mickume/dnd_drow · Datasets at Hugging Face

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"Why are you so concerned about my sleeping schedule?" Shadowheart asked.
"Because," Lae’zel started pointedly, "if you are not at your best tomorrow morning I will rip out your intestines myself and hang you from them."
"Rough, but you have threatened me with worse," Shadowheart shrugged.
"Why won’t you let me speak," Lae’zel said through gritted teeth.
That... took Shadowheart by surprise.
"Alright. Go ahead. Speak," she said, genuinely curious.
(Lae’zel hadn’t just come to annoy her? Although she hadn’t been annoying Shadowheart. Not really. They had been amusing each other, threats and all.
Shadowheart almost forgot her anxiety for a moment.)
The githyanki, however, seemed to struggle for a moment.
(Struggle with herself)
"Who knows how many battles we will wage tomorrow. You need to sleep," Lae’zel finally said.
"Well, I don’t think I can. Will you leave me alone?"
"Right," Shadowheart sighed and sat down. "I’ll just ignore you then."
And was about to turn towards the fire again when Lae’zel kept talking.
"You once told me to talk about," she cringed for a second, "my feelings."
"More or less, yes. I did."
"We don’t have time for that now."
"To talk about your feelings?" Shadowheart asked, confused.
"No! To talk about your feelings," Lae’zel sighed. "We would be here all night, I presume."
"But you still need to sleep," and without any previous warning, Lae’zel reached out and pulled Shadowheart’s right arm until she stood up again.
Lae’zel didn’t seem to be listening to her.
"We are going to sleep together," she kept pulling, and the shock made Shadowheart actually follow her.
Shadowheart’s brain blanked for what seemed like ages.
(Her legs kept moving. Her heart raced.)
"We are going to what ?!"
Lae’zel, who hadn’t been looking at her, turned around just enough to give her a side glance.
"Chk! Not like that. You are going to lie next to me, and we are both going to sleep."
Oh. Oh, okay. She could do that. Try that, at least.
"Cuddling?" Shadowheart asked, and Lae’zel made a disgruntled noise.
"Not cuddling."
(Had Shadowheart felt hopeful for a second?
No. She hadn’t. Nevermind.)
What gave Lae’zel the idea that lying next to each other would help Shadowheart sleep, that was a mystery. But she seemed very keen on trying it.
And Shadowheart was too baffled to say no.
She found herself lying next to Lae’zel, a spare bedroll put in advance next to the githyanki’s. Maybe it was the one they had gotten for Arabella while she had stayed with them at camp.
In any case it was weird thinking she had planned it in advance and was so adamant on trying. On making Shadowheart sleep. Lae’zel was worrying about her wellbeing, and that stirred something deep inside the cleric’s heart. It was... not something her heart did, on the usual. As her heart warmed, the wound in her hand hurt. Excruciatingly, even worse than the other times it hurt that day. For longer, too.
Shadowheart took her hand to her chest and gritted her teeth. Closed her eyes. It would pass. It would go away. It always did.
A hand snatched her own, and squeezed it. Unsteadily but... it was comforting.
(It was amazing.)
The pain went away, eventually. Shadowheart slept that night. Ironically, Lae’zel didn’t let out a single snore.
No one talked about the fact that Shadowheart had woken up entangled between Lae’zel’s arms, though everyone had awoken before them.
Lae’zel didn’t either. As soon as she had opened her eyes (after a failed attempt of Shadowheart to disentangle herself without waking the githyanki up) Lae’zel straightened up and looked away.
"See? You were able to sleep."
That said, she stood up and proceeded to get ready for the day.
"Lae’zel. Lae’zel."
Shadowheart probably had a death wish, waking up Lae’zel in the middle of the night. And surely, the githyanki reached for her sword before even opening her eyes, and stopped short once she recognized Shadowheart’s voice.
"What? " She didn’t even sound sleepy. She was fully awake, amber eyes piercing Shadoweheart.
"I was taking watch and I had an idea," she smiled. Lae’zel frowned.
"Good to know your brain is working— hey!" Shadowheart slapped her shoulder, not trying to hurt her. "If you were a stranger, I would cut your hand right now."
"But I’m no stranger!" Shadowheart smile went even bigger.
They were on their way to Baldur’s Gate. The events occurred below the Moonrise Towers had been harrowing but somehow, after their journey together until that point, weren’t even that difficult to take in.
(They truly didn’t have the time to process everything properly, so the cleric suspected the majority of them were mostly numb at that point.)
Now, the thing about their dream visitor being a mindflayer? That had left everyone quite fucked. Badly. Lae’zel, on top of that, had received another hit with the revelation of that Orpheus guy being alive.
(Shadowheart hadn’t been listening that much at that point, admittedly.)
"A tragedy, I know—"
"I want to dye my hair," Shadowheart interrupted. Lae’zel straightened up, almost bumping heads with Shadowheart.
"You want to what."
"Well, bleach it. Go full white. Maybe get a little haircut. What do you think?"
