The Magic of Your Touch

Chapter 1

Beau lets out a grunt as she rests her sore back against a large tree. The Mighty Nein is sleeping after their latest fight. It wasn't an easy one per se, but none of them got knocked out this time, which Beau considers an improvement. The skeletons they fought were as dangerous as they were not because of their strength but because of the sheer number of them.

She looks out at her traveling companions, all of which are sleeping except for Yasha. The forest is cold in the night, but they agreed that a fire wasn't worth the risk. After some debate, the others gave in and let Beau and Yasha take first watch once they pointed out they would be staying up to bandage their wounds anyway. Jester healed everyone up as best she could, but Yasha and Beau were the most damaged since their preferred method of attack means that they need to get close.

Beau pulls out the bandages she always keeps with her and a rag that's permanently a copper, rusty color with frayed strings along the edge. In a practiced motion, she sticks part of the rag into her canteen and quickly tips it down, so it will wet the rag before straightening it back up. Beau sets the canteen aside for a moment and looks down at her crop top, sighing when she sees that it's now partially sliced through, with the part of it around the cut stained purple from her blood.

Grumbling under her breath about yet another ruined shirt, Beau leans forward so her back isn't pressed against the tree anymore and takes off her vest before pulling her shirt over her head. Her chest is still covered with her bindings, and she sets her ruined shirt to the side. Maybe someone can find a use for it.

She grabs her rag and begins cleaning up the area around her wound carefully, wiping the blood off her tan skin. She squeezes it out over the grass, pink water dripping from the rag as she does. Beau gets it wet again and grits her teeth as she cleans up the wound itself, grunting quietly as the rag touches a painful area.

Yasha looks up at the sound of pain coming from Beau, pausing her attempt to clean the relatively shallow cut across her lower arm. She blinks, only now noticing that her companion is no longer wearing a shirt. Yasha's brow creases when she notices the reason for her wearing less clothing. It certainly isn't the worst wound she has ever seen, but it's disconcerting.

"That's a nasty cut," Yasha says.

Despite Yasha's soft voice, the sudden break of silence causes Beau to jump, making her hand spasm and press against a particularly tender part of her wound.

"Shit!" Beau hisses out, flinching at the unexpected pain.

Yasha reaches towards her automatically to steady her, feeling her healing magic swirling just underneath her skin, ready to be released. She hesitates, letting her hand hover in the air for a moment before dropping it back to her side.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you."

"It's good, I'm alright." Beau tries to smile reassuringly, which she isn't great at during the best of times, but right now it looks even more like a grimace than usual.

She absentmindedly continues cleaning her wound, her hand moving in practiced motions while she watches Yasha out of the corner of her eye. Yasha opens her mouth once and pauses, hesitating. Beau doesn't push, knowing that if she wants to talk, she will. Plus, Beau knows that if she tries to indicate that Yasha can talk to her, she'll ramble or just be awkward in a way that would make Molly facepalm if he were awake and listening.

It only takes a few more moments before Yasha speaks. "Would you... would you mind if I took a look? At that?"

Beau nods, trying not to nod too fast that she gives herself whiplash. She did that once when a pretty girl asked her out years ago, and she nodded so hard that her neck hurt for the next few days. "Yeah yeah, of course."

Beau pulls the cloth away from her now clean wound and lets Yasha take it carefully from her hand, who luckily seems too focused on her wound to notice how Beau's breath hitches when their hands touch. Beau silently berates herself for not being able to hide her emotions, to hide her feelings for Yasha. If Archivist Xenoth could only see her now, forgetting everything he ever attempted to teach her... He would be more disappointed in her than he already is.

Yasha uses Beau's damp cloth, gently pressing it to the wound to clean it off further. She frowns and moves so that she can see the wound better, ending up sitting right in front of Beau as she leans down to focus on it better. Usually Beau's Disaster Lesbian Mode switches on without her consent when a pretty girl, especially one she's attracted to, gets this close to her. But right now, Beau's too entranced by Yasha's cute focused expression to do anything too stupid.

"Do you mind if I heal you?" Yasha asks, looking up at Beau's face. "I have to touch you in order for it to work." Beau stares at her, trying not to pay too much attention to how close Yasha's face is to her own. If she does, she might do something foolish that might ruin their awkward comradery, like kiss her. "Beau?" Yasha looks even more concerned.

"What?" Beau snaps out of her haze. "Oh right, yeah. Go ahead."

Yasha reaches out her hand towards Beau's stomach and looks up at her when there's an inch between them. Beau nods to her and Yasha's fingers press against her bare skin, so light that if Beau weren't so aware of her touch, she would barely be able to feel it. Yasha's brow scrunches as she focuses once more and Beau watches as her hands begin to glow a white-yellow color. Warmth spreads through her once throbbing abdomen, and Beau can't really tell if it's her touch or the healing magic, though she assumes it's the latter.

When Yasha pulls her hands back, the wound has closed up, leaving an angry red scar that'll fade to a dull pink after a few days.

"You should be okay now," Yasha says softly.

Her eyes move up to Beau's, blinking when she sees that her friend's gaze isn't focused on her own, instead she's looking below where her nose is. Yasha hasn't often seen this look on people's faces when they're looking at her, this is the look that Molly usually gets before he finds a bedpartner, or right before someone kisses him. Yasha's mouth drops open as if she's going to say something, but the chaos in her mind doesn't escape her lips. Beau's eyes meet hers briefly and after seeing no resistance or disgust in her eyes, Beau leans in and presses her lips to Yasha's.

Did I shamelessly title this as a joke because Yasha can use Healing Hands? Yes, yes I did. Hopefully this is good, it's my first time writing for Critical Role! Though I do have a longer story in the works, a Royalty AU ;) Let me know if anything seems out of character, or in character if you're so inclined! Comments are always appreciated! Thank you for reading! Stay awesome!