"N-no, please, stop! I'm sorry!" the argonian pleaded as he frantically scrambled away from the teenage girl even as she casually strolled forward, his sword in her hand. His comrades were dead; the nord male was laying across the flat rock after having bled out, while his arm was several feet away. The female had fared worse; she'd died screaming in agony as fire engulfed her. Her charred and still smoldering corpse lay in a crumpled heap.
The argonian was already sporting several wounds himself; his leg was limp and bleeding, and he had a nasty gash along his side.
"I'll… I'll give you anything! Anything you want! Everything I have! Just… just let me go…"
Homura paused at that as the argonian backed up against a rockface.
"… Today could have been avoided." she said contemplatively as she looked over his largely unimpressive rusty iron sword, "You could have stayed home, or chosen a different career. But it's never enough for you, is it? You always have to have more. You always have to consume and make things worse for everyone else, regardless of how well her system worked for you."
"I… what?" the argonian asked in panicked confusion at the girl's unintended slip, "I don't understand."
"Of course you don't," Homura said without emotion, once again approaching him. She kneeled down over the frightened bandit, "You never understand what you do. You don't want to understand, because you're just a parasite. It's your inherent nature." She leaned in close, gently caressing the argonian's face, before she jammed his sword into his neck with clinical precision. No anger, no rage, simply cold and calculating. She watched him drown in his own blood for a moment, until the last embers of life finally left his now-still form.
Confirming he was dead with his lack of a pulse, Homura then began to help herself to his armor. He was bigger than her and built somewhat differently than a human, so she knew it wouldn't be a good fit, but she was hoping to jury-rig enough of the material to make it work for her.
That's when she heard the slow clapping coming from behind.
"Bravo! Encore!" Theodor said laughing, before letting out a whistle. He sat atop the rocky outcropping Homura had slept under, straddling it like a horse, and was clearly enjoying the moment, "The emotion, the setting, the gravitas! The staging! Like a perfect scene from a play." He wasn't wearing his Blade armor, which was a slight surprise—instead he seemed to have gone with a mage's robe, emerald and brown in color, though he'd kept his gauntlets and boots, as well as his sword.
"… You," Homura muttered, irritation crossing her face.
"Me." Theodor replied with a wide grin.
Homura dropped what she was doing and stood up to face the man, very cross that she'd not been as stealthy leaving as she'd thought—and that someone had followed her this long without her knowing, "What do you want? Why are you here?"
The smile never left Theodor's face, "You left without saying good-bye! Do you have any idea how rude that is?"
"I was hoping to leave without anyone noticing," Homura said, "Clearly I did not succeed."
Theodor laughed, "Hah! Clearly! It's all good now though, because Uncle Theodor managed to catch up with you all the same!" he leaned forward, "And I'm here to make everything better."
Something about the man creeped Homura out. The way he moved, his disposition, the way he talked, he seemed… off. Like he wasn't all there upstairs.
"I'll tell you what I told these fools," she pointed at the dead bodies that surrounded her, "I'm not interested. Go home."
Theodor dropped down from his perch to the ground, "Aw, is that any way to treat a guest? Especially when I brought a gift?"
"… A gift?" Homura asked, suspicious.
A small sack of gold landed at Homura's feet. Theodor explained, "I'm all for wearin' the clothes of a dead man as much as the next person, but I can tell you're not thrilled at the prospect, so why not pick up some gear at the next town? You can restock on food while you're at it. Maybe pick up some cheese! Everyone likes cheese. Most people, anyway," he paused, thinking, "… You like cheese, right?"
Homura looked down at the sack of gold, not having moved from her spot, "… And what do you want in return?"
"Isn't it obvious?" Theodor asked, extending his arms as he walked closer, even as Homura stepped back out of caution, "I want to come with! I'm always up for an adventure! Why in my day I traipsed all over the countryside! Plunderin' tombs, savin' villagers, pettin' cats," he frowned, "… throwin' cats," he waved it off, "Ah, whatever. Once I even saved a city… or was that a different guy? Might have been a different guy."
"I work alone," Homura said before she turned back on the downed body she'd been working to peel the leather armor from. As much as she wasn't looking forward to using someone else's clothes which wouldn't even fit right, she still considered it a better choice than having some crazy man tag along.
… At least, she considered it a better choice until she got a good whiff of the argonian's natural smell after pulling off some of the armor. It was vile; he clearly hadn't bathed in months, and the scent was overpowering. She gagged and nearly vomited right there. Theodor simply stood where he was, still smiling.
"Having second thoughts?" he asked innocently, "I mean let's be honest, I'll be following you anyway."
"I could just kill you, you know," she told him, still looking at the argonian, but now standing a couple feet away as she tried in vain to get rid of the smell in her nostrils.
Theodor laughed the hardest she'd heard so far, in a way that made Homura somehow doubt her own threat as the faintest of chills went up her spine, "But seriously, where are we headed?" he asked as he reached down and grabbed the sack of gold, before tossing it into Homura's hands. Homura glanced back over at the body, then at Theodor, and then finally at the gold in her hands before closing her eyes with a sigh. She could feel the migraine coming. Still, she knew she could find uses for a meatshield, beyond just using him as a cover for why a fourteen year old girl was wandering Skyrim alone. Besides, he was clearly going to be following her anyway, she might as well have him somewhere she could watch him.
"… Fine. If you want to accompany me, I won't stop you," she said finally, already regretting this, "But I won't wait or slow down for you. I will leave you behind without a second thought."
"Splendid!" Theodor replied, taking a few steps toward the Whiterun plains while stretching.
Homura glared at him, "And if you get in my way or attempt to slow me down, I will kill you."
To that, Theodor only grinned.