"I think that I want to sleep. And that you should sleep too, so those stupid ideas don’t get in your head,"
"But I need help!" Shadowheart largely ignored Lae’zel and grabbed the same shoulder she had slapped just before.
"Go ask Scratch."
"Scratch is a dog, I’m afraid."
"Tsk’va! Then Tav! I don’t care!"
"Just help me, would you?" And Shadowheart brought the pout. Her best hidden weapon. Lae’zel’s eyes turned slits as she opened her mouth, readying a counter that wouldn’t come.
So Shadowheart had a religious crisis. That much was clear to her and everyone in her surroundings. She had been rambling (a lot) to everyone who would hear her after the night she slept by Lae’zel’s side. No one had told her her choice had been the wrong one, or had asked her to shut up. They were quite supportive, in fact.
(Just as Lae’zel had been.)
Additionally, she felt Selune’s warmth from the moment she had rejected Shar. She hadn’t noticed at first, but it was definitely there. Her powers were changed too, if just so slightly. The cleric was changed.
But Shadowheart was twitchy, and who could blame her? No one in their group was completely okay, but on top of what everyone had experienced, Shadowheart was having nightmares every time (of the few) she fell asleep. She woke up screaming and sweating, and each of her friends had woken up at least once and had gone to try to calm her down, their newest addition to the team, Jaheira, included. Even Isobel and Aylin had sat down with her several nights, talking to her until she fell asleep again.
(Bless the lesbians. They had helped her to understand her own change. Patient, peaceful, taking Shadowheart’s hand into theirs whenever she needed support.)
Reassurance. It felt nice to receive it just after Shar had appeared in your dreams telling you how much of a disgrace and a failure you were.
(Shadowheart wasn’t sure it was truly Shar or just her subconscious. Couldn’t tell the difference anymore. But she definitely knew Shar was mad. The sheer number of times her wound had hurt in the last week were more than enough to let her know that.
Selune’s protection could only go so far.)
Aylin in fact had said something to the cleric that had struck something within her.
"You are your own new person, Shadowheart."
So, new Shadowheart meant new hair. Or maybe not. But it seemed like a good idea at 1 am.
(Isobel had originally suggested her getting a new hairstyle as a joke, but as it turned out...)
"Fine! Fine. Just stop touching me," Lae’zel groaned as she pushed her away. "Do you have any idea of how to do it?"
"Oh, Isobel bleaches her hair every now and then, so actually she told me..."
Picking up everything necessary, they got closer to the river to not disturb the sleep of... apparently, just Karlach and Wyll. Withers didn’t sleep (and he actually looked pointedly at them as they walked away) and the rest were gone.
(Tav hadn’t lost time. They were all over Halsin as soon as they left the now cured Shadowlands.
If she was Aylin or Isobel she of course would be spending all the time in the world with her girlfriend. And yep, that implied getting some action almost every night.
Gale and Astarion were still a complete mystery. In the sense that Shadowheart didn’t want to ask. Of course they were having sex, she was not stupid.)
"Can’t believe they are all fucking each other," Shadowheart mumbled.
They went after the motions Isobel had previously explained Shadowheart. It was nice. Lae’zel was no hairdresser, and Shadowheart didn’t know exactly what she wanted, but they managed. A tiny ball of light created by Shadowheart accompanied them the entire night, even as the first sunlight hit them right in the face and Halsin and Tav came back shirtless and chatting animatedly.
"Chk," was the only thing Lae’zel had to say to their distant hand waves.
"Looking good, Shadowheart!" Tav said as they continued walking.
"Thank you! Hope you had fun!" Shadowheart answered, and Tav smiled even bigger, Halsin chuckling behind them. Then she turned and, without thinking, asked Lae’zel, "do I look good?"
The silence that followed was definitely awkward, as it struck Shadowheart the fact that she had asked that question to Lae’zel. But as the sunlight illuminated Lae’zel’s face, there was no doubt: she was blushing. Hard.
"I’ll go get a mirror," was what she eventually said, leaving Shadowheart with her mouth agape.
(And maybe, just maybe, a blush starting to appear on her own cheeks.)
Lae’zel indeed came back not only with a mirror, but also with a dagger.
"Don’t think Astarion will miss it," she said as she handed the mirror to Shadowheart.
"Is he back already?"
Shadowheart looked at her reflection and was stunned for a long while. It was white, it was so white. She didn’t look like herself, and she loved it.
Her hand went up to her bangs, touching them carefully. Like they weren’t real, but they were . She couldn’t wait to get her hair back up in a braid, though she might consider letting it down more often now.
(If it wasn’t so annoying to fight with her hair down...)
"May I make a suggestion?" Lae’zel said.
(Which was an odd question coming from Lae’zel, in the first place.)
"Of course," Shadowheart didn’t miss a beat, still looking at herself.
She saw the flash of the dagger before Lae’zel got close, but found herself not even flinching.

