Critical Role Shorts (updated June 24, 2021)

[RiversD]

I'm going to put my short-ish Critical Role pieces here so I have them in one place.

Before

In which Caleb has a cold and Nott is concerned.

It was a relatively slow night in the Crouching Toad tavern, a few travellers swapping stories beside the fire, and the regulars propping up the bar. At a small corner table, well away from even such company as there was, sat Caleb, nursing what had once been a hot toddy and was now a lukewarm syrup lurking near the bottom of his mug. He was making it last. He didn’t have the money for a replacement, and his throat stung if it was neglected for too long. So he huddled in his corner with his book and his modest-sized mug, sipping the bare minimum amount of liquid needed to placate his throat and doing his very best to read.

Under normal circumstances, no thing came easier to him, or bought more pleasure, unless it was the act of buying new books to read later. But today, though it was still an enjoyable activity, he was having to put in more effort than he was accustomed to. The page kept slipping out of focus, and the words slid disobediently out of place to play cruel games with his sense of reality.

Caleb sniffed as he turned the page and, this not having been very successful, pulled a section of sleeve to his face and scrubbed his nose with it. His nostrils were already starting to feel chafed, and were red enough to catch the eye of any outside observer there might have been. Caleb spared them only a cursory rub between finger and thumb, however, before turning straight back to his book.

He traced the lines of script with his index finger in an attempt to force the words to behave themselves. It actually worked fairly well, and he made it almost halfway down the page, learning two new facts about bonded familiars, before his nose prickled distractingly. Caleb lifted his finger from the page and ground the heel of his hand against his nose, provoking tears in his eyes.

Despite this, the itch in his nose quickly blossomed into an imminent sneeze. Caleb wrinkled his nose, resisting the urge for the few moments it took to angle towards the corner and tuck his face into the crook of his arm.

“ehh’sschht! eh’sSCHHuh!”

Caleb stayed frozen there a little longer, his whole body tensed, then let out the remainder of his breath in a slow sigh and turned slowly back to his former position. He picked up his mug and took a careful drink, not wanting to draw further attention with the fit of coughing that was threatening to break at any moment.

“Caleb?”

The unexpected voice, and the gentle tug on his sleeve which accompanied it, made Caleb jump so hard he almost choked. But when he looked down his gaze met a pair of earnest brown eyes peering at him over the lower face of a porcelain doll.

“Oh, Nott. You’re back. How did it go?”

“Oh… alright,” the little Goblin “I found a very pretty stone, and I didn’t cause any trouble, I promise.”

“Good. That’s good.” Caleb leaned back slightly to cough quietly into one fist. Nott squeaked in distress.

“You’re worse, aren’t you? I knew this was bad, Caleb, I knew you weren’t-”

Caleb hastily shushed her, and bent close again, well aware that you had to nip Nott’s panics in the bud.

“No, no, not worse, just…” he struggled with his words for a moment, and then finished, weakly, “Just more tired. It’s late.”

“It is quite late,” Nott agreed.

“Yes. Now, do you wa-wan-” Caleb’s voice wavered and failed. He almost unbalanced his chair in his haste to move his face away from Nott’s. He raised his elbow once more, but only got it in position in time to cover his second sneeze.

“hh’esSCHH! eh’SSCHHuh!”

“Oh, Caleb…”

Caleb righted himself with a breathless “Excuse me…” and recovered with one hand braced against the table top.

“I- I am sorry, Nott. I did not expect-”

Caleb paused again, this time because Nott had taken his free hand in hers. He looked down. She was staring intently at his face, eyes wide with concern.

“You should go to bed.”

“I will. Just as soon as I finish this chapter.”

Nott looked from Caleb’s haggard face to the book, and back again.

“Oh. Can’t you save it for tomorrow?” A sudden brightness flashed across her face as an idea struck. “Just think, Caleb, you could look forward to this book for even longer if you did that!”

Caleb smiled fondly down at the little goblin girl. She had her own way of approaching most things, but she really did care about him. As he cared for her. And he did feel awful…

“Alright,” he agreed. “I’ll follow you up.”

 

Edited June 24, 2021 by RiversD

[RiversD]

Misapplied Comfort

Set directly after Episode 22, "Lost Treasures", so about to become AU once tonight's episode happens. Fjord's cat allergy causes a late-night disturbance, but it's not his fault.

 

Back in Barleben, Caleb took to his bed in the Keystone pub with considerably more gratitude than he had the last time. He checked the lock on the door four times and once more for good measure, then climbed in next to Nott and was out like a candle flame. That was, until he was woken a short hour and a half later by a sudden disturbance across the hall.

“euhh…EH’RSHOO! What the f…”

Caleb lay still, having only half-taken in the sound as he woke, until he heard Fjord’s voice shout out;

“CALEB!”

He scrambled out of bed, dislodging Nott from her place coiled against his side, and splashed through the standing water to the door. He opened it to find Fjord standing in the doorway of his own room, holding Frumpkin out by the scruff of the neck and, by the look on his face, imminently about to sneeze.

“hah…hHH’SCHH! HAE’SCHOO!”

His eyes still closed, Fjord thrust the swinging cat in Caleb’s general direction and Caleb, taking the hint, gathered Frumpkin into his arms.

“What’s going on?” another door opened and Beau poked her head into the narrow corridor. “Fjord? You sneezing, or is there an earthquake out here?”

“Guh..huhh-”

In the absence of an accessible vocabulary, Fjord made a token effort to flip Beau off. His hands were shaking a little too much to really sell it, however.

“huH’RSHHOO!!

“My gods, bless you!” Molly stumbled up behind Fjord, hair mussed with sleep, and laid a friendly hand on his shoulder.

“Oh, no, Fjord!” Jester was awake too, now, arriving in the doorway with a tiny kenku in her arms. “Are you getting sick? Do you need me to make you some medicine? I have a healer’s kit, you know!”

Fjord waved her down, the furrows on his brow only getting deeper as each new person introduced themselves into to the situation. Or perhaps that was because of the allergic reaction. Caleb couldn’t tell.

“I’m fine, Jester.”

“Then why are we all awake at the ass-end of whenever?” Beau demanded.

“I will be fine, I mean. It’s just the cat. I’ll…hah!” Fjord broke off with a gasp, half-turned away and scrubbed a finger under his nose, which was turning a darker shade of green by the minute. He seemed to get some temporary control over it, however, and relaxed again.

“I’ll stop soon. Sorry if I woke you.”

“It’s okay.” Jester told him. “You did wake Kiri, though.”

“I’m sorry, Kiri,” said Fjord obligingly. “Jester will take you back to bed now, right, J-heh-”

The itch from earlier seemed to return with a vengeance and Fjord spun to one side, eyes wet and shining in the instant before they crumpled shut and he sneezed powerfully enough to rattle the doorframes.

