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Back at the tavern, the party ends their night with celebratory drinks. A race one, seemingly a deal was made and for the time being, they can breathe. Each member for the most part makes their rounds, conversing with whomever before retiring to their rooms. Well, all except for two. Orym and Imogen spend their night alone, adjacent rather to the party, drinking by themselves and reminiscing on their own thoughts. Orym has been silently watching the group’s conversation, highly perceptive as he is but staying in the background not particularly keen on engaging with anyone at the moment. Imogen also looks on, but only on one group. Her eyes focus in on Dusk and Laudna, as they have since the elf came into the party’s presence a few days ago. She tells herself it's not jealousy, she’s just keeping Laudna safe and looking out for the safety of the party. She has been burned before so maybe a little caution is good. She knows Dusk asked Laudna out, that Laudna didn’t know how to respond, and until today Imogen had been hopeful. Well, at least until after the race finished and Dusk pulled Laudna from her side once again, the two coming back with their arms linked and wide smiles on both of their faces. That tiny bit of hope she’d had flickered out, but a fire claimed its place when she found Dusk’s mind completely impenetrable. What could they be hiding? She wondered to herself as they walked back to the tavern.
She is pulled from her reverie by a soft tapping inside her head. She looks up and sees Orym from across the bar, tapping his temple trying to initiate a connection, so she lets him.
“You okay? You seem a little down”
“I’m fine. Laudna’s alive and that’s all that matters”
“Then why are you shooting daggers at her?”
“I’m not, at least not a her, it's more at Dusk”
“Why Dusk? I mean, aside from the obvious.”
“I- its not that obvious… is it?”
“You’ve been evil eyeing them since they got here.”
“Well yeah! Someone in this group has to be cautious!”
“ Is it really caution or is it something else”
“Its- no. You and Fearne I swear, I’m not jealous”
“Okay, then why are you so angry about her talking to Laudna?”
“I’m- fine. I am jealous, okay!? I care about Laudna I do but she literally said she’s not accessed that part of her brain in decades! How am I supposed to tell her without making it weird?! We just got back to normal Orym!”
“Just talk to her, she’s got a lot of love in her”
“Yeah, she does… thanks Orym”
“Anytime… sis”
Orym gives her a wink as she nods, ending the connection and walking up to where Dusk and Launda are sitting, having a lovely little time.
“Hey Laud, can I talk to you for a sec?” Imogen asks as she walks up
“Sure! Come sit” Laudna replies, her eyes lighting up as she sees Imogen
“Uh, no. I mean can I talk to you… alone.” Imogen says, a forced smile plastered on her face, the last word thick with poison as she glares at Dusk.
“Oh uh, sure. Bye Dusk, have a good night” Laudna says, waving to them as she stands.
Imogen takes Laudna’s hand and leads her to one of the rooms they’ve rented for the night, neither of them seeing the mischievous grin that curls across Dusk’s face as they leave. Imogen leads Laudna into the room and sits down on the bed, gesturing for her to join her. She does, taking Imogen’s hands in hers gently, a slight bit of confusion and concern painted on her face, worried there may still be a rift between them despite the talk they’d had the night before.
“Hey, uhm how are you? I was worried you’d gotten killed during the race and I wanted to see how you were feeling?” Imogen asks, not quite ready to have *that* conversation yet.
“Oh. I’m alright, FCG healed me up all nice and new. I’m a bit sore in a few places but that comes with age I guess.” Launda says, a little flustered and rambly but no more than usual.
“Good! That’s really good Laud.” Imogen says, trailing off slightly. “Uhm, I have a question for you. You don’t have to answer, I was just curious” she adds nervously.
“You can ask me anything Imogen”
“So, last night you said that Dusk had asked you out but you didn’t know how to respond because you hadn’t accessed that part of your brain in a while and I was wondering why that was…” Imogen finishes, breaking eye contact, a little embarrassed that she asked.
“Oh well I just- I mean look at me. I’m as Chetney said a ‘walking nightmare’ and while that comes in handy at times I don’t really think any could love this. Besides, I’m undead. No one wants that, I’ll ‘outlive’ them anyways and no one wants a future where you can’t grow old together. I’m not in control of my body, you know that I mean look what Delilah did” Laudna rambles
She continues to ramble about her undead self and how could anyone possibly love such a horrific looking being, especially one who has a dead rat puppet and talks to herself and has someone in her head and so on. She’s cute when she rambles, maybe not when she’s self deprecating but Imogen can’t help but stare. She just watches Laudna’s animated form as she talks, hands gesturing to herself and to some unseen audience as she rambles. Imogen can’t help but stare at her lips, following the words that leave her mouth she’s lost in a trance, unaware that Laudna has looked at her again, catching the eyeline of her sorceress companion. Imogen keeps staring, lust taking over as her thoughts move from processing what Laudna is saying to imagining how her lips would feel pressed against hers, what it would feel like to kiss her, to taste her. Her mind wanders as do her eyes, trailing down Laudna’s neck, thinking about kissing trails across her body, marking her as she does, to claim her (not that she is anyone’s to claim). Her eyes go dark, lost in thought and lost in lust. She doesn’t realize that Laudna has stopped talking and is just staring at Imogen and in seeing the look in her eyes she moves closer. Laudna brings a hand up to cup Imogen’s cheek, her touch pulling Imogen’s focus as she meets her eyes again. They don’t say anything, they just stare into each other’s eyes. Without warning, Imogen surges forward, capturing Launda’s lip in a passionate kiss as they collapse into the bed. Imogen pulls back, both of them short of breath and and they lock eyes once more.
“I love you Launda, all of you. Even the parts that you don’t. You are worthy and deserving of love” Imogen says in Laudna’s mind
Laudna smiles, not saying anything back but reaching up to pull Imogen towards her for another kiss, one more heated than the last.
“I love you to Imogen” Is all she’s able to get out before she’s lost in a wave of something she’s never felt before, but it feels good so she doesn't complain.
Imogen, fuelled by Laudna’s confession, gets a little more brave and feeds the thoughts she was having just moments earlier. She kisses several trails down Laudna’s throat, stopping occasionally to give her a few “love bites” as she does so.
“Mine.” She says in her mind, after each one to seal its meaning
“Yours.” Laudna answers back, guiding Imogen up to press another heated kiss to her lips once more.
The moonlight dances across the room, occasionally reflecting off of Imogen’s hair creating a soft purple glow. The two witches spend the rest of the night exploring each other, their love and their connection transcending to new heights that night. They have always loved each other, that much was clear but tonight they defined that love. A love that is whole, that is pure, and one that means far more than just traveling companions. Tonight their souls become forever intertwined, destined to travel side by side, even after death. Two snakes, intertwined and meeting in the middle, eternal love.