A Drow's Dilemma Ep. 16: Discovery

Ashyr bared her teeth and lunged at the other drow. They both landed with a heavy thud on the grassy earth, Selene with a small cry of surprise. Even in Ashyr's weakened state, she was stronger than the woman who used magic to solve all her problems. Well, she couldn't use magic now. Both her hands were pinned and prevented from using the gestures that she needed. Selene struggled, but went still when she realized that she could not get away. It was a fairly unprovoked attack, but Ashyr really felt like she had it coming after what she put Cal through.

"Listen, girl." Ashyr said to her cousin in her native tongue, "Caleldir and I can keep you safe. But I am the boss here. Not you. If you hurt or try to take advantage of him, I will make you wish you hadn't." She she spoke, her face drew closer to Selene's until they were almost touching.

Although he started out watching the scene dispassionately, by the time Selene started very obviously flirting with Ashyr (and, to a smaller extent, him...) Caleldir's facade rather swiftly crumbled and he decided to stand nearer to the human woman than the two drow. Carlotta was a whole lot less threatening: both verbally and sexually. His decision to move proved prescient when the two women launched into a fight with each other. Oddly, Caleldir could sympathize with Selene's plight as a physically inept mage suddenly thrust into a physical confrontation. He preferred mind over matter himself. Of course, every single piece of magic that he knew he could cast independent of speech or hand movements (although most of it was pretty useless, as Selene had no doubt already figured out. Then again, he was getting way better with his telekinesis...).

Caleldir's reverie on whether he could take either of the Drow in a fight (probably not...) was interrupted by Ashyr decidedly winning said fight. Once again, he found himself inexplicably feeling sorry for Selene. When she was arrogant and confident, he disliked her, but when she was suddenly vulnerable and defeated, he found it more difficult to hold his grudges.

"Do not be too hard on her, Ashyr." Caleldir interjected in not-quite-as Archaic Undercommon (as he heard the modern version spoken, he began to emulate it far more ably. His flat accent was already completely gone, replaced by a much more natural cadence). "She has been through quite a lot. As long as she does not try to betray us to your more murderous relatives, I think that we should give her a little leeway." He changed his attitude to something a bit more stern. "Although, seriously, please do not hit me with paralyzing poison again. That stuff is terrible and I do not like it. Raping or cutting me are also things I would really prefer you not do."

"You weren't supposed to want it." Selene responded in Undercommon, "Otherwise it would not be called rape." Her voice was sort of grumpy.

Rolling his eyes, Caleldir responded to Selene's petulant complaint, still in Undercommon. "That hardly negates my point. Just... behave yourself." He shook his head.

Ashyr released her cousin's hands, but did not quite get up. Her mouth twisted in slight annoyance. She felt that Caleldir was being very foolish by defending Selene. It didn't help to see the light of triumph in the bested cousin's eyes. Ashyr was doing what she thought necessary to keep her cousin from doing something... unfriendly to what she considered her people (who were not the Duskhavens. Not while the order of things was so fucked.) Ashyr didn't have any social and not much magical leverage, so all she had left was physical. Sometimes it seemed the weakest of the three.

Carlotta was lost. Selene was being very forward, and then Ashyr was tackling her to the ground. The human jumped, and unconsciously took hold of Caleldir's arm. She did not let go when she realized what she'd done. They weren't speaking in any language she'd heard before. She could tell that there was a lot of anger on both the drow's part. Cal seemed to be trying to... calm them down? Maybe? "Um. Guys?" The redhead spoke up, though she did so quietly. "It's going to be dark soon. Are we going to camp here, or-?" She let the question hang in the air.

When Carlotta spoke, he realized that the redheaded human was clinging to his arm. With her short height and overly youthful appearance, this fact inspired his protective instinct far more than any untoward thoughts. He had a sudden urge to give her a hug. "I apologize." He said in Common. "It was rather rude of us to have a conversation in a language you do not understand. The gist of it was that we were warning Selene not to behave like a stereotypical Drow." He dropped his tone. "You know, no murdering, betraying, torturing, or raping allowed." He tried to speak low enough that the two Drow did not catch his words, but as keen as their ears were, they probably did anyway. Carlotta seemed more uncomfortable than before, and clung to him a bit harder.