“hHH’RRSCHHOO! Sorry…”

Beau whistled. Jester cooed a blessing, clutching Kiri closer to her chest.

Molly murmured “Bless,” and rubbed between Fjord’s shoulder blades.

Fjord grunted a vague thanks, his cheeks blushing to match colours with his nose. Looking to Caleb now, he said;

“Look, I don’t know how much control you have over that cat, or-” he paused, a sudden flood of congestion forcing him to sniff against it. “Pardon me. But he can’t sleep on top of me, you understand that? Not on me, not with me, ideally not in the same room, but I’ll take common courtesy and live with the rest.”

Caleb blinked at him. “Frumpkin was sleeping on you?”

“Yeah. Woke up with him on my chest and a…” he raised his hand and started to scrub at his nose again. “a freakin’… gigantic tickle, and you know… nature took it’s…”

He ran out of air for speech and raised an arm to cover his face as he took in a deep, slow breath of air.

“huhh-uhh…EH’RSCHHOO!”

“Bless you,” Caleb ventured. “I am sorry, I do not know what Frumpkin was doing, or even how he managed to get into your room without-” he paused, an awkward memory striking him.

“What?”

Even bleary-eyed with sleep and allergic tears, Fjord was surprisingly quick on the uptake.

“I, uh… that is, I know sometimes when I am in a bad place emotionally, Frumpkin will come and sleep on my chest. I think he knows it helps me to sleep. But he has done it with Nott, also, before now. I do not know if he senses a need on his own or if he picks up on my, uh…”

Caleb felt hot all over with the awkwardness of trying to sort out the logic in front of so many people. Beau was definitely giving him a strange look, and Molly was outright grinning. Fortunately, Fjord didn’t seem inclined to be cruel.

“Right. Well, can you tell him I appreciate the sentiment, but I- huh… I really…”

Growling at the necessity, Fjord angled himself away, wrinkling his nose in frustrated anticipation of yet another sneeze.

“hhH’SSCHOO! ugh, stop.” Fjord sniffed hard, pinched his nose, and turned back to Caleb with a sigh.

“I just really need to sleep.”

Caleb nodded. “I understand. I will have a talk with him. For now I will…” he looked down at the cat in his hands and concentrated. Frumpkin winked out of existence.

“Thanks.” Fjord ground the palm of one hand against his nose and groaned. “Let’s just… let’s all go back to bed, yeah?”

“Sounds good.” Beau retreated back into her room and shut the door with a thump, ignoring Jester’s squeaks behind her.

Fjord nodded to Caleb and began to head back to bed, only to be forced to grab at the wall for support only a few steps later as another forceful sneeze bent him almost double. As he turned back to the safety of his own room, Caleb saw Molly offer him a handkerchief.

Caleb lay awake for a while after that, listening to Fjord sneeze his way back to a thoroughly exhausted sleep. He would have to have a stern word with Frumpkin tomorrow, for sure. Set some ground rules about subconscious instructions. Tonight, though, he could not keep his eyes open any longer. He wound his arms around Nott and slept.

[weepy]

wow, what good content! I haven't seen a lot of stuff for critical role, so glad to see this - it's so well written too!

[mutini]

OMG I love you, I was just (read: for weeks) thinking about how badly I wanted some Critical Role fic!! I'm so obsessed with this fandom right now. There are a couple great fics on the forum already which I have read like 50 times each lol, but I'm so so excited to see new stuff  Thank you for sharing!

[MeForever]

Yay! the more critical role the better! I love Caleb and Fjord, so this makes me really happy

[AngelEyes]

I know nothing of this fandom but your writing is always amazing. I found the Fjord one especially intriguing. 

[*Dark_Side*]

Thank you so much for writing something with Nott and Caleb. I'm such a sucker for the found family trope and those two fit the bill. Nott's concern and desire to watch out for Caleb was so perfect. The two of them may be disasters but at least they have each other. 

[queenie]

Rivers!!! That Caleb one was so tender and good!!

[RiversD]

Ahhh, thanks, guys!

@Quoth thanks so much, it's awesome to feel I'm providing stuff that people want to read.

@mutini aaahhhhh, I'm so glad to feed your obsession (also you are so very correct about the awesomeness of the other CR content on here. We're a lucky lucky bunch)!

@MeForever A-men. Glad to have you along for the ride!

@AngelEyes It's so flattering that you read and commented like this without even knowing the fandom. Thanks so much!

@*Dark_Side* Pleasure to be of service.

@queenie hey girl! Always so good to see you. And thank you! Love me an emotionally fragile wizard.

 

I'm going to give two-in-one today since they're basically the same concept (that crossed wires in the facial nerves mean touch/impact on their horns can sometimes irritate tiefling's noses) but applied to Molly and Jester, respectively.

Molly first:

Horn Play

“Hey Molly, can I ask a question?”

It was late. Somehow, though, Caleb, Nott, and Molly hadn’t got around to sleeping yet. Fjord was usually the one who insisted that Molly turn the lamp down after a while, and he was in with Beau and Jester, somehow finding that more comfortable than sharing with all the cat dander Caleb and Nott couldn’t help carrying around.

So Caleb was sitting up reading, Molly was alternating playing with his cards and fidgeting with a bit of copper wire, and Nott was restlessly shifting from place to place on the floor, not quite settling to any one task. It was the kind of moment when everyone’s defences were low.

Molly smiled at her. “Of course. What do you want to know?”

“Did you get all of that done at the circus?” Nott’s hands orbited her own head, indicating by gesture that she was referring to Molly’s impressive horns. “All the… the shiny bits, and the piercings?”

Molly set his cards aside, obviously in a mood to be indulgent.

“Most of it I got while I was with the circus, yes. Not all of it was done by circus people, though. The piercings are skilled work, you know.”

“And are they permanently attached?” Nott persisted. “Or can you take them out? Like, maybe you want to be a bit more stealthy, or sleep better, or, I don’t know, take a bath without rusting?”

Molly laughed, probably for a little longer than he would have at a more civilised hour. “Are you plotting a midnight raid, little Nott? You can take them out of you like, but you won’t find much up there that’s valuable. I couldn’t pay for more than costume jewellery in the early days.”

“I wouldn’t!” Nott did a good job of feigning affront, but Molly obviously wasn’t fooled.

“Oh, I don’t hold your urges against you. But just so you know, if I do find anything missing, I have so very many ways I can make you regret it.”

“O-okay.” Nott swallowed hard, and Molly softened.

“Hey, nothing wrong with indulging a little curiosity. That’s practically what 2am was made for.”

“It is only 1:47.” Caleb interjected, not looking up from his book. Molly grinned.

“Well then, all the time in the world to be curious in. Anything else you’d like to know, Nott?”

