Crack Pairings IV - You Can't Unread It

[CoffeeIncluded]

This is verging on a threadjack, but I cannot let that stand. You misunderstood me, misrepresented me, and forgot the premise.

1) the premise was that you would be 10 years older. I assume 26 is legal age in the U.S. (I would still be ten years older - I'm 36 - but 25-ish is my lower age limit.)

2) I was actually planning to come to the U.S. Needless to say, I wouldn't do that without having a little more info then I have.

3) It's getting a little creepy talking to a 16-year old about this, so let me state this in general: if I found the Girl of My Dreams (and yes, she would probably have to be between 25 and 45) I wouldn't consider it a great sacrifice to pick up my tent poles and move to wherever she was. I should probably avoid the near-equatorial zones, though - my brain shuts down when the temperature approaches 80 degrees (Fahrenheit).

All clear? Or are you going to call ECPAT?

...I was joking...

[Meg]

Home sick. Don't expect any updates from me, at least not for a while. Blarf.

[Silverraptor]

Blast it all. You guys go too fast that I can't keep up!

[Asta Kask]

...great, now he's gonna start asking for dragon porn. I hope you're happy with yourself.

He can look for it on the Internet. Believe me, there's more between computer and server than was ever dreamt of in yon crack pairings thread...

[Asta Kask]

...I was joking...

I'm sorry if I overreacted. But use smilies next time.

[Asta Kask]

To the authors on the thread:

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Thank you for the stories, the tales I’m reading
Thanks for all the squick they’re breeding
Who can live without it, I ask in all honesty
What would life be?
Without a tale or a yarn what are we?
So I say thank you for the stories
For giving them to me

[Aaron]

Blast it all. You guys go too fast that I can't keep up!

*From way up ahead* We're just that fast.

[Meg]

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“We can’t keep this up in this weather.”

Vaarsuvius simply stopped walking, trying to hide the violent shivers running up and down the small elven body. The snow was rapidly gathering on the street, and they had almost slipped and fallen on the ice several times. The white fluff from the sky already had gotten to the point where it nearly reached the travelers’ knees, and it showed no sign of stopping. “Where do you suggest we settle, then?”

“One of the houses. At least they will keep the snow out over the night.”

Vaarsuvius didn’t protest. Redcloak noted with worry that the tips of the elf’s fingers had taken a bluish color, but he didn’t comment. His cheek still stung where Vaarsuvius had struck it, and he doubted that the elf would react any better to his concern just then.

They both trekked to one of the closer homes, having to struggle a little to get the door open and walk inside.

Redcloak forced the door closed, glancing around the hut. The first thing he noticed was that there was one bed for two with a thick blanket. (Well, he was fine with that—it’s not like they hadn’t slept together before.) There was a pile of wood under a window and a hole in the ceiling, probably meant for smoke from fires, was designed with a little elevated cap on it to protect from snow.

That was odd. Deserts weren’t supposed to get snow, so why would the homes be built to handle it?

“Did you prepare any fire spells today?” Redcloak asked, going over to the pile of wood and setting logs up in the middle of the dirt floor.

“Of course.”

Redcloak backed away and Vaarsuvius sent a fireball at the wood, immediately starting the flame. The goblin reflexively jumped a little away from the fire, quickly making sure that it wouldn’t catch on the house. “Don’t get too close right now. You don’t want to warm up too fast.”

The elf didn’t comment when the goblin took delicate hands between his own, slowly warming them to avoid tissue damage. The fire cracked gently but did little to heat up the room. The warmth kept flowing out the windows.

The silence made Redcloak very uncomfortable, but he still wasn’t quite ready to reach out again. He and Vaarsuvius had become dangerously intimate in the last few days, and the elf was right to try to push him away. They wouldn’t be able to fight each other if this kept up.

“We’ll be okay. I promise.”

He had been so stupid to say that, but he couldn’t bring himself to regret it. It was, quite frankly, a promise he couldn’t keep. They wouldn’t be okay. One or both of them was going to come out of this whole thing dead or worse.

Vaarsuvius was doing the smart thing by trying to drive a wedge between them. It hurt, and he worried about both of their abilities to cope with the monstrous dungeon if they didn’t allow each other close, but he knew that Vaarsuvius was right.

He slipped his hands away from the elf’s. “It should be okay to be close to the fire, now.”

They both silently sat near the fire, the uncomfortable silence stretching.

Vaarsuvius suddenly stiffened, ears twitching. Redcloak glanced at his lover in confusion. “Vaarsuvius?”

“…I seem to have detected some strange sounds outside.”

The goblin stood up immediately, walking to the window and glancing out at the wintry landscape.

He tensed, stifling a growl in his throat and doing his best to hide any signs of distress.

“Redcloak?”

