It's not like I am crazy! (Vaas and Tiger)

Vaas had never much liked the way that everyone looked at him.

Was it because of his badass-looking hair? He doubted it seeing as others had worn the same hairstyle before. Maybe it was because he was the only Breton he knew that looked more like a sun-tanned Nord than one of his usually pasty race? He doubted that as well because most people just assumed he was a tanned-Nord instead of a Breton raised far from home.

No, he thought the most likely reason for them hating him was because he was known around Whiterun as being both highly skilled... and volatile to say the least.

He smirked as he remembered his last contract.

He had been charged with protecting a small child on her way between Whiterun and Riften. Of course he had taught the child a few tricks about survival in his own, unique, way. And naturally the child had rebelled against becoming an orphan and had fled to hunt bandits for a living.

The girl was doing rather well actually, he mused over his mead as he just sat, bored, in the corner of the inn. Sometimes being a Mercenary just didn't excite.

Avery had what could only be described as a very eventful day.

First of all she had been kidnapped and almost executed, then she had to escape from a crazy dragon bent on killing everything that it saw, then she had to fight many Stormcloak soldiers as she tried to escape with her new Imperial friend. If that wasn't enough she then had to go up to the city of Whiterun, inform the Jarl of what had happened at Helgen and get him to send troops down to Riverwood in case the dragon came and attacked there next.

Sighing softly, Avery trudged into the Drunken Huntsman and paid for a room for the night - at least she could get out of this Imperial Armour, having bought some of her usual clothes from a vendor nearby for quite a reasonable price thanks to this little amulet she had found.

When she had managed a swift nap, Avery emerged ready to eat something and mull over the problems that she had to face. Going to Bleak Falls Barrow? From what Hadvar had said that was not a wise thing to do, and so she thought that she had better ask someone to come with her - being slightly short on gold it would take most of her finance but it was better than coming back dead she supposed.

As she asked the innkeeper where she might find someone to adventure with her, he pointed in the direction of a rather interesting looking male across the other side of the inn. Biting her lip, as he did look intimidating despite also looking rather attractive - she'd never seen someone like him around these parts before - Avery approached and coughed to get his attention.

"Er...um...hello." she offered meakly "I was uhm...told that you were available for hire to accompany people on quests? My name is Avery, Avery Windhelm."

Vaas had been watching her the second she stepped into the Inn and he knew that she was going to be doing some serious adventuring. She just had the look about her of a reluctant hero. And those types of people got way more action than they could ever hope to face alone. Smirking a little bit, he finished off the last of the mead in the bottle he had been given.

They kept giving him smaller portions for some reason... like they were afraid of what he would do while drunk if he had to guess.

When she came on over he grinned up at her,

"You heard right chica..." he teased her with a word he'd discovered upon his travels, "Nice to meet you little Avery... but what could you possibly need someone like me for? Hmm? Take on too much debt? Need someone to look after your shipment of moon sugar?"

Winking at her, he began to idly play with a machete-like knife that he had acquired some time ago back in a different country. He nodded a little bit,

"My services... 50 gold per quest we do." he told her with a wide smirk, "You won't find a better bargain I can tell you that for nothing! So... what kind of quests does a pretty girl get up to?"

Avery blinked a little bit when she heard him call her a word she had never heard before, biting her lip softly she thought that it was a rather attractive sounding word and she hoped that it was a compliment because she honestly had no clue what it meant. It sounded like it was something that a Kahjit would say though.

Perhaps this man, Vaas originally came from there?

"Uhm no." she blushed brightly, getting mixed up with those sorts of things was something that she wasn't interested in at all "Nothing like that I assure you, everything is going to be above the mark don't you worry."

The playing with the knife was not something that set her at ease instead she gently let her hand come to rest on her own sword, hopefully it was just something that he was doing as a sort of mechanism to calm himself or when he was bored to keep his hands busy. It wasn't a sign of aggression or anything.

Blushing deeper again Avery bit her lip;

"That is better than I expected to pay, I'd like to take on your services if that is uhm...okay?" she stated with a soft smile "I need someone to come with me to Bleak Falls Barrow, from what I have heard its not the nicest of places, filled with Bandits and...Draugr."