Nott hesitated. She took a nervous drink, then asked; “Can I see them a little bit closer?”

Molly raised his eyebrows at that, then smiled and shrugged. “If you promise not to strip me bare, sure. Keep an eye on her, Caleb.”

Caleb looked up from his book at the sound of his own name.

“hm? Oh, sure thing.”

He shuffled a little closer to them, while Molly turned, angling his head down towards Nott, the faint jingle of his jewellery accompanying his movements. Nott reached up eagerly and began to run her fingers over the closest decorations to hand, feeling how the metal bands were held in place around the curling horn.

“Gently, Nott,” Caleb warned her. “Remember that those things are attached, ja?”

Nott nodded, and cast a nervous glance at Molly. “Am I hurting you, Mollymauk?”

“No.” Molly eased himself into a more comfortable position with a soft sigh. “It actually feels pretty nice.”

“Ok, good.” Nott went to continue, and paused to confirm. “Not good in a… in a weird way, right?”

Molly laughed, shaking his looser piercings into a sparkling dance. “No, nothing like that. Don’t worry, Nott, if something of that nature comes up, I promise I’ll make myself exceptionally clear.”

“Okay, good. No offence.”

“None taken. It was a fair question.”

“Okay.” Reassured, Nott gave her full attention back to the shiny objects adorning Mollymauk’s horns, examining the details that were never clear to her when Molly was moving about.

She moved on from the bands to the piercings, starting to appreciate as she did so the delicate art that it must be to pierce a tiefling’s horn properly. She rotated a coloured-glass stud in its place, and was trying to guess the thickness of the horn into which it had been placed when Molly suddenly tensed beside her.

“Oh, now that feels… ah, careful-”

Molly pulled away in a rush, bringing one hand up to his face as though stung. Nott yelped and cringed back as if she were expecting to be struck for some mistake on her part. Caleb reached across and patted her hand, just enough to keep her aware of his presence close by.

“I’m sorry!” she squeaked. “Did I hurt you? I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to-”

She flinched back again as Molly raised a hand, but it seemed like he was only trying to signal that there was no need for apologies. Something was distracting him from saying so out loud apparently. He remained bent over and away from her, his breathing shallow and agitated.

“Are you okay?” Caleb asked, obviously as confused as Nott was. Molly nodded, but stayed put for a few uncomfortably long seconds more. He gave a frustrated, hissing sigh and turned back to them, rubbing the tip of his nose and frowning slightly.

His eyes looked wet. Nott bit her lip. Was he-

“Nott, darling?”

She jumped. “Yes?”

Molly was still breathing strangely, his voice oddly light as he asked, “Could you do that again please?”

Nott blinked. “What?”

Molly leant down. “The same piercing. If you could, I don’t know… jiggle it? Or whatever you just did, only more. Please?”

“Uh… okay. Okay, I can try!”

Nott reached up and found the little stud again. She poked it a little, then started to fidget with it, rotating it gently in place.

“Like this?”

“Y-yes, keep…” Molly’s voice wavered and died, but Nott got the message. She kept fidgeting. Molly stayed perfectly still, apart from the jitter in his shoulders as his breath came in short, rapid gasps.

Suddenly he pulled away, as swiftly and without warning as he had before, but this time he took less than two breaths before giving in to a wrenching, full-body sneeze.

“ah’CHSSSHHuh!!”

He cast his gaze up to the ceiling and Nott watched him in profile; chest heaving, nostrils drawn open in a trembling flare, eyes half-closed and uncertain before he plunged forward with another gut-clenching effort, free hand clenching tight around a fistful of his gaudy coat.

“heh-IZZSSCHHuh! Oh, thank the gods for that.”

Molly slowly unwound, blinking moisture from his eyes, and returned his attention to his friends. His cheeks had darkened to a deeper purple than usual, and there was genuine embarrassment in his voice as he apologised.

“I’m sorry, that was… that was a tickle and a half, I don’t know what was going on there.”

“No, it was my fault,” Nott volunteered. “I didn’t mean to-”

“Tch, don’t be daft. In this group we take responsibility for our own weirdness.”

“Fair enough,” Nott conceded. “And, uh, bless you?”

Molly beamed at her. “Thank you! Now, did you get a good look at the dangling stars? I’m quite proud of that one.”

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

And Jester:

 Rediscovering Cushions

Fjord/Jester, set sometime in the future of the current campaign

“Oh my gosh, this place is so fancy!”

“Sure is.” Fjord followed Jester into the luxurious apartment, marvelling at her ability to spring back into her bubbly, light-hearted persona within hours or even minutes of the most miserable experiences. He wished he had a half-share in her resilience: his legs felt as though they might not hold him for many more steps, and his shoulders ached for a real bed.

Outside, the rain still beat down, rattling the shutters but failing to penetrate into the comfortable interior of such an up-market lodging house. Fjord cast a glance back for Yasha, who was still hovering on the staircase outside the room. She gave him a sad half-smile and indicated by gesture that she wanted to head outside for a while. Fjord nodded to her, understanding, and closed the door behind him.

He made a bee-line for the nearest seat, a low couch piled high with cushions, and collapsed onto it with a sigh. A few moments later he was joined by Jester, who dove in beside him like an overexcited salmon.

“I’ve missed cushions so much!”

“Yeah, me too.” Fjord stretched back appreciatively, only to be startled by the sudden arrival of Jester’s legs in his lap as she curled up more completely onto the couch.

“Uh… hey there.”

“Hey, Fjord.” Jester murmured, snuggling in to his side. Fjord decided to accept a good thing when it draped itself across him, and reached an arm awkwardly around her shoulders. She all but purred in approval and asked sleepily;

“Are my horns in the way?”

“No. Your horns are perfect.”

Jester smiled up at him. “Perfect where they are, or perfect like you like them?”

Fjord shrugged, rocking Jester back and forth with the motion. “Both.”

Encouraged by the closeness, Fjord lifted his free hand and began to run his fingers over the tightly-coiled surface of her horns. They felt less like a sea shell than he had expected. More like soft rock, cut into ridges by the salt-traced wind. Beautiful. Every inch of her was beautiful.

Jester squirmed, sending the blood rushing into Fjord’s cheeks.

“You, uh… alright?”

“That tickles!”

Fjord chuckled deep in his chest. “Really?”

He gave the inner curl of her horn a playful flick. “I thought these were made of-”

“Not there! It tih-ih-hh!” Jester slapped Fjord’s thigh with a degree of force that was probably unintentional and he, caught by surprise, loosed his hold on her. Jester swung her legs out of his lap and bent forward over her knees. Her face scrunched up into a tight, pettish wince and she sneezed with delicate force into her cupped hands.

“hh’sshiew!”

