Northbound Pilgrimage II

Chapter LXXI - With a Bottle of Jack's

Aeyrin took a deep breath, inhaling the fresh night air.

It wasn't much use. She could still smell the rum on her.

It was almost painful to think about the long journey that would await them before they finally got to the inn. Before, all she could smell was ash and death and now it was rum. Granted, it was better now. And the journey wouldn't really be that long. She just wished that they would be there already.

She let out a tired groan pointedly as she felt Bishop approach behind her. Would he be willing to carry her back into the city? She was sorely tempted to ask, although with their packs filled with armor, she suspected that she already knew the answer.

Bishop stepped towards her and wrapped his arms around her stomach, dragging her onto his chest. He let out a groan of his own, although it was far from tired as his hands began slowly running over her flanks.

"Finally," he smirked before he dipped his head down to teasingly bite into her shoulder.

He was getting quite friendly there in the middle of the pier. Not that it wasn't pleasant, but they should really wait until they were finally alone at the inn.

"Yeah, we should go. I can't wait to take a bath," she gave him a soft smile and took a step forward, but Bishop didn't move at all. Instead, he coiled his arms around her again in a tight embrace and yanked her back into his chest with a chuckle.

It was when she realized that the strong smell of rum wasn't just a lingering odor from the cabin.

"Are you... are you drunk?" She pried herself off him a little so that she could have a proper look at him. His eyes were a little glassy and his smirk kind of answered the question for him. When in Oblivion did he get drunk?

"Maybe," he snickered. "Come here." Another quick yank brought her back into his tight embrace once more and he quickly nuzzled his face into her neck. His hands were always squeezing her, running over her stomach, before he started to snake them upwards without much subtlety.

"Bishop!" Aeyrin yelped as she quickly grabbed a hold of his hands, holding them at bay. There were people still walking around. Granted, most of them were probably drunk too, but still. "When... how did you even get drunk?"

"What? You think I should have left all that rum there? Come on, would've been a waste," he laughed merrily in response. "He didn't want it anyway." He still wouldn't let up, running his hands over her shirt, although he had at least stopped the attempts at anything more for now.

"So you decided to get drunk right now?" Aeyrin gave him another incredulous look. She still didn't know how she hadn't noticed anything. Although, she was rather preoccupied with Jack. And she did actually notice that something was off about Bishop. She just didn't think that he would really be drunk.

"Hmm-mm." Bishop murmured into the skin on her neck, sending hot puffs of air at her. "Got any better ideas?"

She couldn't deny that she was craving some drink and relaxation too, true. But she was craving a bath much more. Besides, he was already drunk and he didn't even offer any. Likely to keep his theft a secret, but still he could have...

"I saved you some." She could feel the grin on his lips against her skin as he uttered those words. There was a brief moment of fumbling when one of his hands left her stomach, but a second later, it outstretched towards her, presenting Bishop's waterskin.

And she had naively thought that he was drinking so much because of that ash.

Still, she grabbed the waterskin and rattled it a little to see how much was left. It wasn't just one sip as she had feared. And Bishop was already quite drunk, it was only fair that she would get to unwind as well. She uncorked the waterskin and promptly took a deep swig.