That was when he realized that he couldn’t hide anything from Vaarsuvius.

Blood spatters stained the white ground. That alone wouldn’t bother him—it was a cheap visual trick. What bothered him was the fact that four people were sitting in the snow, one of them holding his own decapitated head in his hands. He knew those people.

They were the soldiers he had gotten a brief glance of when he first found Vaarsuvius in the throws of a vision.

A sharp intake of air next to him alerted him to the fact that his lover had stood up and looked out the window to see what was wrong.

Redcloak spun around and stepped so that his body covered the window, taking Vaarsuvius’s arm gently. “Go back to the fire. We should have something to eat.”

“I… they…”

“Vaarsuvius, it’s just an illusion. It can’t hurt you if you don’t let it.” He gently yet firmly tugged the elf to the fire again. “Sit down—we should have some food in our packs.”

The elf paused, then numbly nodded, passively allowing the goblin to lead the way back to the fire.

Redcloak did his best to not wonder about the significance of the soldiers. He had just resolved a mere moment before to push Vaarsuvius away, and he knew well enough how private the elf was. It was a small miracle that his lover had been able to mention the trauma of finding someone hanging themselves, even after all they had been through. After everything that they both had suffered, the last thing he wanted was to make Vaarsuvius feel more afraid and insecure about him.

He opened up their packs and pulled out an apple, giving it to the elf. “There isn’t much to eat left, but I think I can make something a little more substantial. I’ll cover up the windows first—all the warm air is leaking out.”

Vaarsuvius nodded in thanks, understanding the favor the goblin was doing, eyes fixed on something in the fire that Redcloak could not see, and bit into the apple. The goblin stood up, pulling their blankets from their packs and using them to cover the windows. It wasn’t like they would need them that night. The bed they had stumbled on had a perfectly suitable one.

Redcloak used what little they had to cook for both of them. He had to coax Vaarsuvius to finish it off, noting with worry that his lover looked even more ashen than usual. The fact that the elf was sick niggled at him, and he had the sense that he would know what was wrong if he only looked closer at the symptoms. Dizzy spells, abdomable pain, unusual sensitivity in the breasts (he had noticed that easily)…

“Redcloak, what happens if they attack us?”

He was pulled out of his train of thought and looked at the elf curiously.

“Of course we both have spells, but they are creatures made from the very world around us. We cannot run through the snow and hope to escape, and if we vanquish them, more will come.”

“I don’t think they’re there to attack us.” Redcloak pushed his empty plate to the side, leaning forward a little and adding some wood to the fire. “They’re there to make us afraid. That’s what this place depends on. Fear, pain, and desire. Admittedly, it seems to be focusing mostly on pain and fear for us, but there’s probably a reason for that.”

The elf nodded silently, staring at the flames.

“Vaarsuvius, why are they haunting you?”

Redcloak knew that he shouldn’t ask. Vaarsuvius knew it too.

The elf looked up at him, expression difficult to read.

“I know that they’re what you have nightmares about. I know that their… I don’t know, presence has been following us since the start. I know that they mean something.” He tentatively reached out, brushing a strand of hair back from Vaarsuvius’s face and behind a pointy ear. “Why?”

There was a long silence.

“Redcloak, I do not wish to speak of this.”

He shouldn’t push his luck. He really shouldn’t.

The goblin lightly stroked the elf’s cheek, frowning. “Vaarsuvius, this has been plaguing you since before we met.” He hesitated briefly. “I don’t like seeing you tormented like this.”

Vaarsuvius shook a small head. “There is nothing you can do to help, Redcloak.”

“How do I know unless you tell me?”

The elf was very, very quiet for a while. Redcloak wondered for a moment if he had offended his lover, but if he had, he would have been slapped for his troubles. “During the battle…” Vaarsuvius paused, closing violet eyes and taking a deep breath. Redcloak had to stifle a small jerk of surprise—he hadn’t expected his lover to open up. Then again, maybe that was what was needed. “During the battle at Azure City, I ran out of spells. I did not see anything else I could do to assist. I fled.” The elf undid the purple ponytail slowly, letting the long wild hair hang loosely. Redcloak listened carefully, fully aware of the likelihood that he was the only one that Vaarsuvius had trusted with this information. “I was invisible. A group of soldiers crashed into me and correctly assumed that I was the elven wizard that had been assisting in the battle.”

The elf stopped dead, lips pursed until they were white. Redcloak tentatively touched Vaarsuvius’s hand, doubtful that the contact would be appreciated. Vaarsuvius grasped the offered hand tightly.

“They begged me to save them. I could not. They were slaughtered.”

Vaarsuvius was completely silent for a moment, face grim, muscles stiff. Redcloak wasn’t quite sure how to deal with it, so he settled with squeezing the small hand in his gasp and nuzzling the slender neck gently.