Vaas was rather amused by the way she seemed to blush more at what he had called her. It was a phrase the Kahjiit had taught him when he had gone wandering through their kingdom last year. It was a wonderful word and it seemed to have the desired effect on Avery considering blushing was one of the side effects warned about.

He smirked slightly,

"Alright, just checking chica." he told her with a wink, "Wouldn't believe how often people come to me for their dirty jobs... the stuff they can't be seen to be doing for whatever reason. It gets the money coming in I guess..."

He licked his lips as little bit as he looked her up and down, idly playing with his knife more out of habit than any conscience effort to seem intimidating. After all, if he wanted to look intimidating then he would and it would be a lot scarier than just playing with the knife. Smirking a little bit at seeing her blush, he nodded,

"Alright so Bleak Falls Barrow..." He mused to himself before smirking wider, "I fucking love killing Draugr! Tell you what..."

He hummed slightly,

"You give me 50 gold and a good sword and I'm yours until the burrow is completed!"

Avery could imagine that a lot of people in other cities would pay well for someone to do their dirty work, especially in Riften where the Thieves Guild was home to however she didn't think that there would be a lot of people like that in Whiterun, it just didn't seem like the place to be filled with corrupt sort of people like that.

"Do you uhm...get a lot of requests from people in Whiterun? It doesn't seem like the place to be involved in things like that but then again, I guess you can never know..." she stated with a shy smile on her lips as she looked at Vaas.

Running her hands through her short hair she took a seat on the table that Vaas was sitting at and she took out her coin purse, putting out half the amount that Vaas had asked for down there on the table so that he would be able to see that she did have the money to pay even if she wasn't giving it all at once.

"Here is half of your money now, and the second half is yours as soon as we get out of Bleak Falls Barrow, I'll give you the best sword that I have when we reach the ruins." Avery smiled gently "I hope these terms are agreeable."

The relief was immediate and she sighed softly, her comfortable armour and her nap had done her the world of good, the soft leather corset didn't dig into her but did frame her body beautifully - and that was what she liked about it. She hoped to travel to Riften one day, to get an Amulet of Mara from the Priest there and become married...that might have to be put on hold though until this quest was done.

Vaas shrugged a little bit.

The truth was that a lot of the people in Whiterun were a lot less innocent than they would have people like them to believe. There were many within the town who had ordered assassinations to be carried out by him, intimidation and shake downs and even some plain old robbery. Of course it wasn't every day, once in a blue moon he would do all of this.

"You can never know what it is that people want done." He told her with a little laugh, "It's a great way of getting to know people!"

He smirked darkly,

"Knowing all their dirty little secrets..."

Accepting the payment she had given him, he looked her up and down very slowly and very deliberately. He wanted her to know that he was checking her out after all. Licking his lips a little bit at what he saw, he couldn't help but lean in closer to her,

"Alright you've got yourself a deal - when do we leave?" he asked her before smirking widely, "These terms are good to me chica... we'll kick some ass whenever you give the go ahead don't you worry!"

But damn... he had no idea that they made leather like that!

But he was damn sure that she could make it look good because that was what she was doing.

Avery couldn't disagree with Vaas, she knew that people often put up facades however she had thought when she was younger that Whiterun was a wholesome place - maybe they didn't happen as often as they would happen in other places. The thought comforted her a little bit and she knew that she definitely did not want to know specifics in case someone she had come to be friendly with turned out not to be so.

"I know, you must get to see and hear all sorts of things in your line of work." she stated with a shy smile, playing with her long rather lithe fingers in nervousness "So how long have you been in Whiterun, I haven't seen you around here before?"

When Vaas began to slowly look towards her she wondered if there was something on her armour at first, before he looked her body up and down not just her armour! It made her cheeks blush a pale pink and she hugged her arms around her chest to make herself feel more comforted than she would have done otherwise - more secure.

She took the time to look Vaas up and down too however, he seemed muscled like all Nord men were however he was rougher in a most attractive manner and she had to admit that the scars and his battle hair styling was very suited to him.

"I rented a room for the night so I believe we should set off early morning, around 7am, if that is agreeable?" Avery asked with a gentle smile, the blush still on her cheeks ever so slightly "Thank you very much for agreeing to come with me, I hope that you will be able to follow me on other adventures as well, I have a feeling that I might have to be a part of quite a few."