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Sethe’s POV
Sethe stared out at the water before her, it was calm and still unlike the environment that surrounded her. They had just come back from the goblins camp, the tieflings decided to throw them a party to celebrate their triumphs as they took down the whole camp. Alfira played a catchy tavern tune in the background, many people were singing and dancing along, the wines in their cups sloshing out and painting the dirt as they spun and twirled around. People clustered in their own little groups talking and laughing. Sethe sits near the lake by the camp, content sitting by herself and indulging in the sounds of the party from afar. It isn’t long before she can hear footsteps approaching her as she takes a sip of wine.
“Mind if I join you?”
A familiar voice rings out against the sounds of the bustling and busy camp. It’s not long before Damian sits down on the sand beside her, a cup in hand and a smile on his face.
“Not big on parties?”
He asks from beside her as he lowers himself down to sit next to her in the sand. She doesn’t look at him, eyes still trained on the water, but she can feel his gaze on her, watching carefully and waiting for a response.
“No, not particularly”
She says as she picks up her own cup sitting in the sand and taking another sip. The wine she drinks is definitely not the best she’s had, the bitter taste causing her to almost grimace as she sets the cup back down.
“I’m guessing you’re enjoying the party?
She asks as she turns towards him and playfully pokes his shoulder, letting a comfortable smile spread on her lips. He chuckles as he shifts in the sand.
“I think it’s more enjoying the small moment of peace amongst this mess we’ve found ourselves in”
“Even if we still aren’t close to figuring out how to remove this tadpole?”
She says playfully, laced with a bit of disappointment. The day leaves her unfulfilled, more questions arising then being answered and more fear building with each day. She’s afraid of what’s to come and what they may find tomorrow at Moonrise.
“I think we made pretty decent progress, we have a lead to Moonrise and less people have to worry about the absolute and their followers”
She thinks on his words for a bit, in a way he is right, but the fear of the unknown is still present, even in his optimism.
“But as Halsin said, we can worry more about that tomorrow. For now, we should enjoy our success here.”
He says with a smile that helps ease her mind as she can feel him lean towards her. She sighs and takes another sip of wine letting the worry disappear for this brief moment, the reassurance helping her to calm down.
“You seemed to be enjoying yourself with Karlach and Wyll, what’s got you talking to me?”
She says with a look full of curiosity. They hadn’t talked much before, any conversation they have had has been about the tadpoles and her almost constant frustration and disappointment, so why would he approach her? She watches him for a moment, he’s quiet, unnaturally quiet for his nature and he seems almost scared.
“Damian?”
She asks him quietly, slightly concerned as she watches his face morph. Did she say something wrong?
“It’s always fun to talk with Karlach and Wyll, but I’d argue my conversations with you are also very enjoyable”
Surprised at his response, she nods, not sure how to respond to him at first. He looked worried, about what she wasn’t sure, but she definitely didn’t expect from how he looked to say something like that. After a bit she clears her throat.
“Well, then in a way I’m glad you consider me at least a decent conversationalist”
She speaks as she goes to pick up and raise her cup from the sand. She brings it up towards Damian with a small smile.
“A toast to surviving another day”
She watches as Damian turns to his own cup, picking it up and clinking it against hers
“A toast to another day”
He repeats back to her as he gently clinks their cups together, both sharing a similar smile.
For a little while after, they rest in the comfortable silence, both seemingly content. As the silence grows, Sethe continues to think about Damian. She’s seen him around camp, talking to everyone and always keeping everyone involved in any way he can, the kindness he exhibits seems to keep him liked by almost everyone all the time.
So again, why approach her?
She doesn’t talk much, not to anyone, the only one she can sometimes keep a consistent conversation with is Astarion, but even then it’s only small things here and there. She's heard murmurs, seen the sometimes questioning glances thrown her way. She's not exactly the stereotypical good guy but not exactly evil either.
What is she?
Between her broken and convoluted mind she can’t pick much out about herself, she can’t remember how she was before this tadpole. Was she funny? Stern? At this rate she’s just going with how her gut tells her to act.
And right now, it seems trusting Damian may be the right thing to do.
She looks back over to him, watches as the moonlight creates almost a halo of light that falls onto him. It’s beautiful and almost ethereal in the way an angel may look.
Hes beautiful
She shakes the thought immediately as it comes into her head causing her to flush slightly, the wine must just be getting to her head.
