined her head at his compliment. She didn't need his compliment to know that she had an amazing amount of prowess with her fighting abilities, especially from an Imperial. She didn't voice her opinions on Imperials though - as most Nords felt having aligned themselves with the Thalmor, instead unable to get a bit of an ego about the Nords. "Nords are all trained from a young age to be able to do what's necessary on a battlefield. Perhaps while Imperials are still in school learning mathematics." ,she added, unable to help herself and even covered with a bit of a smile - or as big of a smile as Lydia could give in this situation. Unfortunately, it didn't seem like he had changed his mind in the slightest about being tied. Giving off a heavy sigh loud enough for him to get that she was still completely unhappy at the thought of being tied before she shuffled off a few steps to get the rope that he had instructed she obtain. With her dagger now replaced on her thigh, she brought her bow out and held an arrow easily in her hands in case she needed to quickly dispatch it to silence anyone, her dark eyes flickering back toward the door on the chance she might have to do so. Having picked up the rope, she shuffled back to Senex, dragging her feet slightly still to show him that he still wasn't exactly happy with his choice in this particular situation. Once she had gotten back, she dropped the rope and sighed deeply again - just to reiterate the fact that she was extremely displeased in this entire situation. "Here.", she muttered after she had done so, shifting around and noticing that Senex had now stripped the man of much of his armor. "Have you thought of simply slaughtering them?", she asked once more, still in the same hopeful voice she had used previously. {NOTES} POSTING SKYRIM AGAIN

table by CALIFORNIA DREAMING of CAUTION 2.0, lyrics by maroon 5

Tagged : Lydia | Words : 624 | Notes : Ahhh such a great...relationship.

”We could,” Senex volunteered, though she could likely guess by his tone that he meant nothing by it other than to make the comment that, were she the one providing the only ideas, they could indeed simply rush in and risk injury recklessly as opposed to taking a more creative approach to the situation. ”But whether we should or not is another question entirely.” The Imperial shifted himself slightly, getting a thoughtful and slightly amused look on his face and staring off towards the sky, signaling that he was about to answer the question. ”Say we walk in and they are waiting for us with a…ballista pointed at the doorway.” His eyes shifted to Lydia’s face before returning to the sky. ”Perhaps a troll kept in a cage that they willingly unleash upon is whilst they slip out the back of the cave. The slaughter would be of us, and not of them. Thus, a little trickery may be the order of the day.” Of course, he was going to needless excess with his explanations, but if anyone could handle excess, he thought a Nord housecarl would be amongst the best at it.

He would be correct in his assumption that she would go along with the plan despite her apparently despising it, and her initial contribution proved to be more than he could have asked for from a woman who seemed more at home with a warhammer than with a knife. Perhaps for a few moments he thought the two of them, as a pairing, capable of simply sneaking in on their own, without the arrangements of Senex’s plan, and taking down the majority of the bandits inside before they were discovered. He cast aside the thought almost immediately, knowing that if they had bothered to advance with his designs this far, they should continue on with them. And, well, considering her comment about the Imperials, it seemed she deserved to be tied up and “cast” to the bandits. Senex cut his eyes to her knowingly. ”Imperials know that five fingers equal a fist, then,” Senex commented, rather proud of his reply as he straightened his shoulder and got to work robbing the dead bandit of his armor…armor with a rather atrocious smell that Senex attempted to ignore for the good of his plan.

He realized it was truly to the good of his plan that he get a move on, considering how often Lydia sighed to signal her disgust to him. With his back turned as he started fitting the armor on across his chest and securing it, he smiled at her second sigh in mere seconds and listened to her words. Apparently, she was not privy to simply battening down the hatches, as it were, to simply go through with the plan and see the look on these bandits’ faces when the betrayal was revealed. He started pulling on the greaves, not particularly encouraged by the fact that they were extremely warm and the slightest bit damp. Senex finally turned his features back to her when she dropped the rope. ”You realize the rope will be doing little more than hanging from you, do you not?”, he asked her, a half-smile slowly forming on his face as he put one gauntlet on. Right, just two more pieces. ”You’ll barely have to yank for them to drop to the floor at your feet, and you can begin your ‘slaughter’ in no time.” With the second gauntlet on, he picked up the rope and came at Lydia’s wrists with them, starting to tie part there before he wrapped the whole thing loosely across her legs, starting to tighten it slightly. ”If you avoid squirming, this will be over in little to no time.”