“For all my power, I could not save them.”

Redcloak politely pretended to not notice the suspicious glassiness in the elf’s eyes. Vaarsuvius shook a pale head, regaining the aloof and unconcerned mask that had been cracking more and more since they entered the dungeon.

“But, of course, logically, I did what I should have. I can only take the experience as a lesson. I will not make such mistakes again. It is rather pointless that you insisted on me talking about it at all—it is in the past.”

The goblin didn’t point out the tremors going up and down the elf’s body. He didn’t point out the barely contained wetness in violet eyes. He didn’t point out how fragile the tiny creature suddenly seemed, how it looked like, with all the demons the dungeon had forced upon the fiery mage, the seams were coming undone.

He simply slipped his arm around the elf’s waist, murmuring something softly in Goblin and nuzzling a slender neck.

Vaarsuvius leaned into his touches, satisfied with not having to show how deeply the deaths of the soldiers had imprinted themselves on the elf. Their fingers stayed intertwined. They leaned towards each other, touching lips tenderly before resting their foreheads against one another.

“No matter how many reasons are presented to us, we continue to nurse our relationship. Why is that, Redcloak?” Vaarsuvius murmured softly, voice weighed down by despair and pain that the mage would never admit to. It felt like something heavy was just taken off the thin shoulders, but all that was left was a very tired elf.

“We work out well together.” A slightly subdued smile flickered over Redcloak’s lips. “If it hadn’t been for the alignment and species differences, I think we could have been really happy with each other.”

“I believe so as well.” Vaarsuvius lightly fingered Redcloak’s cheek. “I would have been willing to work past both obstacles under different circumstances.”

“Under different circumstances.” Redcloak smiled, eyes dim. “But it’s pointless to speculate about different circumstances. These are the ones we have.”

“Indeed they are.”

They looked at the fire, leaning against each other, the goblin subtly trying to think of a way to ease his partner’s distress and the nightmares that would obviously descend that night. Redcloak reached up absently, running his fingers through the elf’s loose hair. His nails lightly brushed against pointy ears, sending tangible tremors through his lover’s body.

Vaarsuvius let out a low warble, turning a small head to kiss Redcloak softly. The goblin easily moved so that they were in a more comfortable position and started stroking the ears firmly.

The elf let out a soft gasp, crawling closer to the goblin, tilting a pale head and exposing a slender neck, showing off the trust they had unwisely built between each other. Redcloak’s teeth were sharp and strong enough to rip the elf’s exposed throat open before so much as a scream could be uttered.

With a satisfied growl deep in his chest, Redcloak leaned forward, nuzzling and kissing his lover’s neck while continuing to massage the pointed ears. Vaarsuvius let out another warble, pawing at their clothes.

Redcloak had no intention of taking anything off. Vaarsuvius wasn’t in the right state of mind to consent, and the goblin would feel too much like he was taking advantage of his lover, regardless of what the elf did or didn’t want. He made no movement to encourage Vaarsuvius, instead continuing to kiss a slender neck and stroke the pointed ears. His lover’s face flushed and the tiny body started to tremble, delicate arms slipping around the goblin’s neck. “Redcloak…”

The goblin kissed the elf gently, letting out a gentle purr, and continued his ministrations. Vaarsuvius breathed heavily, body heating up, odd sounds that the mage would normally never utter falling from slightly swollen lips.

It was only a small while of ear stroking until the elf stiffened against the goblin, letting out a soft cry before burying a flushed face in a green neck, gasping a long stream of breathless Elven, and going limp after a moment of intensity.

Vaarsuvius breathed heavily, chest heaving, and violet eyes were glazed over with afterglow. Redcloak gently picked his lover up, carrying the tiny and compliant body to the bed, wrapping the little elf in the covers.

The mage shifted, looking up at the goblin, unable to muster up the strength to be peeved when the elf realized what the cleric’s intentions had been. “Manipulative beast.”

“I didn’t want you to have any nightmares. I just made sure that your brain let out all the chemicals it needed to be happy for now.” Redcloak smiled amusedly, unclasping his cloak. “And at least one of us needs our strength in case we’re attacked in the middle of the night, so I figured that we should hold off on using up energy with sex.”

He pulled off his armor, carefully putting it next to the bed and climbing under the covers, wrapping his arms around his lover’s waist and pressing up against a small back. Redcloak lovingly brushed his lips against the elf’s temple, provoking a satisfied ‘mmm.’

“Next time you attempt a trick like this, I shall be forced to use my not-inconsiderable arcane might against you.”

“I’m sure you will be.” Redcloak rested his head on a pillow, smiling and lightly stroking his lover’s abdomen. He murmured a few words softly in Goblin, nuzzling the elf’s hair and sighing in contentment. “I love you.”

