video; un: dovahkiin (backdated to early Nov)

[fusrodaaaah]

Um.

[Wow, it's a rare show of video from Melius. The Argonian is sitting on the beach, in the cold, at his little tent. A lizard, in the cold. But he doesn't seem at all bothered by it.]

[He shifts where he sits, and then just. Straight up thrusts a basket of mushrooms at the camera.]

I was - I was um. [He ducks his head, hiding behind the basket.]

I know mushrooms! Really well! I um - if you need! To know! I can - I can tell you!

Goodbye!

[He shuts it off, right there.]

[... basically, Melius is offering his services as a mushroom expert. With a lot more anxious yelling than necessary.]

Comments

[fusrodaaaah]

Go down a mountain...? On - on purpose?

[No it's fine with him. Ramble away, Peter. Melius is more than happy to listen to people talk - usually because it means he doesn't have to speak up.]

Um. Some places? S-Skyrim is. It's really cold. And - and there's always ice. There.

[possessum]

I guess they do it for the like... adrenaline rush? It seems scary... like a surefire way to end up wrapped around a tree.

( PETER...... He lives a very fearful life. )

Oh, really? They must have a lot of... mushrooms there, too? Since you know so much about them.

We uh. We had some in Utah too, but I never really paid them much attention...

[fusrodaaaah]

I ... Don't like that thought. That's a - that doesn't sound like fun. Adrenaline doesn't... either.

[That's okay, Peter. You're in good company there.]

Yes! Yes, I um. That's - that's why I went to Skyrim. To learn about their mushrooms. They're... different. Than other places.

That's - that's okay. They're not good to um. Just. Randomly eat.

[possessum]

( Adrenaline doesn't sound like fun...... Peter has never felt More Seen in all his life. )

Dude, right....? I hate adrenaline.

( It's simply not pleasant!!

He pauses again, watching those horns on his video feed. Though he's still quite shy himself, there's something about being around someone else who's hiding away that makes Peter want to help them a little, if he can? And the way he'd clearly been enthused about mushrooms.... that must be a subject he feels pretty comfortable about. It's what he'd made this video about in the first place, after all. )

How do you know which ones are safe to eat? My uh, good friend here once told me that you can make all kinds of stuff with mushrooms, but I haven't been brave enough to try it yet.

[fusrodaaaah]

M-Me too. It um. It makes me... scream. O-or Shout.

[And then he accidentally calls a lightning storm down on a bear or something horrible like that. Thanks for nothing, Dragon Blood.]

[The mushroom topic comes back. So Melius slowly peeks back into view again. Mushrooms are easy. Plants are easy. He can talk about that.]

Oh um. It's - it's part of um. Alchemy. I'm an alchemist... you um. You learn how to tell... what the good ones look like. A-and you can tell. What properties they have when you taste them.

I'm also... Argonian. S-so even if... they are bad, it. They don't hurt me.

[possessum]

( Peter gives a soft sigh, slowly shaking his head empathetically. There's a solidarity there; he feels you. Screaming, shouting....... He can't accidentally make lightning come down, but he does know how to cry uncontrollably whilst curled into a ball on the floor. )

Oh— you're an alchemist? That's really cool. ( Like Varian? Peter's still not entirely sure what alchemists do but he knows it has to do with... science? And mixing chemicals and stuff. )

My friend said you can make mushrooms taste like meat and stuff if you cook them right, so I was thinking I might try to make like.... a mushroom hamburger or something, you know? Do you know which type I could use for that....?

( Meeting someone who's a Mushroom Expert.... this could be a true blessing? )

[fusrodaaaah]

[Oh, crying uncontrollably on the floor is the best. 10/10, would recommend. Except when it makes people ask if you're okay, and you have no idea how to answer that question.]

Y-yes, I um. I am. It's. It's a family... thing. [It's not all that cool he just tastes ridiculous things and makes potions.]

O-oh! Yes. Yes, you can. Um - hold on.

[So he ducks off screen for a minute. Rummaging around until he finds what he's looking for, and holds up a big clump of mushroom.] Sulfur shelves! They - they taste like chicken.

[A beat.]

They really do.

[possessum]

( Peter waits as the other moves off for a moment, before returning and showing him the mushrooms. He gapes, looking both impressed that the guy had these somewhere close enough on hand, and also awed to hear they taste like chicken???

It's been really, really hard being here with no normal food. At least Deerington had like a diner and pizza place, and the Hart Mart also sold a lot of snacks Peter recognised from back home. But in Trench....? Finding food that tastes normal has been impossible.

But if there's mushrooms that taste like chicken?? Maybe he'll stop whining about missing Chick-fil-A now. )

Oh my god..... that's wild.... Could I like, pay you for some of those?

( Peter fishes through his hoodie pockets to hold up some solid golden coins, which he shows to his video feed.... Money may not have real worth here, but the locals seem to really covet shiny things, and his Demon Gold has served him well so far when it comes to bartering. )

[fusrodaaaah]

Pay...?

[That sound is the sound of the concept of someone paying him for mushrooms flying over his head. Yes, he knows people grow and sell food all the time. But him? He just found them. He didn't do any work growing them.]

You um. You don't. Need to do that. They don't use septims here.

[Yes, because any gold coin is the kind from his world, right? But it's the first he's really seen of coins like that since he woke up in Deerington. It's kind of nice to see again.]

I can - I can just. Bring you some.

[possessum]

( Septims... it must be something from his world. Peter glances back down to the gold coins in his hands. They're... strange to look at, for him. Even stranger to think that something within him was capable of conjuring them, a reminder of some... great, ancient power.