Ashyr looked over at the small woman. Then she got off of Selene with a sigh. "I guess it'll be fine to rest here. The orcs won't hurt us if they come back. I think our stuff is over there too." She gestured across the small clearing to where there were dark lumps of Selene's and Ashyr's gear. Ashyr looked down at her skimpily dressed self. No way was she trekking through the forest wearing that.

Caleldir had a sudden realization that the two Drow women were practically naked. Until now, he had been focused on other things, but suddenly he felt rather uncomfortable. Then, his eyes glinted as he suddenly gained an idea for revenge. Gently prying himself from Carlotta's grasp, he rapidly went over to the two piles, handing Ashyr her gear but holding Selene's. "You know what would be rather terrible?" he asked no one in particular (and by 'no one in particular', he meant Selene). "If someone were to shred all this with a knife, leaving its owner to have to walk through the forest naked." He sighed, handing Selene her clothing. "Be grateful I am not that petty, cousin of Ashyr's." There. His 'revenge' was complete, and he felt more satisfied.

Ashyr responded to his threats with amused laughter. It would have been great to annoy Selene. Predictably, her cousin wasn't quite annoyed. Ah, well. Hopefully he'd have better luck next time.

There was a challenge in Selene's eyes directed at Caleldir. Selene had more clothes than Cal did when something similar happened to him. She didn't have any armor. She didn't care if other people saw her naked. There were her rather pretty robes in that pile, which would be a very slight shame to see destroyed. Otherwise, it was an empty, ineffectual threat all-around. But it seemed to make him feel a little better. "You just want to keep me naked, boy." She finally responded with an evil smirk.

Of course Selene was not affected by his threat. Why would she be? She was Drow, after all. It still made him feel better, even if she was still unrepentant. "That is not the case. Please get dressed." He responded flatly to her. Time to change the subject. "So, are we lucky enough to have a tent or something, or do we sleep under the stars again?"

"We have tents." Came the deep, imposing voice of the giant orc from the town gates. He walked into the clearing with the body of the female in his arms and the other, smaller male trailing behind him.

Caleldir jumped a little with the orc's unexpected return. Carlotta jumped and let out a squeak of surprise, turned, and backed away from the newcomers. The other two women simply stood a little taller, rose their chins as one, and stood with a very similar aggressive stance. Ashyr relaxed first, soon followed by her cousin. The ranger cursed herself for not paying more attention. If that hulking figure could sneak up on them, someone like Tsabdrin would have no problem.

"Two are large, three barely fit one orc. Zarag and I will only use one of each. We will allow you the use of the rest if you stay here tonight."

"So... one large and two small tents between the four of us. I suppose that it would not hurt to stay here for one night, if my companions are not opposed." He turned towards said companions. "In that case, the main thing would be to decide who goes in which tent, especially which of us will have to share. Probably Ashyr and someone else..."

A slow, phenomenally pleased smile drew across her lips. She knew her decision immediately, of course, but she found her position quite glorious. Ashyr pretended to deliberate on the matter with obvious mischief written across her face. "Well..." she said with playful hesitance. "I do think the larger tent could fit three of us. Four if we're determined." While she said this, everyone moved over to where they knew the tents were lying. With surprising coordination and efficiency, they set up the three tents allotted to them. It would not be the first time the drow set them up. The orcs prescribed to the notion that none in a traveling group should sit idle. Even if they were prisoners. Especially if they were prisoners.

Once everything was set up, it was time to actually decide sleeping partners. Ashyr bit her lip and looked between the three of them. Carlotta seemed passively interested in the outcome. Selene had a confident smile plastered across her face. Stupid fool didn't even know she wasn't in the running. Even the orcs seemed to be paying attention with idle curiosity. They seemed to sense the interesting dynamic Ashyr had with the rest of the crew.

Finally, she approached Caleldir, and the mischievousness melted from her face to leave a soft smile in its wake. "You know, I find I really dislike not sharing a bed with you." She said softly. "Will you sleep with me tonight?"