Jester blinked, wrinkled her nose, and prepared to do it again.

“ihd’sshiew! My nose was… ih! ihh’sschiew!!”

Jester waited until she was certain there were no more to come, one hand hovering loosely just below her nose, then flopped back against the cushions. She pouted, rubbing a knuckle gently against the underside of her nose.

“You made my nose tickle, Fjord!”

“Well, I’m sorry.” Fjord’s arm invited Jester back into the hug, and she came. “And bless you. Guess I’ll be a mite more gentle from now on.”

“mm.” Jester leaned back against him before making sudden, disconcerting eye contact. “You know, you don’t have to…”

 

[AngelEyes]

Adorable! I like the crossed synapse idea.

[BardwithaBlade]

Oh gosh these are all so so good. I'm so beyond happy to see some awesome CR content. <3 

And the crossed synapses thing is so! cool! (Plus just Jester. I super love me some Jester)

If you're ever looking for a prompt (no pressure even a little) how about Yasha's flower collecting? I'm sure she could manage to find something to set either herself or one of the others off..

 

[mutini]

oh my god... molly. so much yes. he is my absolute favorite. i looove the way you spell his sneezes, and the crossed synapse concept is so cute i love it!

[AppleBlossom]

Oh my gosh... your writing is beautiful! I love your story ideas!

[Spoilers below for E26]

.

.

.

 

Could... Could you write another short for Molly please? I just don’t want to believe what I’ve witnessed. Why is it always my favourite characters?! *cries in a corner*

[Spoilers above for E26]

[RiversD]

@AppleBlossom Maybe in time. I think I need to wait and see how some things in the show work out before I write for these characters again. This being a pretty intense time for character development, I don't want to do any of them an injustice. Plus I want my own emotions to become more stable before I try to write sneeze fic because that needs a very different mood.

(also you can probably just use the spoiler feature to protect folks from that- less typing and less chance of them accidentally spoiling themselves since you have to click on this on purpose to see the spoiler)

Spoiler

like so

Regardless, I'm glad these little things have been giving you good feelings, even in this trying time.

Edited July 24, 2018 by RiversD

[AppleBlossom]

@RiversD I completely understand, it won’t be fair to write something when such incident has happened. But I look forward to seeing more stories in the future.

As for the hidden content, I did try to hide the text. I am aware of the feature, however it doesn’t appear on the mobile version and I can only access the forum from my mobile. That’s why I didn’t say anything to explicit.

I’ll keep an eye out for more of your lovely context. 😊

[RiversD]

I return! With a fluffy little scribble feat. the new guy. Contains spoilers up to AT LEAST episode 35 of season 2, so if you're behind... on your own head.

 

Anyway, here's Caduceus.

 

Water under the Bridge

 

“Caduceus?” Jester poked her head around the galley door and sniffed the air. The skinny firbolg standing over the stove lifted his head and greeted her with a weary smile.

“Hey, Jester.”

“Is that breakfast?”

“Yeah.” Caduceus stirred the simmering pot with a wooden paddle. “Figured we could all use something warm. I’ll, ah, put some eggs on once everybody’s up and moving.”

Jester leaned into the steam and closed her eyes in appreciation. “It smells like home. Kind of.”

“That’ll be the cinnamon, I think. There’s not much in there, but a little goes a long way, sometimes.”

“That’s it! You’re such a good cook, Caduceus.”

“Well, thank you.” Caduceus stepped back from the stove with a liquid sniff, and wiped his hands on a piece of cloth he had hung from one of the crossbars. “It’s nice to be around people who can appreciate a good meal.”

Jester watched him, taking time to absorb the scene properly now that she was settling into the conversation. Caduceus looked a little different this morning, she noticed. His large eyes gleamed wet in the lamplight, and the pink tones that normally traced the edges of his nostrils had deepened and spread, so that the whole end of his nose blushed a luminous rose.

Jester exercised as much tact as she could muster. “Oh! I’m sorry! Have you been crying?”

“No.” Caduceus shook his head with a gentle huff of amusement. The renewed hesitancy in his speech betrayed a certain amount of embarrassment, however. “No, I, ah… I’ve been sneezing, mostly.”

“Sneezing?” Jester’s eyes widened as she drew the natural conclusion. “Oh no! Are you sick, Caduceus?”

“Not for long, I hope. I’m making some tea that ought to… sort this out.”

Caduceus nodded to a small kettle perched on the edge of the stove. From the looks of it, he had brought it from home.

“It’s definitely going to work?”

“We’ll find out soon.” Caduceus smiled at her and then hesitated, blinking as though something had got into his eye. His smile lost its definition as his nostrils flickered with sudden urgency and he turned his back on Jester with a sharp gasp.

“ht’sssch’ue!”

Caduceus lifted his head again and pushed his hair back out of his face.

“Sorry. Keeps happening.”

“Bless you!”

“Oh.” Caduceus seemed blindsided by the pleasantry for a moment, then gratified. “Thanks.”

He sniffed, wrinkled his nose- which turned out to be a particularly expressive action on a firbolg- and sighed with a certain air of resignation.

“There’s been a lot of cold water these past few days. Making my nose feel some kind of way.”

“There has been a lot of water,” Jester agreed. “It’s never really bothered me, though.”

“Aren’t you part sea-person, though?”

Jester tossed her head and waved a dismissive hand. “I mean, technically we don’t know for sure that he’s actually my dad, technically.”

“Right.” Caduceus nodded amenably, but Jester couldn’t help but feel some of the sharpness was missing from his gaze. His focus on a conversational partner was usually intense to the point of near-creepiness. She pouted absent-mindedly, a common side-effect of thoughtfulness in her.

“Wasn’t it cold where you used to live though? I remember being pretty cold.”

“Not in my cemetery.”

Caduceus smiled fondly before visibly losing focus again. He reached out for a chair that was nailed to the floor beside the stove and sank down onto it, his knees reaching partway up to his chest.

“Are ships always… so wobbly?”

“I think so.” Jester watched Caduceus rub his running nose with a useful rag, and asked, “How long have you been like this?”

“Like what?” Caduceus stared at her blankly for a few moments, then caught up to current events. “Oh, you mean the sneezing and so forth. Most of the night.”

“Caduceus…”

Caduceus rubbed the back of his neck, almost as though he was ashamed of himself. “Never really had colds back at the temple, what with the enchanted climate and all. Took me a while to work out what was happening.”

His next breath caught in his throat, and he sneezed abruptly towards the floor.

“aeh’ssschue!”

He recovered woozily, but managed to acknowledge Jester’s startled blessing.

“Thanks. Sorry, I keep forgetting to… account for company.”

Jester hastened to reassure him.

“That’s completely okay! I do that all the time as well!” She paused, worrying at her lip. “You were really sneezing all night? I didn’t hear you.”