His initial reaction is an odd sort of gratitude that the other says he doesn't need these, because it means he can put them back away and not look at them.

....But there's something else pushing him quietly inside. Some... need to give if he's going to take something, because that's how the rules work. )

It's really okay. They might not have like... actual worth here, but the people really like them cuz they're shiny.

( He offers a little smile, half-lopsided at one corner. )

Besides, it was really cool of you to make this video trying to help people. It's the least I can do.

[fusrodaaaah]

A-are you sure? I um. I don't... want to take... things from your world.

[Because Melius himself had arrived with so few. He knew most people only got to keep a handful of familiar objects. It would feel wrong to take something from someone's home... when all he needed was the tent, the alchemy table, and his armor.]

[He scratches idly at his neck. Picking at the scales there in a nervous tic. This guy looks so sincere. Sounds so sincere. Maybe he should...]

O-okay. I can. Do that. Just maybe... a couple.

[possessum]

It's okay, they don't actually.... mean anything to me. You could get better use out of them than me. ( Peter admits — honestly, albeit with a dose of fresh awkwardness as he looks back down to the gold. Once again, he's struck by that odd sensation that he's supposed to give it to people. That it feels right to.

In exchange for something of worth. In this case.... some mushrooms. )

I uh, I can send my Omen thingie over to you with them, if you want me to. Or— I can meet you somewhere, sometime. Since my Omen's kind of... creepy. He's a snake...

( Which... well, this guy might not actually mind reptiles... Regardless, Peter'll handle this exchange however the other wants to, whenever he wants to. He doesn't want to make him more nervous. )

[fusrodaaaah]

O-Oh. Okay. I... um. If you want them back, you can. You can ask.

[And he'd willingly give them over. People seem happy enough to barter, here. He won't really need coin. It's been nice, having that knowledge.]

A snake? [He perks up a bit, curiosity in his expression.] Snakes um. Snakes are fine. I'm - mine is um.

A dragon.

[Since they're sharing Omens, now and all. It doesn't even cross his mind that the snake could be a Problem.]

[possessum]

( Peter gives a little smile and a nod at that — he definitely won't be wanting these things back, and he can always just make more (a fact he.... should probably mention but doesn't exactly know how to bring up; it's So Awkward that he can just make demon gold now?? Is this really his life??) But it's genuinely nice of the other guy to be concerned about it. )

Wait— an actual dragon? ( Holy shit... He's heard of dragons being a thing in other people's worlds; he is in fact dating Luna Lovegood from Harry Potter, so he's learned a thing or two about that. But still... it's definitely surprising. Peter looks stunned — and just as curious, in a boyish sort of way that borders on awed. )

Is it like... a big one or a little one?

( He's heard of different sizes, too. )

[fusrodaaaah]

Um. Yes.

[He ducks off camera again. Re-emerging onscreen with his Omen perched on one shoulder. It is absolutely a dragon. Granted, it's the size of a cat, but still.]

It um. It doesn't... say its name so I called it something in Dovahzuul.

Aakhahnu.

cw: linked image to snake

[possessum]

( THAT IS AN ACTUAL DRAGON.... Excuse Peter for just gaping openly for a very long few moments. )

Dude, that's so cool! Hey there, uh— Aak— Aakhahnu.

Oh man. Mine has some name I never even heard of before. Here, let me—

( Peter summons the snake right out of his chest, a thing he's used to but also never really used to — shuddering as it unfurls from him in a cloud of smoke, to form a python: pure black on top and white-bellied at first glance, but as the snake moves into the light, his scales shine iridescent all over. )

His name is... uh... Susurrus. ( Peter works his way through it, and the word itself even sounds like a hiss. The snake lifts his head at the screen, curiously flicking his tongue out at it. )

I guess it's good they're meeting, so I can just send the coins over to you with him.

that snake is gorgeous

[fusrodaaaah]

[The dragon hisses, and... chatters? It sounds like it's trying to speak, but none of the words are in any kind of language known outside Tamriel. Melius glances at her.]

She um. She speaks... Dovahzuul. Kind of. Aakhahnu is um. It means... Dream Guide.

[His head tilts, and his eyes light up. That. Is a lovely snake. The way the scales change color - it's familiar. His own have done that, in the right lighting. But not like this. That's uniform and steady.]

He... he's really pretty. He um. He has scales like an Argonian. [Not all of them. But a few.] S-so yes. I can keep an eye out. For him.

he needs to have a photoshoot w Melius for Iridescent Scale Boys

[possessum]

She's adorable. And— looks like she could probably kill me. But still really adorable.

( A tiny dragon is still a dragon, and there's a healthy dose of intimidation at the thought of being in the same room as her. At the same time, Peter's pretty enamoured; she's... very cute....! )

Really? I didn't even know scales could do that before I got him... I'm still not really sure how it works. ( Peter doesn't know much about reptiles... )

Yeah, I'll send the coins over to you real soon! And thank you, for the help. ( Though it's voiced shyly, it's nothing but sincere. )

reptiles of trench photoshoot heck yeah

[fusrodaaaah]

O-oh. No. No, she um. Can't. She doesn't - she doesn't have their magic.

[His Omen can't Shout like the real dragons can. She can chatter and shriek like one, but there's no real magic in it.]

I uh. I don't know. Either. Just they - they do. I've seen... other Argonians with them.

[Heck if he knows how it works. Scales are scales.] It - um. It's not a problem!