Of Lovers and Dogs (or, A Typical Night at Camp)
Siofra fell onto her lover in a heap. Breathlessly, she curled into his side, fitting nicely into the crook of his arm. Alistair's other arm was thrown haphazardly over his face, eyes half-lidded and mouth open slightly, basking in the afterglow as she traced circles on his chest. She nuzzled into his shoulder as he stroked her hair lightly.
"Do you know that I love you?" he asked quietly.
"Of course," she replied, sighing happily. "Why do you always ask me?"
"Well, I just thought that with all the fighting, you never hear it enough, and that it wouldn't hurt to tell you again." He chuckled nervously.
"Thank you Alistair, that's very sweet."
Siofra leaned up to kiss his nose. She draped one arm lazily over his stomach while her other arm snaked behind his head to run her fingers through his hair. He pulled her closer and she turned her face into his neck, letting her mind wander. It was so easy to take time like this for granted, wasted minutes here and there as the rest of the camp slept around them.
"I love you too." she murmured into his shoulder.
"It's so nice to hear you say it," Alistair joked. He rolled over to face Siofra and propped himself up on one elbow."You never say it, and I was hurt."
"Oh you were not," Siofra said, smiling, bopping him on the side of the head.
"Well, no but I could have been. And then you'd have to try that much harder to win me over again."
"Alistair, I could win you over with a piece of cheese."
"Ooh! You have cheese?" Alistair asked excitedly. He sat up and searched for her pack, pulling the blanket with him.
"No I don't!" Siofra exclaimed, yanking the blanket back, taking Alistair with it. "But that's not the point. The point is that you're very easy to win over."
"How do you mean?" he asked, lying flat on his back.
Smirking, Siofra dropped the blanket. It billowed at her knees, exposing herself to him.
"You're right," he said, reaching up to cup her face.
As he rolled her over, he whispered in her ear: "I am pretty easy."
A short while later, they breathlessly lay tangled in a mass of limbs and blankets. Siofra pulled Alistair's face to hers and kissed him long and slow as he heaved above her. Suddenly, they were interrupted by a commotion outside their tent.
"Warden! You really gotta do somethin' about yer dog! He got into my secret stash again."
Alistair groaned. Sighing heavily, he slid out of her and flopped onto his back.
"Max! C'mere boy!"Siofra patted her lap and the tent flaps opened. In bolted her war-hound, covered head to toe in mud and reeking of alcohol.
Alistair opened his mouth to protest, then abruptly closed it. He could have sworn he could see Oghren smiling luridly as the flaps quickly closed. He didn't have time to linger on that thought however because Siofra's dog jumped from her lap to his, littering him with kisses.
"Dearest-oof- your dog-oof!"
"Aww, he's just saying hi, isn't he? Such a good little puppy!" She propped her chin on Alistair's shoulder and grabbed Max's muzzle with both hands."Besides, I think he misses you. You never talk to him anymore like you used to."
"That's because you never let me," he said lowly, turning to meet her lips. He had just deepened the kiss when Max made his presence known once again. Alistair winced.
"Um, Siofra, your dog..."He motioned downward with his head. Siofra laughed.
"Can you move him?" he asked, pained.
"C'mere Max!" Siofra motioned to the space between them. Max sat down happily. He rested his head happily on Alistair's lap while Siofra scratched behind his ears.
Alistair mustered a smile as Siofra looked up at him.
"Well, this wasn't how I was expecting to spend my evening," he started, joining Siofra's scratching as Max happily dozed on his lap. "Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against your dog, but it's one of the few nights we don't have watch duty. And thanks for laughing at my discomfort, love."
"No problem," she joked as Alistair mustered his best pout. "Oh, you'd have been fine. That wasn't the first time something has jumped on your crotch."
"But I had armour then," he whined. "Everything was protected."
His voice squeaked a little bit on the higher register, and Max's head shot up. They could hear chuckling outside the tent and Siofra spoke up.
"Ohgren?" she questioned.
She was rewarded with another short chuckle. "I hope you three are having fun in there. I didn't think you'd be into that sorter thing. Especially the little pike-twirler"
Alistair blushed and coughed uncomfortably."What is he talking about?" he asked quietly as Siofra shook her head in disbelief.
Crawling to the front of the tent, she stuck her head out the flaps."Oghren, have you been listening to us out there the whole time?"
"What else was I supposed to do?" Oghren asked, taking a long swig from his hip flask. "There's nothing else to do out here, besides listen to you two. Now you got the dog in there. What was I supposed to think?"
"The dog just needed some attention, isn't that right, Max?" Alistair asked, in a voice normally reserved for babies and rubbed the dog's head with both hands.
Max barked and jumped up, resting his paws on the big man's shoulders and licking his face.
"And Oghren?" Siofra said. "Try hiding your stash better. You should know by now that Max can find anything."
"Yeah, yeah," Oghren mumbled. "The sodding Warden and her sodding dog."
"Oh, and Oghren? You can stand watch at another place in camp. You don't have to stand by our tent the whole time."
Oghren chuckled again, and he could be heard shuffling off to another part of the camp.
"Enchantment!" Sandal called in the distance. Oghren belched in response.
Siofra settled back down against Alistair's shoulder as Max lay sprawled out in front of him. He scratched the dog's belly.
"That was awkward."
"He's gone now. Now what are we going to do about this?" Rolling onto her knees, she picked up one end of the muddy blanket. Alistair looked at her with that faraway gaze and that stupid grin that let her know he wasn't really paying attention to her face.
"Alistair, up here."
"What? What?" he asked, abruptly looking up. Flustered, he scrambled to cover himself. Siofra looked slyly as he rose to attention, pitching his own little tent with the muddy blanket.
"Well, I guess it has been a while for you, hasn't it?" she said, shaking her head.
Max perked his head up at the sudden movement under the blanket.
"Max, go get Alistair's bedroll." Siofra commanded, and the dog happily bounded off.
"We really should do something about that, now shouldn't we?" she said, lowly, throwing the blanket off of him.
She threw her arms around him with enough force to knock him on his back. It didn't take long to forget the muddy blanket.