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=style, width: 400px; background-color: #171818; padding:20px; border-top: 10px #171818 solid; border-bottom: 10px #171818 solid;] Like your face getting forced to the floor {WORDS } 695 {TAGGED } Senex{WEARING} Armor! Lydia almost let herself hope that he would see her side of this when he mentioned that they could indeed rush in and slaughter everyone. The look on her face had even turned to one of near delight with it. If she could avoid being tied up by a man she had only met today...her day would be so very much better than she had originally thought. Unfortunately, he seemed to only be out to do the thing most Imperials did - say stupid things. "No bandit operation this small would have a ballista.", she said in exasperation, but only loosened herself up more after she had said it. And yet againt here he went, being stupid. "No bandits would keep a live troll in their cave in case of attack. They're bandits for a reason...and that isn't their brains." She was already getting a headache from this Imperial and how much he apparently loved to talk. If she was to guess, it would be that he just enjoyed hearing himself talk - which she wouldn't doubt. Most of the imperials she had met enjoyed doing just that. Not that...the nords she had met didn't enjoy doing the same thing. And so, to get away from his constant blabber, Lydia was gone, her knife in her hand, to do away with the bandit that was apparently going to be the key of getting into this bandit cave - which she still thought would be much easier if they simply went ahead and slaughtered them all. She could probably do so herself, let alone with another being as fodder. After killing the bandit and watching him start to free him of his armor, Lydia couldn't help but give a grunt of approval when he mentioned that five fingers equaled a fist. That was the type of adding that made perfect sense to the nords, why couldn't all imperials say things like that? The world would be much easier if they did...in fact, the whole war might be solved from it. Once she returned with the ropes that would soon bind her, Lydia asked once again if they might just slaughter them, once again hopeful that he would allow them to do just that. Despite his assurance that it would be bound to her loosely, Lydia still eyed them unhappily. "A bond is a bond.", she finally said while she watched him continue to fully dress into the bandits wardrobe. So he did look like he could have been the bandit himself...this plan might just work. Still, she thought a whole lot of time could have been spent on better things if they had just ran up and started to slaughter things. Forcing herself to relax, Lydia stood while he wrapped the bonds around her wrists, not liking any feeling of ropes on her - even if he did keep them loose as he promised. And his promise that it would all be over quickly made her nearly say once more that it could have been over a lot quicker had he simply listened to her and went ahead to drive them out the direct way. "Are we going?", she finally asked while she shifted her weight between her feet. She wouldn't have to act like a prisoner by any means...she sure felt like breaking away already. {NOTES} Lydia angry

table by CALIFORNIA DREAMING of CAUTION 2.0, lyrics by Chevelle

Tagged : Lydia | Words : 619 | Notes : Here you go, love! :3

Lydia would attempt to do whatever she possibly could to pretend as if Senex's plan did not have some wisdom to it, wouldn't she? Senex couldn't bring himself to be offended, though, in her lack of faith in his strategic sensitivities. Nords typically thought of battle as the process of making a louder battle cry than the enemy and then rushing in to begin a slaughter, and due to their superior martial prowess, they usually succeeded with such simplistic planning. Still, combine Nord might with Imperial craftiness and creativity and any foe would have a fearsome opponent on their hands. Such a combination required the Nord to listen, though, and therein lied the problem that Senex now faced. He had a strong feeling that Lydia would remember that the Thane had the final say, though, even if she was privy to countering all of his ideas with her best arguments. Senex, though, always had his own counters - Imperial strategy, after all, was not limited only to battle. "What if they say the same of us? They're militants from Whiterun for a reason; they would not expect simple bandits to have such defenses in their hiding places." Senex smirked in genuine amusement, perfectly content to go through this back-and-forth all day, as he quite enjoyed it. They had business to deal with, however, and Senex hoped Lydia could pull through her reservations and properly assist him.

