A Glimpse of Emerald

"You've got...got a condom, right," she managed to pant.

She felt Cameron tremble eagerly. "I do," he said before he resumed kissing her. As they kissed, Cameron began moving them towards his side of the bed. Eventually Peri was sitting on the edge of the mattress and Cameron, standing on the floor, was beginning to kiss his way down her body. Peri shivered with anticipation as his lips and tongue traced a path from her mouth, over her chin, along her throat, between her breasts, and over her quivering stomach. Dropping down to his knees, Cameron's hands gently pushed her knees apart, revealing her intimate glory.

There was an element of disbelief to Cameron's smile as he took in Peri's naked body. "You could be a celestial, Peri." Peri responded by reaching down and brushing a stray strand of hair away from Cameron's forehead, offering a wry grin all the while. The grin quickly morphed into an expression of joy as Cameron ran his tongue between her dripping lips.

It was a continual current, capped off by Cameron flicking the tip of his tongue against her clitoris to send a brief, intense shock through her body. He proceeded to drag his tongue downward, mimicking the same flick along the entrance to her soaked tunnel before moving back up again. Peri began taking short, rapid breaths as Cameron slipped one hand behind her, grabbing her firm butt to hold her in place while repeatedly pleasuring her with his lips and tongue.

The fingers of one hand intertwined in Cameron's black hair, while the other grabbed at the quilt, giving Peri something to hold onto. Cameron kept the same pace and used the same motions, slowly ramping up the pleasure building inside of her. When Cameron suddenly switched up and focused solely on the top of her womanhood, however, the microburst of euphoria caused Peri to fall back onto the bed. She urged Cameron on, calling out his name again and again. Her hips rose and fell with each touch of his tongue.

Lost in a fog of bliss, Peri failed to notice Cameron grabbing for his jeans. She didn't hear the foil packet tearing open and definitely couldn't tell that he was rolling a condom down his rock hard penis with only one hand. One moment his tongue was running firmly across her clit. The next a loud gasp filled the bedroom as Peri felt Cameron sliding his manhood inside of her, pushing apart her wet velvet walls with ease.

She almost came off the bed at the sudden sensation of being filled. It only took several strokes for Cameron to bury himself deep inside of her, their bodies pressing together. When Peri managed to open her eyes, she saw Cameron gazing down at her. A smile crossed her face at the sight of desire in her new lover's eyes.

He started with short, slow strokes, but Cameron couldn't hold back, and neither could Peri. He began driving in and out of her like a piston. Lightning bolts of pleasure raced throughout her body. The part of her brain that hadn't handed itself over to unadulterated lust was thankful that she had no immediate neighbors and that the restaurant underneath her was closed on Sundays, because there was no way to mask her increasingly wild vocalizations of enjoyment at the feeling of Cameron driving his manhood inside of her, plundering her depths like a treasure hunter.

Cameron grabbed her thighs, spreading them wide so he could properly ravish her with quick, pounding thrusts. He bared his teeth while grunting with primal exertion. The rough gemstone hanging from his neck bounced off his skin with every motion he made.

It had been too long since another man had made her quicken, so when her orgasm came it was with the force of summer thunder. Her entire body shook from the physical and emotional impact. Lost in the throes of her wet tunnel clutching around her lover, a second thunderbolt struck her as his hands squeezed her firm breasts. A pinch of her rock hard nipples was enough to prolong her ecstasy for a few more seconds.

As the intense rapture began to dissipate, Peri lay panting on the bed. Her chest was painted with a red flush while a thin sheen of sweat dotted her forehead. After allowing her a few moments to recover Cameron slowly resumed his previous pace. The bedsheet bunched up between Peri's fingers as soft pulses of joy rolled through her. A second rainstorm would break inside of her before Cameron tensed up. He let out a guttural cry while burying himself inside of her. After several seconds he slumped with exhausted relief.

Peri sighed as Cameron pulled himself free from her body. After disposing of the condom and cleaning off, he crawled onto the bed and flopped onto his back, staring up at the ceiling with a glassy-eyed look. Peri's legs hung over the edge of the mattress as the two lovers quietly basked in the afterglow of their surprise encounter. Everything seemed more in focus - the sunlight framing the drawn window blind, the soft threads of her bedsheets, and the rhythm of her heartbeat.