“No, I…” Caduceus dipped his head sheepishly. “I felt pretty cold, so I moved through here.”

He looked so fragile, all angles and glistening eyes, and so downcast that Jester couldn’t help herself. She darted forward and gathered Caduceus into a firm hug.

“Oh!” He was startled at first, but quickly relaxed into Jester’s insistent embrace. “Oh, that’s… that’s nice. Haven’t had many of those lately.”

“Many hugs?”

“Yeah. It’s nice.”

“I’m good at hugs.”

“mm. I can tell.”

Jester felt Caduceus’ head drop onto her shoulder, a gentle fuzz brushing against her cheek. Such a simple gesture of trust and affection had her welling up, and she blinked away easy tears as she whispered,

“You’re really warm.”

“Is that a bad thing?”

“No! Well, not for me. It’s cosy.”

She felt an almost un-vocalised laugh rumble in Caduceus’ chest before he spoke into her shoulder again.

“That’s good.”

Jester bit her lip and squeezed Caduceus a little tighter, but pulled back when this made him start coughing. She watched him pensively as he struggled back to a more-or-less comfortable breathing pattern, then suggested;

“You should make that tea.”

“Yeah.” Caduceus stretched his neck from side to side and sighed. “Thanks, Jester.”

Jester leaned in and took advantage of his seated height to plant a kiss in the middle of his beautiful pink hair.

“Feel better, Caduceus.”

 

 

 

Edited April 3, 2019 by RiversD
typo

[AngelEyes]

Awww

[mutini]

omgosh yes caduceus!!! this makes me so happy :D

this was sooo cute and lovely. you capture the characters really well!

[*Dark_Side*]

That was so sweet. I truly loved it. You really write some if the vbrst Critical Role fics. Nothing else I've read has been as satisfying as what you write.

[facet]

.

Edited December 1, 2019 by facet
Removed by user.

[Elle]

OMG Cadueces! I never dreamed I'd find a Caddy sneezefic! Thank you for sharing 😍😍😍

[RiversD]

Hey guys! I'm going to cross-post a few things here that were only on my Tumblr before now.

This one was a commission piece for @Paws featuring Jester recovering from a cold and a spot of sneezing-while-hiding.

 

Spied

Jester wrinkled her nose over the herbal tea. “This stuff always makes me sneeze.”

“That shows it’s working.” Caduceus smiled at her. “But that should be the last cup you’ll need. You’re well on the mend.”

Jester nodded emphatically and drained the cup. She had been protesting that she was absolutely fine for two days now, occasional coughs and sneezes be damned. She was itching to be out and doing exciting things with everybody else.

She cleared her throat, then rubbed at her nose.

“See, I told you! I can feel it tickling.”

“I’d let it out then,” said Caduceus, unperturbed. “ it‘s healthy.”

“I’m going to-”

Jester wrinkled her nose, her breathing shallow and fast. When the impulse didn’t come to immediate fruition she fanned outstretched fingers in front of her face until-

“eh-tchiew! ih- it’shiew!”

She couldn’t help rubbing at her nose even as the continuing itch propelled her towards a final, cleansing sneeze.

“ihh…’sschiew!”

“That’s better.” Caduceus leaned back lazily in his chair. “Always feels better once it’s out.”

“It really does.” Jester shook her head as though to clear any lingering cobwebs, and beamed at the lanky herbalist. “I like having you around. You say very interesting things.”

Caduceus smiled back at her, and might have thought of something very interesting to say, had he not been interrupted by the overdue arrival of Fjord and Yasha to their table, Nott, Caleb, and Beau only a short distance behind.

“Where have you been?” Jester demanded. “We finished our shopping hours ago!”

“Well, I’m sorry about that,” said Fjord, settling down calmly. “But I think we got some worthwhile information-”

“We found out so much!” Nott cut across him, bounding up next to Jester.

“Look!” She thrust out a crumpled piece of paper. “We’ve uncovered a conspiracy!”

Jester gasped, and snatched it. “C. Now or never. Usual place, the 13th, Sundown. Oh my gosh, tonight? What does it mean?!”

Fjord was a little more reserved. “Where’d you get that, Nott?”

“From a very bad person!”

“Dude was being a jackass to Caleb,” Beau explained. “Caleb wouldn’t let me deck him, so Nott picked his pockets instead.”

“That’s… very interesting.” Fjord leaned forward. “Because Yasha and I were doing some listening around town, and we discovered that some… shady characters, let’s say, are in the habit of meeting at the old courthouse after hours.”

“That’s it, that’s it!” Nott was bouncing in her seat. “Let’s go! Let’s bring ‘em down!”

“Nott,” Caleb murmured. “We do not even know if these are the same people.”

“I agree, though,” said Fjord. “It’s worth checking out.”

“They’re bad people, Caleb!” Nott insisted. “That man was very rude to you!”

“Old court house…” Caduceus broke in with his usual slow, measured tones. “That’s the one with the clock, behind the market?”

“Yes.”

“hmm. Doesn’t seem like all of us could hide up in there. It’s not so big.”

So it was, considerable planning and bickering later, that an advance party of Nott, Fjord, and Jester crept into the old courthouse under the late-afternoon sun. The lower floor was dominated by one large room with an assortment of chairs and a conference table in the centre. There were closed galleries around three walls, left from the days when this place had hosted public hearings.

“Not sure I like that,” Fjord muttered. “We get caught up there, we’ll be trapped in a box.”

“What if we’re by the window?” Nott pointed out a single circular window behind the central gallery. It was the only one on the upper floor.

“If it opens, alright.”

Nott had to snap the lock, but it opened. The three of them positioned themselves in the gallery, Jester and Fjord crouching in the narrow space between two high-backed benches and Nott hunkered down behind the rails separating the seats from the drop.

The gallery seats were all of hard wood, unused for some time and smelling of old polish and dust. Crammed up against them as they were, various muscles were beginning to raise serious complaints by the time the main door creaked open and justified their wait.

One by one, six figures entered the hall and took seats around the table. Fjord counted four humans, a halfling, and a red-haired half-elf. It wasn’t until they were all present that one of the humans spoke.

“Wasn’t sure you’d be coming, Clem,” she said.

“It’s like you said, innit?” protested a sullen-looking young man across the table. From the way Nott’s hand twitched over her crossbow, it was obvious that this had been the rude gentleman from earlier. “This could be the ride of a lifetime. It’s worth the risk.”

“Glad you finally came around,” drawled the first woman. “Rowan, where are we on the Dock Masters?”

“Farley’s taken the bribe,” the Halfling reported. “He’ll slip his watch-mates the potion at my signal.”

“Then make himself scarce?”

“If he’s got any sense at all, yes. But his nerve won’t last forever. Do we move soon?”