“What does that mean, Redcloak? You know that I do not understand Goblin.”

Redcloak kissed Vaarsuvius’s neck gently. “It was an affectionate way of saying goodnight.”

“Oh.” Vaarsuvius lightly fingered the goblin’s hand. “Good night, Redcloak.” A smile flickered over the elf’s lips. “I would use a more affectionate term, but Common does not provide one and Elven has no words that would fit.”

“That’s alright.” The goblin smiled wistfully, tightening his grip only a little. “Good night.”

Vaarsuvius smiled faintly and slipped into a satisfied trance, still bathing in afterglow. Redcloak fell asleep soon afterwards.

Know what I've retroactively realised this reminds me of? The scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark where Marion keeps trying to hug Indy, but he keeps brushing her off because he's in too much pain. She asks him where she can kiss him, and he immediately offers his elbow. Very sweet on both counts.

[CoffeeIncluded]

Wait, Water-smurf, I have a question about what you wrote a couple of pages back.

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Vaarsuvius's sense of sex is that it's something that other people take pleasure from, but not her. Her first time was basically rape. Her next few times with Inkyrius were basically what she did when Kyrie was really trying to instigate something. She did it entirely because Inkyrius wanted the intimacy that sex incites, and she felt uncomfortable the whole time. (Her first, ah, 'high point' probably came with Reddy.)

Redcloak has unwittingly turned her perceptions of sex upside-down. Suddenly, she really enjoys it too. She isn't shying away from intimacy anymore. She likes the idea of making love with him, though her fear of love forces her to think of it as only sex. If she doesn't refer to it as 'making love,' she can shrug it off as being the product of her heretofore latent sex-drive suddenly making an appearance and Redcloak and herself just being very compatible sexually. After all, neither of them are in this physical relationship for love. It's for pleasure and lust and only that.

Reddy has shattered her justifications by accident because of the fact that he did something only for her pleasure and peace of mind without asking for any sexual favors in return. He received no physical pleasure from it. She was the only one who benefited. He proved that it's not about lust, at least for him. He also proved that it's possible for sex to be a purely pleasurable, intimate, and loving act without the fear and anxiety she sometimes gets with being entered. It has become something of love and intimacy, not passion and pleasure.

The significance of this hasn't hit her yet, but it will.

...Something here doesn't make sense. We know that Kyrie is a good person, and in all likelihood wants V to get pleasure from sex as well. So my question is: Why would Kyrie have never tried the ear thing with V? To be honest, that doesn't make much sense to me.

[Water-Smurf]

Never heard of that last one. What's Gargoyles?

It's probably one of the best shows Disney's ever written. (Seriously--it has a dark, adult tone, the characters are developed, the storyline's complex... I'd suggest it to anyone.) It's about these creatures that look like living gargoyles--they have sharp teeth and horns and wings and everything--and at dawn they turn to stone, while at dusk they turn back to living flesh.

The Magus is

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an advisor to Princess Katherine of Scotland in 990 CE and a powerful sorcerer. (Oh, and he happens to be in one-sided love with the princess.) Through a series of events I'm not going to go into, he thought that the princess was murdered and the titular gargoyles are to blame. In short, he turned them into stone until 'the castle rises above the clouds.' Then he finds out the princess is alive. Then he can't undo the spell because someone had taken the page with the counterspell out of his book. Ever since then, he's been atoning for his mistake.

And out of interest, are you still planning on writing a V/Aandy story?

I'm still trying to figure it out.

I dunno. Maybe the elven culture is a little like the ancient Greek one? As in, relationships between adults and children/mentors and students are acceptable? (I could be totally wrong about the ancient Greek culture. I just know about their myths.)

...Something here doesn't make sense. We know that Kyrie is a good person, and in all likelihood wants V to get pleasure from sex as well. So my question is: Why would Kyrie have never tried the ear thing with V? To be honest, that doesn't make much sense to me.

Of course Kyrie would want V to enjoy it as much as s/he does. I never meant to cast a negative light on hir--s/he's obviously a very loving spouse and parent, though s/he may not be a perfect match for V.

And s/he probably did try the ear thing, but probably never without the context of sex already happening. Sometimes people don't touch right or maybe V was just too uncomfortable with what was going on to really enjoy anything Kyrie did, no matter how pleasurable under more relaxed circumstances.

Sometimes people just aren't compatible sexually. Either way, it didn't matter what Inkyrius tried: Vaarsuvius didn't enjoy any physical intimacy.

(Which all probably made Inkyrius really sore when s/he found out that V had banged Reddy so much that a protection spell failed and she got pregnant while they were still technically married.)