Peri turned her head to see Cameron looking at her. His eyes were sincere even as his lips held the hint of a coy grin. ""So, if you're not doing anything tonight, would you like to go out to dinner? My co-worker's talked up the Prohibition Grille and I'm in the mood for a good steak all of a sudden."

"Sure. I'm kind of peckish for some reason." Peri kissed the tattoo of Bahamut on Cameron's shoulder before rolling over and draping her body over his. "The Grille opens at 4:00 on Sundays. How do you want to pass the time?"

"Platonically," he answered sheepishly. "That was my only condom."

Peri laughed through her twinge of disappointment. "Yeah, the ones in my nightstand expired over the winter. Guess we'll have to start being responsible adults." She reached up to run a hand through his hair, which was now matted with sweat. "That was amazing. I haven't been laid in a long time, and I haven't been laid like that in a very long time." She placed a gentle kiss on his lips.

Cameron gently cupped her cheek. "Ditto. It's been too long since I've felt this alive. This has been an unexpected journey and I can't wait to see where it goes."

She turned and lightly kissed the palm of his hand before settling her head against his chest. They were content to lay in bed, not looking at the clock, not even glancing out the window. Cameron idly played with Peri's blonde hair while she moved her fingers in small circles around the skin above his heart. Eventually it was Peri who asked the question that all lovers ask each other as the afterglow begins to fade. "What are you thinking about?"

"How you and I could be player characters in a game of Dungeons & Dragons. I'm the Rogue who double crossed the Thieves' Guild and escaped to a different kingdom, and you're the...well, who would you be?"

"Oh, that's easy. I'm the cloaked figure sitting in the dark corner of the tavern waiting to give the players their first quest. Why do you think I own a gaming store?"

"No, I mean, what class would you play?"

"I'd be the retired Fighter who gives their old sword to the young Fighter so they could kill the dragon." Peri rested her chin against Cameron's chest and gave him a soft smile. "I never was the hero type. I prefer being the guy behind the guy or the plucky sidekick. Sancho Villa to Don Quixote. Josh Lyman to President Bartlett. Blue Note to the Philadelphia Kid. The person who allows the hero to be the hero. I always identified more with them than the main character. Unless it's swashbuckling. If it's a swashbuckling game like 7th Sea I am front and center swinging my sword with the best of them."

"Maybe that's why you like painting and owning a gaming store. You allow gamers to be gamers. For Halloween this year you should make your diorama a tavern scene, complete with a mysterious old man in the corner smoking a pipe." Cameron ran his finger along Peri's earlobe. "Personally, I think you'd make a great hero. But I respect your opinion."

"Thank you. Most guys try to puff me up and put me on a pedestal. Besides, these scars scream 'mysterious mentor' instead of 'heroic knight.' Name one hero who spent their adventuring career horribly burned."

"Sandor Clegane from Game of Thrones," Cameron answered immediately.

Peri opened her mouth to protest, but after a moment she admitted, "he did end up a hero AND had one of the few character arcs on that show that made actual sense."

"There you go. You're a retired Fighter who managed to heroically slay a red dragon." Cameron lightly stroked the burned skin on the back of Peri's hand. "And this is from their flame breath."

"Now that's a pedestal I wouldn't mind being on." She patted him firmly on the chest. "As much as I'd enjoy lying here with you all afternoon, if we're going out to dinner tonight you should go home and get some clean clothes."

"Yeah, that's probably a good idea." The next few minutes were spent getting dressed. "Next time you talk to Mark," Cameron said as he tied his boots, "would you ask him if I could sit in on the Extra Life game?"

"Absolutely," Peri proclaimed, having pulled on her nightshirt. "Do you have a certain class you'd like to play?"

"Either...either a Fighter or a Paladin, leaning towards Paladin. I want to swing a really big sword and hit things for justice. If he's cool with me playing, tell him we can talk specifics on Wednesday."

Peri followed Cameron to the front door. "I'll call ahead to the restaurant and get us a table for 4 o'clock," she told him before giving him a light, airy kiss. "And after dessert, maybe we could come back here and..."

"Practice being responsible adults?" Cameron's kiss was a hint more firm and tainted with mischief. "I'll stop by Kenner's on the way home then to grab some protection. See you later, Peri."

"Looking forward to it, Cameron." She waited in the doorway, watching Cameron walk down the steps. As soon as he left the building, Peri sighed with every bit of joy and happiness she could muster. Even after hearing the reason for Cameron's flight to Emerald Pines, she felt better than she had in a long time. "Just let this story have a good ending," Peri asked the universe.