“The Wasp’s due in on the second tide tomorrow. We need to be…”

Fjord felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned, pulling his attention from the plotters below.

Jester had her nose pressed up against her wrist, her eyes closed and her whole body tensed with obvious need.

“Wh-shoot.” He cursed under his breath.

Jester nodded, her own breath starting to hitch towards an unwelcome conclusion. She adjusted her position, pressing the heel of one hand up against her nose now. Her lips were trembling, her breath coming staccato-fast, and Fjord could see that this was a losing battle.

With time so obviously short, Fjord took the only action he could think of. He grabbed Jester by the shoulder, pulled her close and threw his arms around her, pressing her face close into his chest.

Jester tensed as though she might resist him, but she had reached the end of her endurance.

“h’mff!”

She buckled against him with more force than Fjord had been expecting, but the sound that emerged was muffled enough that it passed unnoticed, concealed by the scrape of a chair downstairs.

“hmp’chh!”

That one was stronger still, and the half-elf looked up as though expecting to see a stray bird in the rafters. It was a cursory glance, however, and he turned his attention back to the group.

Fjord relaxed his grip on Jester and pulled back slightly. He didn’t notice Jester’s frantic head-shake until it was too late, and Jester herself was utterly incapable of preventing what came next.

“eht’shiew!”

It wasn’t deafening, by any means, but it was sharp and high pitched, and it stood out clearly enough in that space that all six people around the table turned to look for its source.

The three eavesdroppers cringed back from their scrutiny, but to no avail. The half-elf cried out;

“There’s someone up there!”

And there was the sound of weapons being drawn.

“Run!” Nott squealed, already half-out of the window.

Jester looked to Fjord, wide eyed. He tightened his grip on her once more, and the two of them vanished in a deafening thunderclap. Almost a hundred feet behind the square they reappeared and stumbled into a run. Nott caught up in a few seconds and they rounded a corner to the prepared meeting point.

“Are we running?” Caleb called out as they came into view.

“Oh, hells yes,” gasped Fjord.

“Alright then, you get going and I will slow them down a little.” Caleb stepped past Fjord, already smearing molasses on his hand.

“Good man. Don’t be far behind, okay?”

“Okay.” Caleb hardly seemed to have listened.

Thankfully, and with a little magical assistance, by the time the Mighty Nein reassembled in their inn they were pretty certain that they hadn’t been followed.

“Could have been worse,” was Caduceus’ opinion. “All things considered, this went well.”

As Caduceus and Beau made their way to the bar, Fjord became aware of a soft pressure on his arm. He looked down into the anguished face of Jester, her eyes wide and rapidly filling up with imminent tears.

“Jester, wha-”

“I’m sorry, Fjord!”

“You- oh! No.” Fjord turned in his seat so that he could take her hand. “It was my fault, Jester. I should have remembered it’s always three. That’s on me, okay?”

Jester sniffed and wiped away a tear that had spilled out onto her cheek. “It’s a little my fault, though.”

“No, it’s mine. You couldn’t help your part. But why are we talking blame? Look-” Fjord put one arm around her shoulders and gestured to their friends with the other. “Everybody’s safe, no-one got hurt, and we found out some real interesting things tonight. Doesn’t sound like something to be sorry for.”

“I-” Jester sniffed again and dug in her sleeve for a handkerchief. She blew her nose thoroughly and decided, “I guess you’re right. Probably.”

“Sure I am. Come on, Nott needs her fellow detective to help solve the mystery of the Wasp.”

[RiversD]

These two were both for the wonderful @Winged ! One Beau vs. Dust(ft. Jester) , followed by cat-allergy Fjord.

 

Balancing Act

“Are you sure you’re okay up there?” Jester called up to Beau, who was currently balancing on Jester’s recently-enlarged hands.

“I said I’m fine!” Beau growled, and blew a stray lock of hair out of her eyes. Both her hands were occupied investigating a small cubby-hole that had once been reached by a wooden staircase. Presumably wooden, anyway: all that was left of it were some rotten stubs embedded in the wall.

“Ugh.” She rubbed her face against one shoulder, “Why does everything have to be so dusty?”

“Probably because it has been abandoned for a long time, Beau,” chirped Jester’s helpful voice below her, its pitch slightly lowered as a result of Caleb’s Enlarge spell.

“Yeah, I know that. I’m just complaining out loud, okay? I’m entitled.”

“I did say that I would search the hole if you did not wish to.” Caleb pointed out from the ground.

Beau sniffed hard and growled, mostly annoyed with how itchy her eyes and nose were becoming, but always prepared to redirect her frustrations.

“Shut up and concentrate on your spell. If she-huh…” an errant dust particle caught in Beau’s throat, interrupting her threat. She persevered, however. “If she shrinks before I’m done, I’m going to dislocate your jaw.”

“That is a little aggressive, but I understand. It is a stressful position you are in. The spell will last for another thirty-six seconds.”

“Alright!”

Beau leaned as far forward as she could, scrunching up her nose as the musty air in the hole assaulted it. Determined, she managed to get her head and one arm into the opening and began to rummage about. To her relief, as she thrust her arm deep within, no traps bit down on her. Instead, her fingers brushed what felt like worked leather.

“I’ve got something!” she called out, immediately regretting it as her breath stirred up what felt like a century’s worth of dust around her face.

“That’s great, Beau! What is it?”

“Excellent. You have Twenty-four seconds.”

Beau wasn’t really listening to either of them. She had had to take a breath after shouting, and now her nose was really objecting to the dust. With her whole head inside the wall, she couldn’t get a hand to her face, and it was a matter of moments before the urge to sneeze overpowered her.

“hah-schHEW!”

Beau’s whole body jerked, and she was dimly aware of Jester’s yelp as her legs almost left the tiefling’s grip.

“Crap,” she hissed, her nose still buzzing and the air seeming even thicker with dust now. “Just… hold on tighter, okay?”

Beau lunged with her arm, fingers scrabbling until they found purchase on the object below. Through the haze of a mounting sneeze, she registered that it felt like a book, but was unable in that moment to do anything more than hold on tight.

“hah…hah’shhiew!”

“Ten seconds”

“I’m… coming!”

Bracing her free hand against the wall, Beau dragged herself free from the cavity, trailing dust and grime in a grey-brown cascade. She kept that hand against the wall even when she was fully out, feeling herself on the precipice of another sneeze, the intensity of the itch deep in her nose making her welcome it. Just get it… done.

“huh’schiew! … hah’SCHHIEW!”

The second sneeze took Beau completely by surprise, rocking her body and sending her toppling into free-fall. Or, as it happened, straight into Jester’s arms.

“Beau!” Jester gasped. “Bless you!”