"Why are you so concerned about my sleeping schedule?" Shadowheart asked.

"Because," Lae’zel started pointedly, "if you are not at your best tomorrow morning I will rip out your intestines myself and hang you from them."

"Rough, but you have threatened me with worse," Shadowheart shrugged.

"Why won’t you let me speak," Lae’zel said through gritted teeth.

That... took Shadowheart by surprise.

"Alright. Go ahead. Speak," she said, genuinely curious.

(Lae’zel hadn’t just come to annoy her? Although she hadn’t been annoying Shadowheart. Not really. They had been amusing each other, threats and all.

Shadowheart almost forgot her anxiety for a moment.)

The githyanki, however, seemed to struggle for a moment.

(Struggle with herself)

"Who knows how many battles we will wage tomorrow. You need to sleep," Lae’zel finally said.

"Well, I don’t think I can. Will you leave me alone?"

"Right," Shadowheart sighed and sat down. "I’ll just ignore you then."

And was about to turn towards the fire again when Lae’zel kept talking.

"You once told me to talk about," she cringed for a second, "my feelings."

"More or less, yes. I did."

"We don’t have time for that now."

"To talk about your feelings?" Shadowheart asked, confused.

"No! To talk about your feelings," Lae’zel sighed. "We would be here all night, I presume."

"But you still need to sleep," and without any previous warning, Lae’zel reached out and pulled Shadowheart’s right arm until she stood up again.

Lae’zel didn’t seem to be listening to her.

"We are going to sleep together," she kept pulling, and the shock made Shadowheart actually follow her.

Shadowheart’s brain blanked for what seemed like ages.

(Her legs kept moving. Her heart raced.)

"We are going to what ?!"

Lae’zel, who hadn’t been looking at her, turned around just enough to give her a side glance.

"Chk! Not like that. You are going to lie next to me, and we are both going to sleep."

Oh. Oh, okay. She could do that. Try that, at least.

