“Hey Len, what'd you get Farkas?” Aela asks me as she walks up the stairs. I turn around and look at her “Huh?” Stops at the top of the stairs and points to the calendar “It's the twins birthday today, the 20th.” I squint at the calendar and it is in fact written in the small box labeled the twentieth. I swallow and turn towards her “I have not gotten him anything then.” Aela looks at me and then grabs my hand and is dragging me out the door, silently I follow along. We pass the twins on our way out “Where are you two going? And why are you dragging Anna? What're you up to?” Vilkas asks as Aela drags me towards the city center. “None of your business Vilkas, we’re just running some errands.” Aela says in reply as she runs down the steps with me in tow. Vilkas watches as I nearly trip going down the steps and I give him a slight wave of which he waves in reply and heads inside. Whence down the stairs and across the small bridge that leads to the main walkway Aela releases her iron grip on my wrist. “So where exactly are we going?” I ask rubbing my wrist that now has a red mark from her fingernails. “Where do you think we'd be going to get two bookish twins birthday presents?” She asks with crossed arms. “The bookstore?” I ask mostly certain of the answer. “Yep, so let's go.” We walk past the gildergreen, down another stone staircase to the plains district, where the market is. Whiterun is situated in three districts. The plains district is the first and lowest to the ground, The Wind District is mostly residential and is home to the temple of Kynareth, goddess of wind,air, and nature. Then you have the cloud district, the highest point in the city and houses the Jarls castle, Dragonsreach. Whence in the main part of the market the two of us weave our way through crowds of people bustling about until we get to a side street paved by nothing but a worn cobblestone path. At the end of the street is a sleepy little building, Whiteruns lesser known bookstore. Aela pulls open the door and kindly holds it for me, following directly after. The store is run by a kind older woman named Ollava. “Good morning.” I say walking up to the counter, she looks up from her sewing. “Ah hello miss Lenox! Do you need any help finding anything today?” She seems happy to see me and calls to Aela not to break anything as she aimlessly wanders the store. The thing with Aela, and the twins to some extent, is they can be a bit reckless. “Actually I do need some help, Do you have any history books? Or fantasy? Specifically anything J.R.R Tolkien if that's not too much to ask.” Ollava smiles and steps from behind the counter. “Right this way dear, I have just what you need.” And gestures to follow her as she leads me towards the back half of the store. We pass Aela digging through Mythology books, she holds one up “I think I found one for Vilkas.” I nod and give a thumbs up as I walk past. Ollava stops and takes a right walking between two of the shelves “Here you go, Classics and Fantasy. Let me know if you need anything else I'll be at the counter.” She says and walks away back to the wooden counter where Aela stands waiting to pay. I crouch down and begin skimming through titles until one catches my eye, I grab it from its place and flip through it then see another with a similar cover. Oh these will do nicely. I take the books and go to pay.
“So what'd you get them?” Aela asks swinging her paper bag back and forth as we walk back. “I got Vilkas an eyewitness book on Arms and Armor and I made him a drawing and a comic that's he's been pressing me to do. And I got Farkas two books on Tolkien.” Aela nods “Nice choices. I got Vilkas a mythology book and a new chess set with magnetic pieces because he lost most of the pieces on his old one, that's why he never wants to use his set when you ask him to play. And Farkas, I got him a hardcover bound and complete version of Sherlock Holmes.” I laugh “Basically all they got is books” Aela shrugs “What else would you expect to get them at the last minute?” She replies cocking her head at me. “That's a good point...I'll shut up now.” When we get back the twins are nowhere to be seen and Ria informs us they're outside in the back, Tilma mostly wanted them to get some fresh air. Meaning she wanted Vilkas to go outside for once, he's got slightly asocial tendencies. But them being outside is a plus for us, as it gives Aela and I time to wrap things and set them out where we know they'll find them.
Later:
I patiently wait looking around the room until I hear the door start to open, Farkas walks in and sees me kneeling on the bed. “Happy birthday I'm your present!” I say with jazz hands. He stares at me “That it?” I frown at him and point to the little stack of wrapped packages “No your real presents are over there I'm just an add on.” I can hear Aela laughing from the other room and badly attempt to conceal my own laughter. “What's so funny?” Farkas asks turning around and looking at me. “Nothing. Also sorry for kinda ignoring you the entire day.” He smiles “Don't worry about it Len.” I smile back. I hope he at least had a nice birthday.
What Steve sent: A bottle of premium shochu and some high-quality chocolate. The card has tear stains on it because Caitlin supposedly had a March birthday.
ReplyDeleteAlso: He bought personalized assassin cloaks for the twins.
DeleteNone of them drink so it goes to the companions kitchen for someone else to enjoy, throughly enjoy the chocolate, and send their thanks and regards
DeleteAs for the cloaks yooooo that's an awesome present, Vilkas would walk around wearing his for hours and Farkas would use it when needed. They tend to not really assassinate people as much as just fight them, Issy and Valan and Sam and Yuuri do though, thry murder people for money. But the twins are very happy over all.
Cloaks should make a comeback.
DeleteThey really should! Cloaks are great and go with practically anything.
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