Beau started to laugh. Scrubbing at her twinging nose with her clean-ish fist, she stuttered out. “Told you it w-was dusty.”

“You’re covered-” Jester began, before dropping her sentence in favour of a series of short, high-pitched breaths that Beau could interpret all too well.

Glancing up from the cradle of Jester’s arms, she saw the enormous blue head tilted back, lips trembling open and nostrils flaring ticklishly wide. She flinched.

“hih- iH’TSHHiew!!”

At that moment, Caleb’s spell ran out of juice. Flung forward by the force of Jester’s amplified sneeze, the two girls tumbled in a roly-poly heap, sniffing, coughing, and in Beau’s case, sneezing again.

“ah- hah’schhiew! Ugh, stop. Sorry, Jester.”

“It’s okay!” Jester pulled a lace-edged handkerchief from somewhere in her sleeve and began to blow her nose.

Beau struggled to her feet and stumbled over to Caleb, who was watching them with furrowed brow.

“Here.” She thrust the book she had grabbed at Caleb’s chest, and he took it. It was trailing dust and cobwebs, but its rich decoration was visible despite the grime. “I hope it was worth it.”

Turning away, Beau pressed a knuckle under her nose, which was starting to run like crazy. Not that she carried handkerchiefs. She wiped it on her wrist, as a stop-gap, then headed back to see if Jester had brought a spare.

 

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

Nightmares

“Stopp!”

Fjord stirred awake and lay staring at the plasterwork ceiling until the sounds which had woken him repeated themselves.

“aus drei Personen… nein…”

Fjord sat up, shaking his head to clear out the dregs of sleep. On the far side of their two-person room, Caleb was still muttering in Zemnian and tangling the bedsheets around his legs as he thrashed aimlessly.

“Caleb?”

Fjord got out of bed and moved closer, concerned by the tone of distress in Caleb’s voice. The scruffy wizard was tossing his head from side to side, teeth clenched, obviously in the grip of some kind of nightmare. Fjord wasn’t sure what the right thing to do might be, but as Caleb whimpered in his sleep, he decided to at least make an attempt to soothe him.

“Caleb, it’s okay. You’re safe, it’s just a bad dream.” Fjord spoke in a soft murmur and slowly extended a hand, meaning to offer a gentle touch to Caleb’s shoulder.

“Das ist gift… gift! Nein!”

Caleb cried out in terror and flung himself up from the bed with such force that Fjord made a grab for him, scared that he was about to injure himself. He caught Caleb under the shoulder and was partially cradling him before he could even process what was going on.

“Hey! Hey, it’s okay, calm down.”

Caleb shuddered, eyelids fluttering, and started making vague, jerking motions with one hand. He clenched and unclenched his fist, rubbed his fingers against his thumb and- just as Fjord realised what he was trying to do- managed to click his fingers.

A cat appeared on the bed.

“Crap,” Fjord muttered, and leant forward to try and ease Caleb back onto the cheap mattress. He held his breath, but he was sure he could feel a prickling sensation spreading over his skin from sheer proximity to Frumpkin. Besides, he didn’t like the way the cat was looking at him.

He liked it even less when the cat stepped in between his arms as he was withdrawing them from under Caleb. They were practically face to face.

“Stop that,” he hissed, and took a step back, swiping at his eyes with one forearm. They were watering already, and that always made his nose run.

“mrwl?”

Fjord looked down. The blasted cat had hopped off the bed and was now circling his ankles.

“Go away!” Fjord tried to augment the softness of his tone with vigorous flapping motions that Frumpkin completely ignored.

“You stupid- Caleb’s the one that wants you, stay with him.”

Fjord tried to walk away again, but bit back a yelp of pain as Frumpkin, claws extended, leapt for Fjord’s leg and climbed him like a tree. Then suddenly Fjord was engaged in a vicious, whispered struggle with a being he was now prepared to consider an actual demon in cat’s clothing. A demon, moreover, whose presence made his nose itch with a truly infernal intensity.

“No, Frumpkin, no! Go back to Ca- leh…eh’SSCHHUE!”

Fjord tried to fight it, but he had never had much success in holding back his allergy sneezes. Dry air? Streaming head-cold? No problem. But cats seemed to find some secret trigger in his nose that simply would not be denied.

“hah-ISSCHH! Damnit, let go!”

Caleb stirred awake with a curtailed moan. “Was ist?”

That seemed to be Frumpkin’s cue. He released Fjord’s leg, leapt back onto the bed and pushed himself up against Caleb’s cheek.

“Hm? Ah, mein freund, du bist…”

Fjord did his best to back away quietly, but to no avail. His nose was burning with the unstoppable desire to sneeze and sneeze until no trace of cat remained and there was nothing he could do to resist it.

“hah…ah’SSSCHHue! shi- no…ihH’SSCHHHuhh!”

“…Fjord?”

“Sorry-” Fjord gasped, almost winded by the strength of his own sneezes. “Didn’t mean to-”

Caleb rolled over, blinking gradually into full consciousness.

“What is going on?”

“It’s just… just the cat.” Fjord scrubbed viciously at his twitching nose. “Sorry. I’m fine.”

Caleb looked down, and seemed genuinely surprised to find Frumpkin in bed with him. “How did you- I will send him away.”

“No, don’t. If you need him you need him. I’m just gonna- hih-” Fjord wedged a finger underneath his nose, buying himself the time for a wavering; “gonna step over here foramoment…”

He gave Caleb a hasty pat on the shoulder and moved hurriedly towards his own half of the room, the sneeze he had been struggling against overtaking him partway.

“ha’ISSCHHuh! ‘scuse me.”

“Gesundheit.”

Fjord sat down heavily on his bed, scrubbing at his eyes with a wrist. Caleb sat up and scratched Frumpkin’s ears as he watched. He looked concerned. Or perhaps he was simply weighing up the situation. Fjord found it difficult to read Caleb’s moods when his vision wasn’t blurred with allergic tears. He wished that he could put up a more reassuring front, but the constant prickling in his nose wasn’t giving him the option.

“heh- gh- ah’SSCHUHH! Sorry, I-ah-SSCHHuh!”

Sniffing against the tide, Fjord bent down and started to go through his bag for anything he could use to blow his nose.

“Why are you apologising?” Caleb snapped his fingers and Frumpkin vanished with a faint ‘poof’.

“I don’t- I mean, I’m disturbing you.”

“You cannot help your sneezing.”

“Well, no, but I still- still… hh’ISSCHH!”

The irritation peaked too suddenly for Fjord to get a hand up to cover the sneeze. He barely managed to direct the release between his knees.

“Damnit. Sor- I mean…”

“Gesundheit.”

“Thanks.”

Fjord finally managed to locate a handkerchief among his belongings and pressed it to his face. When he had dealt with the worst of it, he lowered the cloth for long enough to say;

“Seriously, you can bring the cat back if you want to. I can stay away. If it gets bad, I can slip outside, even.”

