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It was supposed to be an easy job.
Zeex heard a group of drunks trading rumors at the local tavern, and always having an ear and eye out for riches, the Goblin kept close and listened. They spoke of a dungeon that a group of bandits had used for a hideout. The gang, they called themselves the ‘Broken Pithing Needles’, had made quite a stir with a series of vicious homicidal robberies of smaller members of royalty, seeming to take a sick glee in the way they left the macabre scenes. The king’s guard had discovered where they held up, and not wanting to face justice, they escaped from their hideout, forced to leave behind a large majority of their stolen goods.
A quick check of each of the men’s pockets while they next blathered about a town whore found a small map that led to the hideout. Zeex smiled toothly, and practically hopped towards his party, leaving the group of drunkards to cause a ruckus. Surely they wouldn’t miss the map, they wouldn’t even remember they had it come morning.
It was an easy sell for Nasaadi and Larva, the former having been itching for a proper payday while the latter was interested in whatever flora and fauna had taken in the space. Harebash, the stalwart Orc Paladin, had been a little tougher to convince, not having much interest in acquiring ‘bloodied rewards’.
Zeex, for all his eccentricities, had been born with a silver tongue, and convinced Harebash with the idea that they could return the more sentimental items they found to their grieving families. That idea settled the doubts of the community-sworn Orc, and after a night’s rest at the small tavern, they traveled to find the loaded gold mine.
- - -
In reality, what they found was a dungeon filled to the brim with Vampiric Candle Worms, and the reward at the end of the mess was a single chest with maybe 20 gold pieces to split amongst the 4 of them.
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“So…who’s taking first watch?”
Nasaadi glared at Zeex, wiping her lips of the last of her rations. To say the dragonborn was furious at the thieving goblin was an understatement. He led them all into a death trap which they were sorely ill-prepared to handle, and the fact that he had the gall to still have that toothy smile on his face brought her fire just behind her fangs.
Zeex seemingly didn’t notice the glare pointed in his direction, loudly and happily chewing his own rations as if his stomach wasn’t wrapped in enough bandages for him to have made countless ‘mummy‘ comments, much to the dragonborn's chagrin. He had been too excited when they initially found the chest, running headfirst into a worm nest. By the time that Harebash had run up to the pit, Zeex was already surrounded by the pests, his body quickly covered in burns from their caustic flesh.
“I’ll take watch. Everyone else needs the rest more than I do.” Nasaadi muttered, lightly rolling her neck. She was as exhausted as everyone else had been, fighting side by side with Harebash. Despite having no exoskeleton or bones, the worms’ bodies had not been easy to cleave through, and their dexterous forms combined with the close corners of the dungeon made her bow practically useless. Her muscles were still sore from the exertion she had to put out, but thankfully her copper scales made the burning flesh of the insects little more than an annoyance.
Zeex nodded, his smile never leaving as he crawled up the tree he had been sitting against, found a comfortable branch, and passed out. Harebash stood up slower, crossing the campground to stand above her.
“I’ll take second watch in a few hours…If you need to take closer care of them, wake me earlier.” He said with a softness that sounded both surprising and comforting from the Orc, and without another word, he continued his walk towards his bedroll.
Nasaadi sighed, looking down at her wife who was asleep in her lap, their breathing soft but present. Even once the party had found the small dungeon was infested with Candle Worms, Larva had been excited to examine the creatures, and their energy easily inspired the party to keep exploring, even knowing how much more dangerous the area was.
Larva’s enthusiasm for all things natural overwhelmed their sense, and in their excitement, they didn’t notice the leeches that latched onto their legs early into the dungeon. It was as Nasaadi was practically screaming at Zeex for the paltry reward they found when the Druid collapsed, their body falling with a thud onto the blood covered stone floor. All of Nasaadi’s anger vanished in a moment as she quickly ran to her wife, eying the leeches and burning them off with a heated arrowhead.
Harebash had healed their wounds, and ensured the goblin wouldn’t pass from blood loss, but their body still needed to recover from the ordeal. They had been asleep since, Nasaadi carrying them carefully in her arms even after the party made camp.
It wasn’t long until Nasaadi heard the Harebash’s deep snores, and for the first time since they all escaped the dungeon, Nasaadi let out a deep breath, a stream of tears rolling down her cheeks as she brought Larva closer to her chest. When Larva passed out, Nasaadi steeled her emotions down. The soreness of her muscles, the light tinge of heat she could feel on her scales, even her own panic was swallowed down and ignored so she could focus fully on her wife.
Now that the adrenaline had fully left her, she didn’t have the eyes of her companions on her, she couldn’t hold it back any more. She couldn’t breathe, the dread at the idea of being left alone again, of having to drink herself numb just so she wouldn’t be haunted by all of her mistakes again had ice running through her veins. And the idea that she might’ve lost her wife due to a simple lack of awareness felt like a shard of broken beer glass in her stomach. Nasaadi knew she was spiraling, but her vision was blurry with tears and the world around her mixed into a mixture of colors and darkness. She couldn’t focus, couldn’t think, couldn’t-
“....Mmm, Saadi…”
A soft voice, barely louder than the crackling of fire in front of her, pulled Nasaadi out of the spiral as quickly as she was sucked in. Nasaadi looked down, and saw Larva looking back up at her, their eyes barely open with that soft, comforting smile. They slowly reached up, and took her hand in their own, slowly rubbing their thumb across the palm of Nasaadi’s hand.
“...I always like getting to sleep in your lap, Saadi. I always feel warm…and safe.”
And just like that, her wife’s eyes closed again, falling back into that easy sleep.
Nasaadi couldn’t believe it, still holding Larva’s hand in hers. Even after almost dying, somehow her wife knew exactly what she needed to hear. Nasaadi sniffed, reaching up with her free hand to wipe away the tears that still traveled down her cheeks.
Nasaadi brought that hand down to comb through her wife's hair, her copper claws easily passing through the nature swept locks, the sandy brown hair fit Larva perfectly, reaching just below their shoulders. The familiar feeling of their hair between her fingertips, the comfortable weight sat in her lap helped keep Nasaadi grounded. Slowly, Nasaadi took deep breaths, embers slipping past her fangs as she tried to settle the nervous energy that still buzzed in her body. She wasn’t going to be left alone, her wife was alive and safe.
The goblin rubbed their head against her chest, bringing a smile to Nasaadi’s lips. She leaned down, and pressed a kiss to their forehead, getting an unconscious noise of approval in response. For the first time today, Nasaadi finally felt the weight of stress slip from her shoulders.