"Cuddling?" Shadowheart asked, and Lae’zel made a disgruntled noise.

"Not cuddling."

(Had Shadowheart felt hopeful for a second?

No. She hadn’t. Nevermind.)

What gave Lae’zel the idea that lying next to each other would help Shadowheart sleep, that was a mystery. But she seemed very keen on trying it.

And Shadowheart was too baffled to say no.

She found herself lying next to Lae’zel, a spare bedroll put in advance next to the githyanki’s. Maybe it was the one they had gotten for Arabella while she had stayed with them at camp.

In any case it was weird thinking she had planned it in advance and was so adamant on trying. On making Shadowheart sleep. Lae’zel was worrying about her wellbeing, and that stirred something deep inside the cleric’s heart. It was... not something her heart did, on the usual. As her heart warmed, the wound in her hand hurt. Excruciatingly, even worse than the other times it hurt that day. For longer, too.

Shadowheart took her hand to her chest and gritted her teeth. Closed her eyes. It would pass. It would go away. It always did.

A hand snatched her own, and squeezed it. Unsteadily but... it was comforting.

(It was amazing.)

The pain went away, eventually. Shadowheart slept that night. Ironically, Lae’zel didn’t let out a single snore.

No one talked about the fact that Shadowheart had woken up entangled between Lae’zel’s arms, though everyone had awoken before them.

Lae’zel didn’t either. As soon as she had opened her eyes (after a failed attempt of Shadowheart to disentangle herself without waking the githyanki up) Lae’zel straightened up and looked away.

"See? You were able to sleep."

That said, she stood up and proceeded to get ready for the day.

"Lae’zel. Lae’zel."

Shadowheart probably had a death wish, waking up Lae’zel in the middle of the night. And surely, the githyanki reached for her sword before even opening her eyes, and stopped short once she recognized Shadowheart’s voice.

"What? " She didn’t even sound sleepy. She was fully awake, amber eyes piercing Shadoweheart.

"I was taking watch and I had an idea," she smiled. Lae’zel frowned.

"Good to know your brain is working— hey!" Shadowheart slapped her shoulder, not trying to hurt her. "If you were a stranger, I would cut your hand right now."

"But I’m no stranger!" Shadowheart smile went even bigger.

They were on their way to Baldur’s Gate. The events occurred below the Moonrise Towers had been harrowing but somehow, after their journey together until that point, weren’t even that difficult to take in.

(They truly didn’t have the time to process everything properly, so the cleric suspected the majority of them were mostly numb at that point.)

Now, the thing about their dream visitor being a mindflayer? That had left everyone quite fucked. Badly. Lae’zel, on top of that, had received another hit with the revelation of that Orpheus guy being alive.

(Shadowheart hadn’t been listening that much at that point, admittedly.)

"A tragedy, I know—"

"I want to dye my hair," Shadowheart interrupted. Lae’zel straightened up, almost bumping heads with Shadowheart.

"You want to what."

"Well, bleach it. Go full white. Maybe get a little haircut. What do you think?"

"I think that I want to sleep. And that you should sleep too, so those stupid ideas don’t get in your head,"

"But I need help!" Shadowheart largely ignored Lae’zel and grabbed the same shoulder she had slapped just before.

"Go ask Scratch."

"Scratch is a dog, I’m afraid."

"Tsk’va! Then Tav! I don’t care!"

"Just help me, would you?" And Shadowheart brought the pout. Her best hidden weapon. Lae’zel’s eyes turned slits as she opened her mouth, readying a counter that wouldn’t come.

So Shadowheart had a religious crisis. That much was clear to her and everyone in her surroundings. She had been rambling (a lot) to everyone who would hear her after the night she slept by Lae’zel’s side. No one had told her her choice had been the wrong one, or had asked her to shut up. They were quite supportive, in fact.

(Just as Lae’zel had been.)

Additionally, she felt Selune’s warmth from the moment she had rejected Shar. She hadn’t noticed at first, but it was definitely there. Her powers were changed too, if just so slightly. The cleric was changed.