[CoffeeIncluded]

Of course Kyrie would want V to enjoy it as much as s/he does. I never meant to cast a negative light on hir--s/he's obviously a very loving spouse and parent, though s/he may not be a perfect match for V.

And s/he probably did try the ear thing, but probably never without the context of sex already happening. Sometimes people don't touch right or maybe V was just too uncomfortable with what was going on to really enjoy anything Kyrie did, no matter how pleasurable under more relaxed circumstances.

Sometimes people just aren't compatible sexually. Either way, it didn't matter what Inkyrius tried: Vaarsuvius didn't enjoy any physical intimacy.

(Which all probably made Inkyrius really sore when s/he found out that V had banged Reddy so much that a protection spell failed and she got pregnant while they were still technically married.)

See, that's what I thought.

And I think "really sore" is an understatement.

[ClericOfBelker]

IMHO, yes, because Polygamy is about spreading your love among many rather than limiting it to one person, but only if your partners agree. I don't think many LG people would be willing to cheat, however, and the act of cheating is definitely not LG(E, probably CE).

I also recommend the BoEF for further thoughts on alignments and sex, it's a very good sourcebook in that regard.

IMHO? BoEF? Mind shedding some light on what these stand for?

[The Dark Fiddler]

IMHO? BoEF? Mind shedding some light on what these stand for?

IMHO = In My Honest Opinion

BoEF = Book of Erotic Fantasy, a third part 3.5 book about D&D sex.

[CoffeeIncluded]

BoEF = Book of Erotic Fantasy, a third part 3.5 book about D&D sex.

...Should that be the bible of the Crack Pairings Thread?

[Water-Smurf]

And I think "really sore" is an understatement.

Definitely. That's part of the reason Inky has to really struggle with hir feelings about Tiasal. S/he's fully aware that she did nothing wrong by being born, but s/he is also fully aware of what her existence means about V and Redcloak, as well as hir relationship/marriage with Vaarsuvius.

BoEF = Book of Erotic Fantasy, a third part 3.5 book about D&D sex.

...What.

They actually have a book like that? Huh. I'm going to need to get it. How does sex have any effect on alignment, though? (Outside of, you know, rape being an evil act.)

[CoffeeIncluded]

So do you think Kyrie is male or female? I always saw Kyrie as male. Still unsure on V though.

And shameless promotion time: http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=133565

[Zanaril]

I'm still trying to figure it out.

I dunno. Maybe the elven culture is a little like the ancient Greek one? As in, relationships between adults and children/mentors and students are acceptable? (I could be totally wrong about the ancient Greek culture. I just know about their myths.)

It's plausable that their long life expectancy would mean that age gaps don't matter so much, even if your counting in elf years not human years. They can dawdle around for decade or two without the pressure of impending old age. That would stop them feeling like they had to start looking for a mate/starting a family as soon as they could, therefore leaving a lot of elves of widely varying age who are all single.

As for student/teacher relationships... I'm not entirely sure. It wouldn't be that much of a stretch for their culture to be more lenient about it, especially in a more close-knit community. But then again, that could also make it less acceptable...

So do you think Kyrie is male or female? I always saw Kyrie as male. Still unsure on V though.

And shameless promotion time: http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=133565

I'm gonna go with male too. And nice comic.

V's gender depends on whether I want to read/write het or slash.

[CoffeeIncluded]

Heh, thanks. What do you like about it?

[Aaron]

...Should that be the bible of the Crack Pairings Thread?

Yes!!! Definitely! It must be our bible!

[Sstoopidtallkid]

...What.

They actually have a book like that? Huh. I'm going to need to get it. How does sex have any effect on alignment, though? (Outside of, you know, rape being an evil act.)

It doesn't, but it has a good analysis on how people of the various alignments might view sex, including an example LG Paladin going through a 1-night stand, and a similar analysis of species' beliefs. It's a far better alignment discussion than anything I've seen out of WotC. It also has a variety of useful rules(pregnancy and polymorph, halfbreeds, new uses for spells, etc) and mechanics that would make WotC proud(decent classes, but PrCs range from useless to awesome to broken) interesting items, new spells, and a lot of other interesting stuff. Also atrocious art, but that's what sticky notes are for.

[Water-Smurf]

So do you think Kyrie is male or female? I always saw Kyrie as male. Still unsure on V though.

I've always thought of Kyrie as female, but s/he's probably going to be male for the story. I'm still not sure that I'm going to make a definitive statement about it.

It's plausable that their long life expectancy would mean that age gaps don't matter so much, even if your counting in elf years not human years. They can dawdle around for decade or two without the pressure of impending old age. That would stop them feeling like they had to start looking for a mate/starting a family as soon as they could, therefore leaving a lot of elves of widely varying age who are all single.