“And why would I want that?”

Caleb’s unbroken stare was starting to make Fjord uncomfortable.

“W-well, I- hold on a sec-” Fjord held the handkerchief between his hands and hid behind it, breath wavering expectantly, until the inevitable sneeze sent him plunging into it.

“huh’SSCHOO! hoo. ‘Scuse me.”

“Gesundheit.”

“You don’t have to acknowledge them all, Caleb. I’ve got a ways to go yet.” Fjord sniffed, grimaced, and wiped some residual wetness from beneath his nose.

“Okay.” Caleb considered Fjord for a moment longer, then added, “I am sorry.”

“What? No, this isn’t on you, Caleb.”

“That is patently not the case. I summoned an animal to which you are notably allergic into close proximity with you.”

“You were asleep-”

“Precisely,” Caleb insisted. “I do not know how I summoned Frumpkin without being awake to focus on the spell. Can you not imagine what the consequences might have been had I cast another spell from my repertoire?”

“I don’t think that would have happened, Caleb.”

“No? What evidence do you have?”

“I mean, I don’t want to make too many assumptions, but…” Fjord paused, struggling to find tactful words. Fortunately, another sneeze pushed past his defences at the same time and covered for the hesitation.

“I- huh! ‘ISSCHuh! ‘Scuse me. What was I… It looked like you were having a nightmare, or a troubling dream of some sort. It makes sense that you might have that reflex, to call Frumpkin to you for comfort. You two have a special bond or something, right?”

“And if I had dreamt that I was under attack? It is not so unlikely given the life that we lead. Or if I took you for a threat when I was only half-awake? What then?”

“I, ah…” Fjord couldn’t help visualising a burst of orange light and sudden, searing, heat. He rubbed at his throat, feeling it tighten uncomfortably at the thought. “I don’t know,” he confessed.

“Neither do I. But this magic I have… it is dangerous stuff. I do not like not knowing.”

Caleb’s jaw tightened, and he picked at the blanket over his legs. Fjord sighed and got up again, rubbing at his still-ticklish nose. He walked slowly towards Caleb, not wanting to jar him out of this mood too abruptly.

“You know, that’s a feeling I can sympathise with. We can talk for a while, if you’d like?”

Caleb turned his head to watch Fjord’s approach, willing but wary. “Will the sneezing not be worse over here?”

“I think it only bothers me when Frumpkin’s actually here,” Fjord told him. “I’ve never had a problem being near you without him.”

He wrinkled his nose against a strengthening tickle and sniffed hard. “This ought to go away on its own,” he told Caleb. “I won’t mind if you don’t. I know I can be pretty loud sometimes.”

“I do not mind.” Caleb shuffled over, leaving plenty of space on the bed for Fjord to sit beside him. “If you are certain, I would like to talk.”

“Okay, good. Just let me-” Fjord turned away from Caleb and took several slow, deep breaths, encouraging the sneeze looming on the horizon to get itself over with.

“huh…ht’SSCHHue!”

Distraction cleared for now, Fjord climbed up to sit beside Caleb.

“So. Let’s talk.”

[RiversD]

I  broke the drought! @AppleBlossom if you're still about, I wrote some pre-campaign Molly.

 

Careless

“Not bad, Yasha.” Molly vaulted from row to row of freshly-erected wooden seats until he reached the wide central ring. Yasha was making a final walk around it, testing everything load-bearing for stability.

Mollymauk probed the floor of the ring with his toes. “Is this sawdust?”

“Don’t do that,” Yasha’s tone was flat, but she spoke with authority. “You’ll make the colour uneven.”

“Where did you get sawdust from out here?”

“You remember that support pole that cracked?”

“Yes. How- oh. Really?”

Yasha gave a slight nod and the barest perceptible flex of a bicep that told Molly she was proud of her work.

“You are a lady of incredible talent.”

“You’re teasing.”

“Am not. I’m impressed.”

Yasha turned away from him, but Molly had caught sight of her smile before she had time to hide it. His own smile widened, pointed teeth glinting bright in the shadowy tent. He skipped up to Yasha’s position and began to mach her pace around the ring.

“There’s no need to be shy! You know we’d be lost without you.”

Yasha shrugged. “Bo helped.”

“Have it your way. My point is, I appreciate you. And the tent looks great.”

“It does.” Yasha satisfied herself as to the final support pole and straightened up, stretching. “It would be a shame if no-one came to sit in it. Isn’t that your job?”

Molly laughed.

“True, it is. Perhaps you’d better follow me into town, eh, see that I do it right?”

Yasha rolled her eyes. “You just want somebody to pull you out of bar brawls, don’t you?”

“I was more hoping that your presence would keep a brawl from starting, but yes, that would be more than fine.”

Yasha snorted and turned away again, leading the way out of the tent.

“You’ve got to learn when to walk away.”

“Ah, that’s the trick!” Molly pushed the canvas flap aside and followed her into the mid-morning sunshine. “If I walked away every time I should  have, I- ohsh-”

Yasha’s head turned with whip-crack speed, only for her to immediately relax when she saw Molly’s face. He was squinting up at the sky, one hand hovering pointlessly a few inches from his face, wavering with his unsteady breathing.

“hh…ih-YZSSHH’ew!”

Molly dove into the crook of his arm with a ticklish-sounding sneeze, various items of jewellery sounding a peal as his body snapped to.

He caught a fragment of breath and half-raised his head, caught between sneezes but still unwilling to let go of his sentence.

“…w-would have missed out on so much… fun… hhH’TSSCHH’ew! Oh, goodness.”

Molly rocked back on his heels after that, half-dazed by the effort but thoroughly relieved.

“Sorry, darling, sun caught me by surprise there.”

Yasha shook her head at him, the corners of her mouth twitching upward. “Do you really forget every time?”

Molly laughed, swiping the gathered moisture from his eyes. “Careless would be a better term than forgetful, I think.”

He sniffed quickly, banishing the last traces of his indisposition. A remarkably swift recovery for such a dramatic reaction, but then he did have practice.

“It’s pretty impressive,” Yasha told him.

He raised his eyebrows at her. “What, the sneezing?”

“Yes. Maybe you should let people shine a lantern on you if they don’t like their fortunes.”

Molly cackled and punched Yasha as high on her arm as he could reach without clipping her sword. “Please. People always like their fortunes. For a few days, at least.”

“Is that enough, do you think?”

“A few days? It’s all the time in the world! Come on, I’ll buy you a drink in the first tavern we find.”

 

 

 

Edited December 18, 2019 by RiversD

[LeadaAlexys52]

I've been off the forum for a while and this was a delight to come back to! I look forward to more!