X X X X X

Mark made a notation behind his Dungeon Master's screen before looking up. "So that's 34 points of piercing damage. Your magical dagger slides into the crocodile's skin like a hot knife through butter. The large reptile bellows in pain before turning its gaze in your direction. You can see bits of flesh dangling from its teeth as it snaps at you. OK, Evelyn, that's your turn. Cameron, you're up, Sally, you're on deck."

Cameron picked up his miniature, an armored figure brandishing a greatsword in both hands, and moved it several squares to put it in base-to-base contact with the model of the large crocodile. "Stay your bite, foul beast," he called out with dramatic bombast. "You shall not make a meal of this fair maiden!"

"Foul beast," Evelyn answered softly, "yes. Fair maiden, not for several years."

The other players and Mark laughed at Evelyn's joke, as did several of the customers watching the game. Peri smiled as well, although her grin came from seeing Cameron's sheepish expression.

Fifteen hours had passed since Mark kicked off the Extra Life charity game at 11 PM the night before, but both he and his players showed no signs of slowing down. Four of the players came from his Sunday campaign. The fifth player, Evelyn, a young pale-skinned Goth woman with a genty lilted manner of speaking, had signed up for the game in mid-April. She was playing a tiefling Rogue named Fortune, a thief whose demonic lineage gave her purple skin, yellow eyes, horns, and a long tail. Cameron rounded out the group. His character, Vilmon, was a human Paladin belonging to the Order of the Wall, a group of holy knights who used their greatswords for both offense and defense.

The sunny weather combined with the large banner hanging outside the store meant a healthy amount of walk-in traffic. While one of her employees wandered the floor keeping an eye on things she and another employee worked behind the counter assisting customers and taking in charitable donations. Peri had taken it upon herself to act as a sort of hype man for Extra Life, soliciting a few extra dollars from the small crowd of rotating onlookers. At the moment the crowd included a large Italian man who was apparently Evelyn's boyfriend, an athletic Asian woman, and a young woman that Peri recognized as the owner of the new candy shop a few doors over.

"I'm going to take a swing at the crocodile," Cameron said as he rolled a twenty-sided die. "That's a 7, my attack modifier is 6...does a 13 hit?"

Mark shook his head. "You swing your broadsword in defense of Fortune, however the blade fails to cut through the crocodile's thick hide. Does Vilmon take any other actions? No? Alright, that's your turn. Sally, you're up, the crocodile's on deck."

Peri smiled as she watched Cameron look down at his character sheet to plot his next move. His nervousness had been evident upon his arrival last night, but the young man had also been thoughtful enough to bring a pizza fresh out of the oven from Joey R's along with several energy drinks. The wariness had dissipated by the end of the game's second hour, and by the third hour Vilmon had found himself the party's unofficial leader on their quest to rescue a princess from an island cult of evil gatormen. Cameron played the paladin with a mix of stoic composure and hammy overacting and also knew when to step back and let the other players have their moments.

He had also bonded with Evelyn, both as a player and a character, with Vilmon pledging himself to defend Fortune's honor and virtue despite the tiefling's dry assertions that she had neither. It added an element of humor to the session, and having another player to bounce off of helped put Cameron at ease. Peri admitted to an initial twinge of jealousy, but that quickly passed as the game rolled on.

After Sally's character took care of another monster, Mark reached onto the table and turned the crocodile so it faced both Fortune and Vilmon. "OK, so it's the crocodile's turn. He's going to make two attacks, one at the tiefling who stabbed it and one at the human who yelled at it." The clatter of dice came from behind the DM screen. "A 19 hits, let me roll damage...Fortune, you take 23 points of damage as the crocodile swings its tail and catches you squarely in the ribs."

"Oooof," Sally winced from across the table. "Do you have a healing potion?"

Evelyn shook her head. "I drank my last one during our encounter with the skeletons. Fortune is still standing, however she is looking much worse for wear."

"What happens if Evelyn's character dies," Peri overheard the tall Italian ask his friends.

"Do I look like I know," the athletic woman scoffed. "I don't play Dungeons & Dragons. I guess they respawn?"

