Belle knotted the rag tightly over her wound while Astarion consumed the life blood she'd poured him. She concentrated on securing the knot so she didn't have to acknowledge the low moans coming from him. It only took a couple of seconds for them to stop, thank god, as they sounded utterly debauched! Not having heard moans like that since her first boyfriend at the tender age of seventeen, she looked back up to see him licking the inside of the cup. Oh, look, her bandage needed more attention!
He replaced the cup on the log. Daring to look again, he was now wiping the blood smile left around his mouth& licking the remaining traces from his fingers. She was never going to be able to burn these images from her brain. Her shoulder devil was drooling.
"Better?" she cleared her throat.
"Mmmm, that was …delicious. It's no wonder he forb –" he snapped his teeth shut, refusing to continue the sentence. She let his slip slide.
"…. good. Hopefully it helps."
He closed his eyes, head tilted slightly back.
"I feel …. clear. In my mind. Thankyou."
He looked back to her before getting to his feet.
Ooooo, she got a delicious & a thank you! Kinda made up for the shitty day she'd had.
"Now, if you don't mind, I need to find something more … filling." He turned to leave, striding off. Oh, his posture had changed, look at that back!
"Later tater" she called softly, as he disappeared into the tree line. Maybe he wouldn't be such a shit from now on….
She quickly checked the bandage to make sure no seepage was occurring. None could be seen. The knot was as tight as she could get it without cutting circulation.
Getting to her feet, she held her wrist up to her chest to mitigate bleeding & stood there a minute longer to make sure she wouldn't pass out. Feeling ok, she made her way back to the front of her own tent, & stopped in her tracks when she saw Brian, standing still in front of his own tent, staring at Shadowheart. It was the single most scary thing she'd seen since watching Paranormal Activity.
Every nerve in her body tightened instantly; she'd never had such a visceral body reaction before in her life. It made her muscles tense & vibrate. Her concentration narrowed to a laser point. The aura he put out was one of such malice she was surprised she couldn't see it.
Belle had no idea why she did it; her body had taken over completely at this point. She bent down, picked up a sizeable rock she hadn't even laid eyes on until right then, & piffed it straight as his head. It made a hollow sound as it connected & bounced off his scales. He didn't even flinch. Fuck. Why had Gus ignored her instructions on tying this guy up? He was murder incarnate when he was like this. And although she wouldn't cry a river if he offed Shart (at least, not as she was right now), she couldn't condone waking up in the morning to such a grizzly sight.
To her immense relief, Lae'zel had wandered back into camp & had woken Wyll to take the next shift. Both had noticed at the same time as Belle there was trouble, & surrounded the large dragon-born from each side. Wyll looked over at her, made sure she was unharmed, nodded, & tried talking to the murderous lizard.
"Hey there, big guy. Feel like laying back down?"
The reptile head turned, ever so slightly, & now regarded Wyll with what she could only assume was the same stare he'd levelled at Shadowheart.
"If you refuse to comply, we will tie you down" Lae'zel informed him. She'd make a great police woman.
"He was meant to be anyway. Why isn't he bound?" Belle contributed.
Neither glanced at her, not taking their eyes off the beast lest he suddenly attack.
"Gus couldn't bring himself to do it" Wyll answered from the side of his mouth.
Fuck a duck he hadn't taken her seriously enough!
"Is he even aware?" Lae'zel asked, eyes narrowing at Brian.
"Nah, he's something like sleepwalking. But, for fuck's sake, don't go near him!"
"You and I are going to talk tomorrow, Earthling. I have questions."
Ok, maybe Withers had a point ….
"It would take the whole camp to restrain him if he fought. I will continue watch duty if you take over watching the Brian." Lae'zel addressed Wyll.
"Are you sure? You could wake Shadowheart, or Gale, to take over instead?"
The gith snorted.
"Useless as tits on a dragon, both of them."
Oh. Didn't dragons have tits?
"Go to bed, Belle. Don't worry, I'll wake everyone up if necessary."
Brian just kept up that murderous stare, fists clenched.
"You sure?" she asked, uncertainly.
"Positive. I'll make sure he's restrained every night from now on."
"Get Gale to do a full body bind on him."
"A what?"
Oops, wrong fandom.
"Hold monster, or beast, or whatever it is that will restrain him."
Wyll nodded, planting himself, every line of him ready to move if necessary.
She crept into her tent, leaving the flap open. Wasn't any way she'd sleep comfortable with the proverbial door closed, not being able to see danger approaching if necessary. Wasn't any way she was gonna sleep at all for the rest of the night as it was now, but she could at least lie down & rest.
The nudge to her shoulder only brought fuzzy awareness to her mind. Nothing else happened, so she started drifting again.
"No, no, time to wake up."
"…fuggorf…"
"I'm sorry, I don't speak Earthling. Now, here."
A hot cup was thrust into her open palm.
She cracked an eye open. Silver hair & a grinning grinch face. Lovely. Apparently, he'd been serious about waking her from now on.
"Leave. Me. Alone."
"I would, but I can't. Seeing you all feisty like this is … delicious." He invested that with so much double … no … triple entendre her eyes popped open.
"You're such a dork, Astarion. Get outta my way." She sat up, blowing & sipping on the hot brew.
"I heard there was some issue surrounding our new recruit last night. Do tell." He leaned back on his elbow.
"You're a gossiper." Blow. Sip.
"I am. How else am I meant to keep up with camp activities?" He wasn't ashamed in the least.
"Brian slept walked. End of story."
Astarion seemed hung up on the wrong thing as he asked her, "Where on earth did you pick that name from?"
"A dog." Blow. Sip.
"You're as bad as that floating mummy with your short answers." He looked down his nose at her.
"Don't you dare compare me to him!" She shot him an evil, hurt glare.
"Then elaborate."
"There's nothing to elaborate. Just … don't trust him a night-time." She was trying very, very hard to prove Withers wrong, now.
"Like you were good enough to trust me?" he lowered his lashes at her, peering through them. She didn't trust that look, hot as it was.
"That's completely different! You're an asshat, he's …. uh … " she wanted to say 'dangerous', but she had a feeling that would offend him.
They glared at each other for a few moments, before he broke the silence & she cheered (mentally) that she'd won!
"I think you know more than you're letting on." He finally accused her.
She sighed.
"Brian has an acquired brain injury. People like that can sometimes lose control of themselves. Doing weird & dangerous things at times & not remembering it. I know you like weird & dangerous sorts of things, just … beware, is all I'm saying."
Belle was fully aware of the 'Astarion & Durge were meant for each other' trope. Once more, she'd delved into it only to find that the writers had simply had more time to spend on the two having dialogue than with the other characters. It was simply more fleshed out. She was worried, though, because Astarion was drawn to danger & trouble like a moth to flame. Brian was just as likely to murder Astarion as the rest of them, no matter if they were made for each other or not. Her brain tried to slew sideways into the mechanics of fucking a dragon-born, but she pulled it back viscously.
He pondered her answer.
"What on earth did you do on … uh… Earth?"
Looked like she wasn't the only one whose brain went down rabbit holes.
"Helped pretty people like you feel better about themselves."
Mulling that over, he tried to find the Faerunian equivalent.
"A … courtesan? You were a courtesan? I mean, I believe it, you're quite delectable, but your demeanour …" had his entire tone changed with her in just one sentence?
What the fuck was a courtesan? Why did it ring a bell? How had she gone from eyebags to delectable?
"Visitor," Gus called out at large, alerting everyone someone was approaching.