As for student/teacher relationships... I'm not entirely sure. It wouldn't be that much of a stretch for their culture to be more lenient about it, especially in a more close-knit community. But then again, that could also make it less acceptable...

I can't help but feel that making up a weird cultural thing about it would be contrived. And my idea of Aandy makes him too loving and self-disciplined to do anything he thinks could hurt Vaarsuvius.

I guess it doesn't necessarily need to be feelings that are acted on, but then it'd be awkward...

But anyway, here's another chapter.

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“An adventurer party is passing through the field? Seriously? There’s nothing here!”

“Nothing except easy passage to some of the more active adventuring areas. And Tiasal…” A frustrated sigh. “Belkar, you know what it’s like. You know what we need to do. You see green skin and you immediately think ‘XP.’ You don’t think about whether or not it’s a kid. You don’t think about whether or not there’s a threat.”

“I don’t see the problem here.”

“Adventurers who don’t seem too sympathetic towards goblins want to shack up in our place tonight. Roy, Durkon, and Elan have already gone to see if they can pick up any sign of Xykon in the last city he was seen in. You, Abram, Aarindarius, and I are the only ones here who don’t look like walking XP. I’m not letting my son get involved with this, so that leaves you, Aarindarius, and me. They’re going to treat Tia like they treat any other goblin, Belkar.”

“Well we can fix that easily. I’ve been needing a new chip bowl.”

“Belkar!” A frustrated growling and teeth-grinding noise. “No killing random adventurers! Besides, they’re mid-level. We can handle them easily, sure, but they’re still a threat. They want to stay here for the night, and they’re apparently working for some king or other. If they disappear mysteriously before meeting up with the entourage waiting for them in the mountains, the king will get suspicious and we’ll be investigated. We can make this easy. You’re going to make sure that Tia stays in bed and no one goes into her room. Aarindarius is going to act as my husband. Abram is going to be a boy we hired to help take care of the place.”

“This seems needlessly complicated.”

“When you’re hiding things, the more lies you tell, the better. Rule of thumb in the rogue’s handbook.” Her voice dropped to an annoyed growl. “And besides: they seem to keep much better control of their hands when my ‘husband’ is in the room.” Her voice went up again. “Can I trust you to take care of Tia?”

“I still don’t see the point to this.”

“Belkar, she’s not an adventurer. She’s a little kid with green skin. I don’t want her hurt.”

“You think I do?” There was a shuffling sound. “Keep your pants on. I’ll make sure she stays intact.”

Her door creaked open, then shut quietly. Tiasal pretended she was asleep. There were the gentle taps of bare feet against the wooden floor. A hand, so light that she could have imagined it, brushed against her shoulder. The chair under her window groaned as someone sat in it, and through the cracks between her eyelids, she saw a blade gleam in her uncle’s lap, his hand loosely wrapped around the hilt. He maintained his vigil all night.

---

Molten gold eyes snapped open for the first time in nearly sixteen years. Lungs inflated with stale dungeon air, shuddering with coughs. The aged human cleric stepped away slowly from the bed, hobbling just a little, then dipped his head to Xykon. “I must attend to my children, my lord.”

“Sure, sure, whatever.”

Xykon leaned forward, ignoring the frozen Teevo screen and just staring at the disoriented goblin on the bed as the aged cleric left the room.

“Welcome back to the land of the living and unliving.”

Redcloak looked up blindly at Xykon, eyes wide, mouth opened slightly as if to speak. “…!”

“What, cat got your tongue? Did you miss me, Reddy? Aw, I knew you cared.”

Redcloak swallowed, blinking and rubbing his eyes hard.

“Are you going to talk? Because I’m seriously starting to think that there is something up with your genes. Is muteness inherited? Well, actually, that would mean that you’ve always been mute. Alright, then. Maybe it’s a recessive gene? Or maybe you inherit it retroactively from your kids.”

“Xykon… why am I here?”

Redcloak rubbed his temples, sitting forward slowly, his bones letting out audible cracks with this new movement. He turned a little, his eyes focusing on the lich, the lich that had taken his niece, nephews, sister-in-law, brother, wife, daughter, and life from him.

His face took on an ugly look of hatred.

“Why am I here, Xykon?”

“Ooh, looks like I got Daddy angry. I’d better blame the mess on the dog.” Xykon stood up, a smirk radiating from his frozen face, and sauntered closer to the newly-resurrected goblin. “Oh, Reddy. Can’t I resurrect you just to get caught up on old times? And, you know, have a high-level cleric hanging around who knows some ancient rituals I need to have in order to get control of a deicidal abomination?”