"Actually, if a character dies the Cleric may be able to resurrect them." The tall Italian and the athlete, along with their black-haired friend, turned to Peri, who added, "however, if you want to make a donation Evelyn's character can stay in the fight." Peri gestured to the banner hanging about the gaming table. "The charity's called Extra Life," she explained. "They help organize marathon gaming sessions where people can sponsor each player, kind of like a walk-a-thon. People can also make individual donations during the game to help the players out if they get into a jam. In this case, you would buy Evelyn a healing potion to use on her next turn."

"Who does the money go to," asked the black-haired woman.

"The proceeds go to the Children's Miracle Network of hospitals. For us, the money would go to the children's hospital in Aurora." Peri tapped the textured red scar on her face. "I can vouch for their work. They're the reason I'm not a full blown Batman villain."

"Babe," the Italian man called out to Evelyn, "are you OK if I throw you an assist?"

Evelyn turned in her seat. "I would be amenable to your assistance, Anthony. You would be donating to two worthy causes - medical care for children and the well-being of your girlfriend's fictional avatar."

Anthony chuckled as he pulled out his wallet. "Alright, I'm sold. How much is a healing potion?"

"Five dollars for one, ten dollars for three." He handed Peri a ten dollar bill, which she immediately put in the donation jar behind the counter. "Three healing potions," she called to Mark, "thanks to this man's donation!"

Evelyn's thin smile held a level of sauciness Peri didn't think possible. "Thank you, Anthony. I shall endeavour to repay you for your kindness."

The black-haired woman fished two crumpled five dollar bills from her pocket. "Let me chip in. Is there anything else besides healing potions I can give them?"

"You can give the whole group a free reroll to use between them," Peri suggested, "in case they really need to land a blow or dodge a trap. Same deal, one for five, three for ten."

"Sounds good," the black haired woman said as she forked over her donation. "I'm all about second chances."

The athletic woman gestured towards Mark. "Can I pay ten bucks to give the referee a reroll as well?"

"You mean the Dungeon Master?" Peri chewed on her lower lip for a moment before shrugging. "Ten bucks for one reroll," she offered.

"Seriously," the black haired woman proclaimed while the athletic woman gave Peri a ten dollar bill. "That doesn't seem fair."

"Hey," she countered, "if the players get another roll, so should the Dungeon Master, right? If you're all about second chances, I'm all about fair play."

There was a hint of annoyed amusement in Evelyn's smile as she told the athletic woman, "thank you, Michelle. I shall endeavour to repay you for your...kindness."

X X X X X

Quiet fell over the Dragon's Trove as the midnight hour crept close at hand. Sleep tugged at Peri's eyes while she leaned on the counter, watching the final minutes of the charity game along with a handful of remaining customers and a reporter from the town's weekly newspaper, The Emerald Herald. For the climactic battle Mark had constructed a ruined temple from his box of terrain, complete with flickering LED lights serving as torches and braziers and a large stone altar with a beautiful princess lashed to it.

Three figures, including Evelyn's character, were tipped onto their sides, signifying having been knocked unconscious. A robed miniature and a miniature in leather armor stood to one side, well out of reach of the gargantuan creature Vilmon was squaring off against, a combination crocodile and dragon that Mark had proudly labeled a 'dracodile' when he set it down on the board. The party had spent the past half-an-hour fighting the beast as well as its loyal minions, and despite blowing every potion and buff provided by the customers' donations, the dracodile remained standing while the party swayed on its last legs.

"Alright, Cameron," Mark said, "you're up."

Cameron blew out a deep sigh. "Here we go," he said while picking up his twenty-sided die and a four-sided die. "I'm out of everything so I'm just going to make two attacks. First attack." The pair of dice tumbled from his hand into the dice tray in front of him. "That's a 12, plus 4 for my Sacred Weapon, plus 2 from Sally's Bless die, so an 18 to hit."

"That hits! Roll your damage."

Peri felt her jaw clench with anticipation as Cameron rolled a handful of dice. "11," he said after some quick mental addition.

"19? The dracodile roars in pain, causing dust and splinters of rock to fall from the ceiling, as your broadsword cuts deep into its scaly hide. It's still up," Mark told him, "however it is hurting badly."

"OK then. Second attack." Evelyn pressed a finger against her lips as Cameron rolled a second time. After a moment he shot up from his seat, throwing his arms into the air. "Natural 20! That's a critical hit!" The table erupted into cheers, as did the small crowd. Peri thrust her fist in the air as well, caught up in the euphoria of the moment. Cameron clapped his hands together before taking a deep breath. "What's your house rule for crit damage," he asked Mark while grabbing his dice.