A New Hero

Sapheela

With her head cradled against the crook of Anjali's arm, Rosie wished she could drift off to sleep on the chest of a beautiful woman. Sadly, whenever her breath slowed, and her eyelids lowered, the storm would flare up outside and rock her back awake. They both lay upon the ground, Anjali stretching her naked body across the grass to take most of the cold while Rosie cuddled against her. When the tactics table began to creek from their combined weight, they had to skitter off it. She did not want to have to explain to Karelle or anyone else how she managed to break it.

Fingers rifled through Rosie's hair, lifting the back half and exposing her cowlick she always did her best to hide. Lost in the thrum of her hair being tugged and caressed, Rosie drew her arm across Anjali's stomach. At first she trailed the tattoo, savoring the twists and whorls of the inked ribbon, but her eyes kept being drawn to how pale her skin looked next to Anjali's.

Pale enough one could see her blue veins prodding up from below the white flesh. They were most evident upon her breasts, straining to match some of the stretch marks along the side. Anjali was blessed with neither, her pair pure as silk. Rosie chewed on her lip, watching the assassin's breasts rise and fall with her breath.

"We could get you a tattoo," Anjali spoke up. She must have caught Rosie drawing across hers and read the scene differently.

A small blush burned on her cheeks and she shook her head.

"Come on, maybe a...what are those dogs called?"

"Mabari."

"Yes," the hand secured around Rosie's back to keep her close began to drift down, "right here above your bottom. A secret."

"Someone would notice," Rosie tried to shake away the foolish idea, her entire chest aflame in the blush. The assassin's easy going nature faded to a coolness that matched the storm struggling through a second round. "Because I can't be trusted to dress myself. There's always people around me, doing...things."

At that, Anjali's laugh reverberated up through her chest, once again inviting Rosie to look over. She really should stop doing that. Her assassin curled a finger down along Rosie's round jawline and tugged her face up. Planting her chin into Anjali's chest, Rosie stared up into those bottomless umber eyes.

"You are too beautiful for words," she whispered, a satisfied smile playing with her lips. While Rosie struggled to think of a response, Anjali curled her hair back behind her ear. "What about hashmarks?"

"Hashmarks?"

"As a tattoo. To represent your kills. You took down quite a few darkspawn."

"I had help," she laughed, feeling silly about the whole disaster. "Like, say, a charming assassin watching over me." Climbing higher, Rosie inched along the grass with her hip while her fingers walked against Anjali's chest. "Protecting me."

Forgetting her fears, Rosie slid up to fully straddle Anjali, her hands pressing down into the soft dirt while she lost herself in those beautiful eyes. Hands cupped against Rosie's stomach, curling around to shield her waist and eventually working around to that bum Anjali wanted to tattoo. "It's rather romantic really," Rosie whispered while bending towards the woman.

When their lips met, a great roll of thunder reverberated through the night's sky. She felt Anjali stiffen a moment below her, but Rosie plied her away from the weather by the use of her tongue. Running her calloused hand up to hold Rosie's cheek, Anjali muttered a string of Rivani words before kissing her lips once more.

"I'm afraid I don't know..." Rosie began, blinking madly in the waning light. All they had left was a single lantern, its oil already waning. Soon it'd be two warm, naked bodies clinging together in the dark.