“I don’t work with you anymore.” Redcloak stood up sharply from his bed, knees buckling slightly, but he was able to lean his weight on the wall easily. He closed his eyes, face creasing with inner frustration and pain. “I should have cut you off long ago. Too many people have been lost because of me not being able to face the meaninglessness of their deaths. Too many people I love are gone. But Vaarsuvius…” His shoulders tensed, red magic flaring at his hands. “Vaarsuvius. Vaarsuvius was the last straw. There’s nothing more to take away, Xykon. You’ve done everything you can do. Soulbind me again if you want. The rifts aren’t there anymore. You can’t hold Vaarsuvius’s soul or my own over my head.”

He opened molten eyes again. “There’s nothing more.”

Xykon took a moment to contemplate the goblin in front of him, his head tilted slightly. “Oh, Reddy. It’s only a failure of imagination on your part to say that I can’t do anything more.”

His frozen grin seemed to stretch. “Sure, you’re speeches are overwrought and self-righteous as ever, but I gotta say, that whore’s death made you grow a pair big time. Or maybe it was something else that did that. Hey, how much do you remember from being stuck in my bauble?”

Redcloak’s angry expression morphed into one of confusion. He had expected a reminder of his brother. Maybe an empty threat towards Vaarsuvius. Not total flippancy. “…Just that it’s been a very long time.”

“Okay. Come on upstairs—the Necromancer chick is still around. And she still hates you. I love conflict! But you two are going to have to keep a lid on it until after we talk about everything you missed.”

Redcloak blinked, unsure if he should be indignant or confused and settling on a combination of both. “Xykon, did you hear a word I just said?”

“Oh, yeah. But I don’t think that you meant any of it. That’d just be stupid of you.”

The goblin’s brow furrowed, muscles tightening in fury. “I don’t work f—”

“I have your daughter.”

Redcloak froze mid-word.

“She’s surprisingly animate for a stillborn.”

There was a long silence. Redcloak jerked slightly, shaking his head and frowning. “Xykon, she was stillborn. I know you’re trying to see if I lied to you, but I was honest when I said that.”

His ears were stiff his face imperceptibly grim. He was gambling in hope.

Xykon’s frozen grin darkened. “You have some serious balls to be lying to me now, bitch.”

“I’m not lying.” But Redcloak’s complexion paled considerably. This wasn’t a trick. He knew it wasn’t.

“Either you’re lying or we stumbled on some other green-skinned, purple-haired, purple-eyed half-breed who knows who you, your whore, and I are.” He crossed his arms, shrugging. “But whatever. If she’s not yours, then I’m sure you won’t mind me locking her outside and watching her freeze to death. I’ve been wondering what color goblin half-breeds turn when they get cold.”

Redcloak’s breath caught in his throat. Xykon leaned forward, their faces a mere hair apart. “So, Reddy, was your kid stillborn?”

“…” Redcloak swallowed hard, eyes wide. “Please don’t hurt her.”

“Oh, Reddy. You’re so spineless.” Xykon straightened, glare boring deep into the goblin to the point that Redcloak could actually feel heat from it. “You cheeky little bastard. You thought that I wouldn’t find out about your little brat? I’ll admit that those adventurer guys were effective at hiding her for a while, but we both have time to find out secrets, don’t we?”

“Have you done something to my daughter?”

Xykon leaned forward again, hot red gems inches away from gold eyes. “What if I did?”

Redcloak’s eyes became molten. His muscles went tight. His sharp teeth were bared. His claws stretched out. “I swear, if you’ve hurt her at all, I’m going to—”

“What? You’re going to what?” Xykon placed his hands firmly on the goblin’s chest, careful to not touch bare skin—it wouldn’t do for Redcloak to be paralyzed—and shoved him back on the bed with bruising force, almost breaking the furniture and the goblin’s bones. “Guess what, bitch—you’re just as powerless now as ever.”

The lich let out a hollow laugh. “What are you going to try to do? Try to kill me with your lack of spells and levels? Go on another one of your whiny, self-righteous tirades? You have nothing. No power, no knowledge, and no leverage. I have everything. I have epic levels, countless minions swarming this tower, and your little brat. I’m sure Tsukiko wouldn’t mind being put in charge of the kid’s care.”

Redcloak paled again.

“And here you are, willing to stand up to me for the sake of some little brat that you haven’t seen in fifteen years.”

“Fifteen years?” Redcloak’s face paled further, eyes going wide. “My daughter’s fifteen years old?”

“Oh gods, spare me the annoying parental angst.” Xykon threw up his hands. “Yes, she’s fifteen years old. The nifty thing about having elf blood is that you age really freaking slowly, apparently. She looks like she’s eight. Doesn’t act like it, though. It’s kind of creepy, if you ask me. I’m not complaining, but she’s one frikkin’ creepy kid. Are we going to go and get you caught up on what you need to do now that you’re alive again now?”