And he could tell that she didn't think all that poorly of him thusfar, despite their racial differences and the divide this war had caused. Her response to his comment about addition let him know that she agreed with him, and Senex fixed the back of her with a sly smile as he continued fitting himself into the armor of the deceased bandit. Yes, she'd come around to his way of seeing the world in no time, and a great success with their plans today would see them to it. Senex had all confidence that they would have no trouble slaughtering these bandits.

With the ropes around her wrists just well enough for them to appear restrictive and a small, loose knot secured around her knees as Senex bent down to end the rope there, heeding her words and not fully unable to disagree with them - bonds did tend to be unpleasant things. "We'll see you out of them soon enough," he assured, as he stood to his full height again and carefully started relieving Lydia of her visible weaponry. "These will be back to you as soon as we reveal our gambit." He gave a stark nod when she asked if they were ready, stepping off to her side and taking her by the arm as he prepared to lead her to the entrance. Hopefully, they had no specific protocols about entering the place that Senex would need to account for. "Right...now, feel free to punish me a few times for ever daring to capture you, Lydia, to add to the effect. I doubt you need any excuse to hit me after this arrangement." Giving her a quick wink, he stepped up to the entrance and lowered his head into the passageway, pushing at the door lightly and finding that, as he had expected, it hung fairly loose due to the guard outside. Still, he had to work an arm in to reach the slight lock, but once he had unclasped it, they were in the front, already hearing voices down the short pathway that led to what looked like a lighted room. The head and stench were atrocious, but they had gotten in, and Senex couldn't have been happier.

Well, he could have been happier using the ropes for other purposes...

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=style, width: 400px; background-color: #171818; padding:20px; border-top: 10px #171818 solid; border-bottom: 10px #171818 solid;] Like your face getting forced to the floor {WORDS } 702 {TAGGED } Senex{WEARING} Armor! While he was thinking about how Nords viewed battle - unknown to her of course - Lydia was having much the same thoughts about the same subject only opposite. In her eyes, nords had it right in their wild charges into battle in a show of strength and superior swordsmanship and prowess, while the imperials and other races spent too much time thinking up their ideas and strategies. By the time they had it all planned out exactly how they wanted it to go, their prey would already have escaped or they would have been wiped out by the enemy. it was a trait she figured the Stormcloaks should exploit to their advantage more - even though she remained the same as her city of Whiterun and didn't take sides in the war that was happening. Like any true child of the sky, however, she had to sympathize with the nords and their plight. It was with those thoughts that she gave him a frustrated look when he chose to continue to argue about the difference between nords and imperials. Brainy...too brainy instead of going with instincts. "They don't have a troll and ballista.", she argued again in a deadpan voice. "I'll bet a gallon of mead on it." Finally he actually made a sensible comment. His fist addition was math that was easy for her to understand and wrap her mind around. If he could continue making comments like that instead of the other stupid things she had already realized he could say at times, their relationship and work together would go much more smoothly. They might even actually get along, as hard as that was to think about. She didn't like the look on his face though, she decided while watching him fit himself into armor. And now that she was bound - binds she was sure she could rip out of in a moment - Lydia eyed him up unpleasantly when he took her weapons away from her. "If they aren't, I'm taking yours.", she muttered quietly. She was sure she could do much better use with them than he could anyway, so if it was down to either him or her fighting alone, she would much rather put her trust in her own abilities. The look she gave had that same thinking written all across her features. A moment later she was taken by surprise however. Her thane would allow her to strike him for doing what he had asked? Or demanded really. Now there was something she didn't entirely trust. Why would any thane give his housecarl the permission to abuse him? No, she didn't trust his motives at all, but Lydia agreed without thinking too much about it. Hell, she would take the opportunity to punch him for binding her and taking her weapons. That was just adding insult to injury right there. "I might take you up on that.", she agreed. Acting like she was angry wasn't much of a stretch from the truth either, as Lydia's expression was one full of hostility and frustration - she was just waiting to be able to take something in her bare hands and smash it. Once they were in, she glanced around her, taking in the bandit that was making his way over to them. "Hey, you catch a live one did ya?" Live one indeed. She'd sure be a live one when she throttled him. {NOTES} Lydia angry

table by CALIFORNIA DREAMING of CAUTION 2.0, lyrics by Chevelle