Sethe is used to being attentive to those around her, but never this attentive, never this calm. It’s as if it’s just them, in their own pocket of quiet as the party rages behind them. Sethe watches Damian quietly, admiring him? No no, appreciating? She isn’t sure exactly how to word it. It isn’t long before he catches her gaze, he seems almost tense or scared?
They quickly look away from each other. Sethe’s heart seems to twist angrily in her chest, catching in her throat. It seems they both wait with bated breath on what will happen next. The awkward silence stretches on for a bit so, Sethe grabs her cup, taking one big swig of liquid courage.
“The moons beautiful tonight isn’t it?”
She says with an outward sigh, letting out a breath she didn’t even know she was holding, the bitter wine helping her to calm down. It takes him a bit to answer.
“Yeah its.. gorgeous”
They sit back in the quiet again, Sethe admiring the moon, she goes to say something else, but she is cut off as they can both hear his name being called by Karlach.
Maybe another time
“Hey Damian! Come listen to what Alfira just played for us!”
They both look back at the bustling party, Karlach standing near the fire waving Damian over with an excited look on her face. Damian looks at her, and she looks at him. She wishes she could tell what he is thinking as she watches his face fall, in what seems to almost be..
Disappointment?
A part of her doesn’t want him to leave, she hopes that he can’t see it, another much stronger part speaks out on her behalf.
“Go with Karlach, don’t let me keep you here”
She says in a way she hopes doesn’t come off as disappointed as she feels. She watches as he looks back at Karlach and then at her before picking up his cup and getting up from the sand slowly, a look of dejection on his face as he turns to leave. She watches him as he begins to walk away towards Karlach, her heart raging in her chest, before he fully leaves he stops and turns back towards her.
“Talk more later?”
She hesitates for a moment, her heart pounding in her ears as she shifts to sit up in the sand before nodding at him.
“Yeah, we will”
She watches him turn away and walk back towards Karlach, a smile on his lips as he follows Karlach back into the party. It must have been only a few minutes, but why did it feel so much longer?
She picks up her cup and grips it tightly, a frown slowly spreading on her face as she tries to calm her frantic heart.
What the heck was that?
Damian’s POV
He can feel the excitement of the day's adventures all around him as he listens to Karlach talk with Wyll and him, idle chatter about the Goblin Camp and the loot found inside, her ranting about Dror Ragzlin’s treasure vault and the infernal iron found inside. He listens to her for a while, before letting his eyes wander around the camp as he drinks a bit more of the water he has in his cup. It isn’t long before he sees Sethe, calmly sitting by herself in the sand, her cup resting close by. She looks peaceful all by herself.
“Damian?”
Karlach snaps in front of his face, causing him to tear his gaze away from Sethe.
“Everything alright?”
Wyll chimes in with Karlach, looking at him confused.
“Sorry Karlach and Wyll, could you give me just a minute?”
Karlach smiles at him, a knowing smile as she looks over his shoulder and then back at him.
“Yeah, we can continue this later soldier”
Wyll looks confused for a moment before agreeing with Karlach, waving him away with a smile.
He approaches Sethe and the second he reaches the sand he can see her tense up, like a spooked animal.
“Mind if I join you?”
He asks as he watches her take a sip of whatever was in her cup. She doesn’t respond, but as he watches the tension leave her shoulders he takes it as a sign to sit down next to her.
“Not big on parties?”
He says as he lowers himself down into the sand with a smile, setting his cup down next to him. He watches her carefully, patiently waiting for her to respond and letting her take her time. He watches as she continues to look out on the water.
“No not particularly”
She says as she picks up her cup and has another sip. He watches her slowly sip from the cup before setting it down.
“I’m guessing you’re enjoying the party?”
She says with a playful smirk as she pokes his shoulder, he watches a smile spread on her lips. He’s never seen her smile before, or at least, smile at him. It stirs something in his chest, catching him slightly off guard as he chuckles, shifting in the sand to face her more.
“I think it’s more enjoying the small moment of peace amongst this mess we’ve found ourselves in”
He watches as she turns away from him, her smile faltering.
“Even if we still aren’t close to figuring out how to remove this tadpole?”
He can tell she’s trying to be playful about it, but he can sense the tone of disappointment under her words. His own smile falters as he watches her look down at the sand.
“I think we made pretty decent progress, we have a lead to Moonrise and less people have to worry about the absolute and their followers.”
He hopes it can help to reassure her, even if just a little bit. They still have hope for tomorrow, even if today wasn’t as successful as they would’ve hoped. He watches her shift in the sand, closing in on herself a bit. It causes his heart to clench almost painfully.
