Haley/Zz'dtri

Haley sat at the counter of a tavern, quietly drinking a cold glass of Dwarven Ale. It wasn't very often when she got a moment like this to herself, and she wanted to savor it as much as possible before Roy called for yet another meeting to discuss "tactics." Grimly staring at the bottom of the now-empty mug, she ordered another glass. Soon enough, that would also be empty. After a few minutes, the doors to the tavern opened and a drow walked in. At first, Haley was quite indifferent, hoping he would just ignore her. After she got a better look, though, she sprang out of her barstool and grabbed her bow.

"You! What the hell are you doing here?"

Zz'dtri glanced at Haley with a rather weary look on his face. "First place I came to. Didn't know you were here."

"You have to have a better excuse than that. Why shouldn't I think you're here with the Linear Guild?"

He put his hands up just below his shoulders, saying, "Not with Guild anymore. Just came for a drink. Don't want trouble."

Haley considered his words for a few moments, made a quick Sense Motive check, and then lowered her bow. The drow was either very good with his Bluff skill, or he was being truthful. She sat again and returned to her ale. Zz'dtri went to the interestingly unfazed barkeep and asked for his own glass of ale, as well as a room key for the night. The two of them sat at the bar for a long, silent, and awkward moment. Eventually, Haley broke the silence.

"So… I thought you were taken away by those lawyers. How did you get away?"

Zz'dtri shrugged. "Wasn't hard. Still had spells left."

"And you tried to find Nale and the rest of the Linear Guild after escaping, right?"

He shook his head. "Never really liked them. Only went with them because they paid me."

Haley smiled a little. That was certainly something she could identify with. "You don't say. But why, if I may ask, didn't you like them?"

"They were stupid. Especially Nale. Glad to be rid of them."

Haley didn't really know why, but she couldn't help but laugh at that particular statement (Perhaps their newfound mutual loathing of Nale was a part of it.) Even Zz'dtri smiled, if only by the loosest sense of the term and only for half a second. The rogue somehow felt like any former animosity between the two of them had rapidly dissolved, leaving only a friendly atmosphere between acquaintances, though that was also changing at a steady pace. They continued conversing for a long time, bringing each other up to speed on their travels and what they had done. It was a long time before either of them noticed they both had been creeping closer and closer to each other. And even then, it didn't really matter to either.

After about an hour and a half of this strange ritual, a combination of friendly conversation and slowly edging towards each other, Haley asked, "Um… How long are you going to stay here?" By now, their hands were less than a centimeter from touching.

"Leaving tomorrow."

"Really? You can't stay?"

"Can, but won't."

"Oh, I see." Haley hung her head a little, and Zz'dtri adopted a concerned look. "Something wrong?"

"It's just…" she sighed. "I'm going to be here for a while, and it's been a long time since I've had someone new to talk to. And if you're going to be gone tomorrow…" It was the worst Bluff check Haley had ever made in her life.

Zz'dtri, however, was willing to play along. In a rare taking of initiative, he took the rogue's hand in his own, any pretense of stealth gone. "Could make tonight worth remembering."

While at first, Haley was shocked, a small smile soon began to creep across her face. Almost in a trance, she got up and allowed the drow to lead her by the hand to the room he'd just booked. Nobody noticed the very unlikely couple making their way into one of the rooms. In a way, neither did they. Zz'dtri didn't really notice much as he locked the door and took Haley into his arms. Haley missed several details when she locked lips with the drow. The rest of the night passed in something of a frenzy.

The next morning, however, was a different story entirely. When the two woke up entangled with each other on the bed, there was nothing they didn't notice. No detail they didn't absorb. They wanted to burn this scene into their memories, and never forget it. The main detail that they saw was that they both were content. Yes, it was short-lived. Soon enough, Zz'dtri would have to be on his way, but as long as the two of them had a few more minutes together, they would be happy.

Unless otherwise stated, the content of this page is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License