He chuckles, relaxing despite himself at a mere touch from Jim, the low voice in his ear.
"This is the part where I disappoint you by admitting my hometown is up on the Skyrim border. This makes a more exciting trip."
They aren't the only people on this little road. It looks like the other houses here belong to different types of craftspeople, with one or two ducking into sheds or checking on their gardens. Felix and Jim don't stand out all that much, though Felix returns the polite and cheerful greetings from people carrying crates of wine and baskets of food and bunches of paper lanterns. One of the kids who ran off earlier is sitting on the wall outside Marcella's house, munching on a sweetcake. He hops down and strolls the other way as they approach.
Felix raises an eyebrow at him, but strolls through the open gate and knocks on the door. "Marcella! We're here!"
In reply, a voice swears very faintly from behind the house. A moment later an Imperial woman hastens around the corner, keys jingling at her belt and a pair of wooden poles in her arms. The poles are propped against the wall, and she wipes her hands on the cloth also at her belt before she extends her hands to her guests. Felix lets go of Jim to clasp them for a moment, grinning at her. "Vita Nova to you too, cousin."
"I didn't expect you to be so fast," she admits, remembering abruptly to yank off the cloth covering her hair and stuff it into a pocket. Marcella doesn't look like a woman who smiles all that often, but she bestows one on her cousin. It's tinged by wariness as she turns to take in Jim, however. "Vita Nova to you too, Felix, and... you must be the captain he wrote about."
"Marcella, this is Captain James Kirk." Felix tries to adopt an assuring tone, as if he can convey 'No, it's all right, he's practically one of us' in that alone. "Captain, my cousin Marcella Avita."
no subject
"This is the part where I disappoint you by admitting my hometown is up on the Skyrim border. This makes a more exciting trip."
They aren't the only people on this little road. It looks like the other houses here belong to different types of craftspeople, with one or two ducking into sheds or checking on their gardens. Felix and Jim don't stand out all that much, though Felix returns the polite and cheerful greetings from people carrying crates of wine and baskets of food and bunches of paper lanterns. One of the kids who ran off earlier is sitting on the wall outside Marcella's house, munching on a sweetcake. He hops down and strolls the other way as they approach.
Felix raises an eyebrow at him, but strolls through the open gate and knocks on the door. "Marcella! We're here!"
In reply, a voice swears very faintly from behind the house. A moment later an Imperial woman hastens around the corner, keys jingling at her belt and a pair of wooden poles in her arms. The poles are propped against the wall, and she wipes her hands on the cloth also at her belt before she extends her hands to her guests. Felix lets go of Jim to clasp them for a moment, grinning at her. "Vita Nova to you too, cousin."
"I didn't expect you to be so fast," she admits, remembering abruptly to yank off the cloth covering her hair and stuff it into a pocket. Marcella doesn't look like a woman who smiles all that often, but she bestows one on her cousin. It's tinged by wariness as she turns to take in Jim, however. "Vita Nova to you too, Felix, and... you must be the captain he wrote about."
"Marcella, this is Captain James Kirk." Felix tries to adopt an assuring tone, as if he can convey 'No, it's all right, he's practically one of us' in that alone. "Captain, my cousin Marcella Avita."