“But as Halsin said, we can worry more about that tomorrow. For now, we should enjoy our success here.”
He leans more towards her with a hopeful smile, he doesn’t want her to look so hopeless, especially when she looked so peaceful not even a moment before. He watches her sigh as she takes another sip of what he can presume now is wine.
“You seemed to be enjoying yourself with Karlach and Wyll, what’s got you talking to me?”
He watches her look over at him again curiously and he can feel his heart in his throat. He can’t tell her the real reason is that he’s been sneaking glances at her all night. Each emotion he catches on her face he seemingly finds.. alluring?
He swallows thickly, his mother’s voice appearing again in the back of his mind, reminding him of how ridiculous the whole situation is. It’s not alluring, he’s just curious is all. Her words ring loudly in his ears, almost suffocatingly loud.
“Don’t let yourself be fooled Damian”
It’s cold, and criticizing. He hates to admit it, but it scares him more than anything he’s faced in the last few days.
“Damian?”
He almost can’t hear it with how loudly his mothers sharp words bounce around in his skull. He clings to the sound of Sethe’s voice, letting it pull him out of his thoughts.
“It’s always fun to talk with Karlach and Wyll, but I’d argue my conversations with you are also very enjoyable.”
He isn’t lying, even if they haven’t spoken much, he’s enjoyed every conversation they’ve had. But from the look on her face, even if it’s brief, it doesn’t seem she buys his response. Instead she looks almost a bit worried, maybe even concerned. Did she happen to notice his doubts? Before he can think on it more she speaks up.
“Well, then in a way I’m glad you consider me at least a decent conversationalist”
He watches her reach for her cup in the sand and bring it up towards him. The smile she shows him helps to further ease his mind even if his mothers voice still rings dull in his ears.
“A toast to surviving another day”
He turns away, picking up his cup with a weak smile and turning back to face her, gently tapping his cup to hers.
“A toast to another day.”
It’s quiet for a while afterwards, the silence grows between them comfortably as his mind continues to wander to the voice of his mother. It’s chastising and chilling, it makes him almost shiver as he tries to steel his nerves. Everything in him is telling him to run, but he can’t bring himself to, there’s something too comfortable about the moment he’s afraid to break. He feels like he’s walking on broken glass.
“Damian, listen to me, you shouldn’t be around someone like her. She’s dangerous.”
His mother continues to scold him, he screws his eyes shut trying to block her voice out. He turns towards Sethe after a while of drowning in his thoughts to see her looking at him. He only catches it for a moment, but her crimson eyes are illuminated by the moonlight, carefully trained on him and watching his movements. He watches her turn away just as quickly, the moment gone before it even started. He turns away as well, his heart pounding in his ears.
The silence that continues is awkward, both of them turned away from each other, he notices the sand moving again as Sethe picks her cup back up. He watches her as she swallows, her fingers delicately wrapped around the cup. The liquid she drinks coating her lips as she pulls the cup away, he watches her tongue dart out to lick away the wine on her lips and for a second he wishes-.
“The moons beautiful tonight isn’t it?”
She hasn’t noticed him yet, her eyes softening as she takes in the beauty of the moon with a soft sigh.
Shes beautiful.
“Yeah its.. beautiful”
He watches as her mouth begins to open, to say something else, but she’s cut off by Karlach’s voice in the distance calling out his name.
“Hey Damian! Come listen to what Alfira just played for us!”
He turns his head to look back at Karlach waving at him with a bright smile on her face. He turns back to look at Sethe and she’s looking right at him.
“Snap out of it Damian”
And with that his trance is broken, he watches as her face falls, a bittersweet smile on her face.
“Go with Karlach, don’t let me keep you here”
He gets up to leave, a part of him aching to stay by her side while another stronger part of him tells him to go hang out with Karlach. He turns to leave, giving her a small smile, hoping that his disappointment isn’t too noticeable. Right before he leaves the sand, he can’t tell if it’s courage or the aching that leaves his heart beating like a drum, but he turns back to her.
“Talk later?”
He watches her hesitate for a moment as she shifts to sit up in the sand. Maybe it was stupid to have asked-.
“Yeah, we will”
He can’t help the grin that spreads on his face after hearing that. He turns away, his heart continuing to pound as he walks up to Karlach.
“Hey soldier, did you have some fun?”
Karlach wiggles her eyebrows and playfully nudges his shoulder, a smile spread on her face. He rolls his eyes in response before briefly glancing back over to Sethe.
Even if he wouldn’t admit it, maybe he did enjoy it a little bit