Beautiful. That was the word he would use if he had to describe the Khajiit’s reaction. Just beautiful; the yelp, the shock that ran through him, the snap of the book and how he curled up in a ball. As hilarious as Astarill thought it was, it didn’t show. Only an eyebrow rose, stiffly, as if chiseled out of the mer’s otherwise stone-faced façade.
“You were ‘just checking out the books, sir’,” Astarill iterated, weary with feigned tedium as he finished the Khajiit’s sentence. “Yes, I heard you the first time.” Then his voice changed; he didn’t raise it, but infused it with a sudden snap and harsh articulation, “Get up.”
As abrupt as the change in his demeanour had been, it changed again. Calm, neutral and even slightly amused, he gazed over the items on the floor. “What’s all this, then?” With the tip of his boot, he prodded the elongated package among the other items the Khajiit had seen fit to strew about. “And why is it here? Have you not been assigned a room, or do you adhere to a school of thought that believes libraries are just the ideal place for it? Because if so, I fear you are alone in that paradigm and you would do well in this case to conform to the majority.”
At the order (it clearly wasn’t a request), J’hasi quickly got up, shifting his feet underneath himself before standing, holding the book tightly in his trembling hands. His head was tucked into his chest a little, shoulders hunched, gaze down, ears back, his still-puffed tail kept unnaturally still behind his straightened legs, the same way he had stood whenever he had done something wrong back at the plantation when he was little. Thankfully the only lashing he’d be getting would be verbal. …at least he hoped. He hadn’t actually been to a formal school before.
When the Altmer poked at the wrapped package, the Khajiit’s heart seized up in his throat. It was difficult to swallow, his eyes nervously flicking over the contact between the mer’s boot and the old cloth wrapping. The professor would’ve felt the weight inside of it, something that was hard, narrow, and heavy. J’hasi felt a little tension release in his chest when it didn’t scrape, nor did the wrappings shift. He barely heard the rest of what was said before he tried to swallow again, eyes still locked on the package for a moment or so as he spoke before returning his gaze to the floor. While the Altmer’s tone sounded calm enough, the words themselves still made him nervous.
“N-no, s…sir. I… I was told to go straight to the Hall of the Elements after being shown around. I-I perhaps took that a little too literally and thought I wasn’t allowed to go to my room to leave my things there afterwards. I wouldn’t have brought them in here otherwise.” Certainly not the package, as its contents were evidence enough to put him into a world of trouble if found by the wrong people.
The Khajiit felt a little better about his composure near the end of his explanation, since the tension in his voice had reduced to a slight tremor as he spoke, his hands gripping the book tightly enough so they wouldn’t shake. While he could still feel the prickling, it wasn’t as cold now, and he felt it less under his skin and more just on the surface of it and in his fur. He risked a glance up at the mer’s face, finding his expression a touch less terrifying than it had been earlier. J’hasi’s gaze flicked back to the ground. ‘Shut up, shut up, just answer the questions and shut up…’
“I can put it away now, if that’s allowed.” ‘And now you’re doomed, idiot.’ It was so stupid to ask that, especially now, but he felt nervous and completely caught off-guard. He didn’t like being in this situation. He felt like prey being circled, even toyed with before the kill, something he hadn’t felt in years, and not something he liked feeling again. The worst part was, he couldn’t even run away from it, not if he wanted to get what he came here for. The Khajiit’s jaw tightened, feeling his next swallow knot in his throat.
vvardenfellcat 