Although Caleldir was pleased by Ashyr's question, and flattered by her attention, he still hesitated a little before replying. "I would not be opposed to it." He said with mischief in his eyes. His expression drained, and then he sighed. "I would love to share the big tent with you, but I do not know if that will be all that practical." He looked towards Selene and Carlotta. He dropped his voice so that only Ashyr could hear him. "I do not think that it would be wise to leave your cousin unwatched." He whispered. "My suggestion would have been to have you and Selene share a tent so that you could keep an eye on her." He thought for a moment. "You do not think she will try anything with Carlotta, do you? If you think that she is trustworthy, then I will very happily agree to share a tent with you."

Looking back towards their other companions, and towards the tent, he thought for a moment longer. "Maybe all four of us could fit in the big tent, that would solve some problems." On one hand, crowding them all into one tent would kill his chance to have sex with Ashyr, on the other hand, it would allow everyone to keep an eye on Selene in order to make sure that she behaved herself.

Ashyr's mouth twisted in thought. She looked toward her cousin, who seemed to have a look of slight consternation to her. Selene had clearly thought that she would get to share the tent with her cousin. The other drow grumbled to herself as she entered one of the small tents and shut the flaps firmly behind her. One of Ashyr's hands rose to rub at the back of her neck as she contemplated the issue. "Normally, Selene is not the senseless killing and betraying type. Our relationship was always downright cordial by drow standards." Ashyr sighed and tapped her foot. She was taking this seriously. "I think it is alright to leave her by herself." Ashyr decided finally. "I don't think she'll try to hurt you or Carlotta." Then a thought occurred to her, and she looked over to the orcs. She might try to hurt them. ... Eh, fuck 'em. They had wrongfully held her captive and almost mortally injured her before that. She could risk them getting a little injured. Selene would be stupid to do that, of course. They needed each other's help. The only person who wanted the Duskhaven men to pay for what they did more than Ashyr was Selene. She'd lost a daughter. "Yeah. It'll be fine." Then she went back to setting up the biggest tent. It was almost ready at that point. It was already getting pretty dark.

Somehow, Caleldir found Selene's reaction to be almost funny. It at least was satisfying. But as much as he would have liked to constantly keep antagonizing her, he knew that that was not a wise decision. They needed her as an ally, not an enemy. He smiled, relieved at Ashyr's words. "That is good to here. Although, for all our safety, it would probably be for the best if we caution her not to try to take revenge on them either. No sense making them our enemies. Again. Of course, she probably already knows that. Regardless, we should probably be nicer to her. I am certainly guilty of needling her, but ultimately, we need her more as a friend than an enemy, and we should treat her as such. Mostly me, I know." He sighed. "After all." he said with a tone of black humor. "What is a little rape between friends?" Dropping his tone to a sensual whisper, he switched from dark jokes to flirtation. "And the two of us are 'friends', are we not?"

Ashyr felt her heart beat just a little bit faster when Cal's tone dropped to that whisper that suggested naughty things (or what he would consider naughty, anyway.) A slow smirk spread across her lips. She took a moment to approach him when the view of the others was mostly inhibited during the final steps of setting up the tent they would share. One hand casually brushed flat against the front of his crotch. "It wouldn't be rape." She whispered. Her eyes looked up at him, lidded, full of lust.

"It really would not." Caleldir said in reply, although more to himself than her. He had almost instantly became hard. It was actually a little bit difficult to wait for bed to... well, go to bed.

The orcs, in the meantime, began gathering logs and tinder, which quickly turned into a fire. They left the body of the female at the edge of the clearing and one of them kept an eye on it at all times. The smaller one came over to the non-orcs and began setting up his own small tent. Zarag then tended to the fire while the big one walked back into the forest. They had come to some sort of agreement before that, but their words had been in their own tongue and lost to Ashyr. She wasn't getting any hostile vibes off of them. And she knew hostile.

Carlotta sat on the ground in front of one of the small tents and simply watched and waited. She seemed to find the orcs slightly intimidating and didn't like to take her eyes off of them.

Caleldir became a little worried when he saw Carlotta. As always, the little woman made something in his heart melt (not that hard to do, really). He turned to Ashyr. "Even though we can trust your cousin, will Carlotta be fine on her own? She seems to be ill at ease, and she might need some companionship tonight." His tone had completely switched to concerned friendship, making it very clear that he did not mean the question sexually.

