SoylentPixie

Chapter 3: Storm in the Scarlet In every moment of waking, there are a few blissfully ignorant seconds of peace. A small, crafted moment of time where you were unburdened by memory and any duty that might wait for you. Verlaine had cherished these moments ever since she awoke, bound and violated by the Illithid Tadpole. It was vile to think of that thing, squirming in her skull, corrupting and possibly changing parts of herself she might never get back. So in those few, precious seconds before she fully woke, there was no tadpole and no mission. The druid merely found herself appreciating the few spots of warmth on her body where the sun had found purchase through the canopied leaves. The air was cool and fragrant, and she could hear the gentle lap of water not far away. It was serene…right up until she had gathered enough momentum in her brain to wonder why she was naked. Contrary to some rumours about druids, she rarely slept unclothed even when traveling alone, and certainly not

Chapter 2: A Saga of Scars She would never run into his open arms or cover his face with the kisses long missed, along with the stumbling and stuttered words of lost love. She would never tell him that she missed him or admonish him for the time between then and now. It was always this, the strange dance of two predators waiting to see who would make the first move. They both knew it would be him of course, her patience was like an unmoving boulder, while his own patience twanged with the urge to snap violently when he saw her, highlighted in flame and breathing hard through her nose while her lips pressed into a tight line. That sun darkened skin shone like gold under the lights influence, and part of him wanted to simply stride through the flames and take what was inevitably his. But he stalled, because that cold, cold place that had snuffed out the rest of his more humane tendencies, simply loved to watch the mingled fear and want in those steadfast eyes. She had been a rock