Redcloak’s eyes drifted down to the necklace still worn by the lich, fixated on the sparkling sapphires taunting him. He took a tight grip of the fear within, drawing on the surety that his elf was near. He could be brave for his daughter’s sake. “I want to see Tiasal. I want to see my daughter.”

Xykon slowly straightened again, backing away, his frozen expression turning back into a macabre smile and a hollow chuckle reverberating from his empty ribcage. “Yeah. You want to see your daughter. You might not like what you see, Reddy. Or vice-versa.”

Redcloak swallowed hard, finally dropping any pretense that he had a choice in this matter. He let his eyes linger on the sapphire holding the soul of Vaarsuvius, giving a silent apology. He would find a way to be with his lover again, but he had to admit that it would still be a long time until he could figure out how to do that while keeping Tiasal safe. His heart ached for the familiar elven presence, the delicate fingers intertwined with his. He wanted Vaarsuvius back. He wanted Tiasal back. He just wanted to be allowed to have his family and for Xykon to never threaten them again.

But that wasn’t possible.

“I want to see my daughter, Lord Xykon. Please.”

Xykon paused, then relaxed, mollified by the obvious admission of defeat. “Well, who am I to deny a deadbeat dad the right to see his little love child? We’ll make an event of it—we got a new hire while you went missing who I’m sure you’ll be really interested in meeting. And the Necromancer chick’s gotten older. Maybe you can start sleeping with her or something; she’s a better pick than your whore at any rate.”

Redcloak stifled his bristling at the insult towards his absent wife. (Wife? Well, they hadn’t married, but it felt like they had all the same.) “I doubt it, Lord Xykon.”

“You’re probably right. You had a better chance as a skeleton.” Xykon pointed at the door. “I’ll go tell the Necromancer chick to get everyone upstairs. Hurry up—wouldn’t want to keep your little girl up past her bedtime, would you?”

Redcloak could hear an underlying threat there, but he wasn’t quite sure what Xykon was threatening. He had no intention of trying to find out, though.

He quietly prayed to the Dark One for his daughter’s and lover’s safety and quietly followed his leader out the door.

Thoughts?

[CoffeeIncluded]

Aww, it's so short! But I like it anyways.

Just one thing: Reddy's soul had to consent to being raised...In these circumstances, why would he?

[The Dark Fiddler]

Maybe it happened to quickly for him to deny?

[Lira]

Why Redcloak consented to being raised, quoted from the previous chapter:

The cleric stooped a little further, frowning darkly. “What makes you believe that I can resurrect him, my lord? The soul needs to be willing to return to the body.”

“Reddy’s not going to want to hang too much around the afterlife. Probably worried about getting gang-beaten by his family. And he’s still got things to do, deicidal abominations to enslave, and stillborn children to take care of. Oh, and he also needs to figure out how to release his whore’s soul.”

[CoffeeIncluded]

Ah, thanks.

[Dark_Stryke]

Water-Smurf:I liked it, but seeing Xykon call Redcloak "bitch" is still a little jarring. I know that he said it in SoD, but from what I gather it was only once? Having him say it to Reddy every other paragraph just seems weird.

It's only a minor complaint. Other than that it was of the same high quality I've come to enjoy in all your other chapters.

[Kill Screen]

I know I'm a bit new here--but I've recently read the ongoing story and I've liked it so far
...It's not my typical shipping, but I still like it.

Even though I do agree with the poster above--that was a bit jarring, but I still like it.
I hope the next chapter is just as good ^^

[DarkElfGangsta]

wow. this is just amazing so far. how are do you manage to outdo yourself every time you post a story?!

[Dark_Stryke]

I know I'm a bit new here--but I've recently read the ongoing story and I've liked it so far
...It's not my typical shipping, but I still like it.

Even though I do agree with the poster above--that was a bit jarring, but I still like it.
I hope the next chapter is just as good ^^

Ah, but there's so much more to read. Like my two chapters located on pages 5 and 7 of this thread. Shameless self-promotion? Whatever do you mean?.

On a related note, how would I go about getting Lira to include the name of my story ("Not for Everyone") on the main index... thingy? Private Message? Or will her all-seeing gaze find the request in this very post? Does she see all? Is she watching me right now?!

[Kill Screen]

Ah, but there's so much more to read. Like my two chapters located on pages 5 and 7 of this thread. Shameless self-promotion? Whatever do you mean?.

I liked it, it was very well written--of course, RoyxMiko is one of my base ships...
Except I like VxMiko better, but hey, everyone's got their prefrences.
XD So yeah--I might put a bit of my main ship Oh noes, self promotion, Kill Screen, you really don't mean you're going to put...BelkarxHaley on here, because no one else did? Yes, yes it does. *shot for her self-promotion* So yeah. XD