"I think she is safe here." Ashyr said as she brushed off her hands. She looked to the recently erected tent with satisfaction, then the to the woman in question. "But I will talk to her. I know these orcs. Mostly. I think I can make her less afraid of them. Compared to some people I know, they're big softies." Considering some of the people she knew, that wasn't saying much at all.

The drow did as she said and sat cross-legged next to the redhead. They spoke to each other quietly. Soon, Carlotta nodded in understanding, and gave the drow a less worried smile. Ashyr smirked back, and patted her lovely freckled face. Then the drow went back to Caleldir.

"She says she's fine with being alone." Ashyr informed him.

Caleldir's unease finally melted away when Ashyr spoke with Carlotta. His duties were now resolved, and he could give Ashyr his full attention. Which he almost already had been, seeing as how he had difficulty keeping his eyes off of her. Her state of undress was rather alluring...

"I am glad to hear that Carlotta will be fine." Caleldir smiled. "Once I get some wood stacked up for the fire I will retire to the tent and get dressed for bed. I really need to get all this armor off. Maybe you can assist me with that..." He did not need Ashyr to get out of his armor, but why tell her that?

"Mmm, I understand armor like that can be a pain to remove." She knew very well that he could get the armor off himself.

Then she swayed away, knowing full well what her mostly naked body did to the rest of the camp. Carlotta's eyes shone as she watched the drow, and her cheeks began to turn a shade pinker. Then the redhead retreated into her own tent. Ashyr almost laughed aloud. She only needed one guess as to what the small human would be doing in there. Even Zarag was paying a little bit more attention than usual. Ashyr did not fail to notice that. She gave him a little extra sway of her hips, and winked at him. He narrowed his eyes at this, then began studying the fire a little harder than necessary. His expression was studiously flat. Interesting. He wasn't the most hideous orc she'd ever seen. Zarag was big, yes, but not as bulky as most of his kind. One could almost describe him as lanky for an orc. His jaw had a pleasing shape to it, and she even liked the stubble that covered it. The drow gave herself a mental shrug and began to pay attention to other, more interesting things. Like Cal, who was currently paying attention to nothing but her.

The big orc was still off somewhere doing whatever it was he'd decided to do. The drow found herself hoping that it had something to do with food. Last time she ate was... well, that morning when they'd practically shoved a piece of dried meat in her mouth. Ashyr was quite hungry. She knew of one good way to keep her mind off it. With a naughty smirk directly mostly at herself, she got up and ducked into the large tent she and Caleldir were going to share. Then she hastily took off what little clothing she had and waited.

Shrugging, he decided to follow Ashyr into the tent, coming in a few seconds after her. What he saw when he entered gave him pause. He swallowed. "Well... it seems that you are ready." His own hands began to fumble at his armor straps. A moment ago, he really could have undressed without help. Now he actually needed her help. It was her fault, really, plotting to make him all dependent on her like this...

Ashyr resisted the urge to laugh. She was glad to see that he was already excited enough to lose some of his dexterity. It also did wonders to turn her on more. The drow had actually been rather tired and therefore wasn't quite as horny as she usually was. Seeing him excited by her, however, took her right back up to speed. She leaned forward to press hungry lips against his. Her fingers flew across the straps of his armor as she quickly and effortlessly undid all the things that bound him to the protective gear - well, the ones she could reach while still kissing him, anyway. When those were gone, she broke her mouth away to look up at him with a lustful grin and lidded eyes. Her breath was heavy with arousal. Then she helped him out of the rest of his armor with quick efficiency.

Caleldir returned the kiss with vigor. All of his pent-up lust from that night he was almost with both Carlotta and Ashyr, and the previous night he had spent with Carlotta pressed up against his back was beginning to pour out. He shrugged out of his clothing as best as he could with her help.

"I think I missed you." She murmured to him in a playful tone. It felt kind of silly, actually. It had only been two full days, but she spoke the truth. "I think the next time I run away like a coward, I'm bringing you with me."

Caleldir used this opportunity to pull her closer to him, as always relishing in the feeling of her skin pressed against his. "I missed you too." He said with conviction. "And I really do hope that you take me along when you run away again. I will follow you to the ends of the earth, and even into the Hells themselves."