But Shadowheart was twitchy, and who could blame her? No one in their group was completely okay, but on top of what everyone had experienced, Shadowheart was having nightmares every time (of the few) she fell asleep. She woke up screaming and sweating, and each of her friends had woken up at least once and had gone to try to calm her down, their newest addition to the team, Jaheira, included. Even Isobel and Aylin had sat down with her several nights, talking to her until she fell asleep again.

(Bless the lesbians. They had helped her to understand her own change. Patient, peaceful, taking Shadowheart’s hand into theirs whenever she needed support.)

Reassurance. It felt nice to receive it just after Shar had appeared in your dreams telling you how much of a disgrace and a failure you were.

(Shadowheart wasn’t sure it was truly Shar or just her subconscious. Couldn’t tell the difference anymore. But she definitely knew Shar was mad. The sheer number of times her wound had hurt in the last week were more than enough to let her know that.

Selune’s protection could only go so far.)

Aylin in fact had said something to the cleric that had struck something within her.

"You are your own new person, Shadowheart."

So, new Shadowheart meant new hair. Or maybe not. But it seemed like a good idea at 1 am.

(Isobel had originally suggested her getting a new hairstyle as a joke, but as it turned out...)

"Fine! Fine. Just stop touching me," Lae’zel groaned as she pushed her away. "Do you have any idea of how to do it?"

"Oh, Isobel bleaches her hair every now and then, so actually she told me..."

Picking up everything necessary, they got closer to the river to not disturb the sleep of... apparently, just Karlach and Wyll. Withers didn’t sleep (and he actually looked pointedly at them as they walked away) and the rest were gone.

(Tav hadn’t lost time. They were all over Halsin as soon as they left the now cured Shadowlands.

If she was Aylin or Isobel she of course would be spending all the time in the world with her girlfriend. And yep, that implied getting some action almost every night.

Gale and Astarion were still a complete mystery. In the sense that Shadowheart didn’t want to ask. Of course they were having sex, she was not stupid.)

"Can’t believe they are all fucking each other," Shadowheart mumbled.

They went after the motions Isobel had previously explained Shadowheart. It was nice. Lae’zel was no hairdresser, and Shadowheart didn’t know exactly what she wanted, but they managed. A tiny ball of light created by Shadowheart accompanied them the entire night, even as the first sunlight hit them right in the face and Halsin and Tav came back shirtless and chatting animatedly.

"Chk," was the only thing Lae’zel had to say to their distant hand waves.

"Looking good, Shadowheart!" Tav said as they continued walking.

"Thank you! Hope you had fun!" Shadowheart answered, and Tav smiled even bigger, Halsin chuckling behind them. Then she turned and, without thinking, asked Lae’zel, "do I look good?"

The silence that followed was definitely awkward, as it struck Shadowheart the fact that she had asked that question to Lae’zel. But as the sunlight illuminated Lae’zel’s face, there was no doubt: she was blushing. Hard.

"I’ll go get a mirror," was what she eventually said, leaving Shadowheart with her mouth agape.

(And maybe, just maybe, a blush starting to appear on her own cheeks.)

Lae’zel indeed came back not only with a mirror, but also with a dagger.

"Don’t think Astarion will miss it," she said as she handed the mirror to Shadowheart.

"Is he back already?"

Shadowheart looked at her reflection and was stunned for a long while. It was white, it was so white. She didn’t look like herself, and she loved it.

Her hand went up to her bangs, touching them carefully. Like they weren’t real, but they were . She couldn’t wait to get her hair back up in a braid, though she might consider letting it down more often now.

(If it wasn’t so annoying to fight with her hair down...)

"May I make a suggestion?" Lae’zel said.

(Which was an odd question coming from Lae’zel, in the first place.)

"Of course," Shadowheart didn’t miss a beat, still looking at herself.

She saw the flash of the dagger before Lae’zel got close, but found herself not even flinching.