Board Thread:Roleplaying/@comment-3293219-20160406152407/@comment-3293219-20160406200644

"Heh... I'll hold you to that..." The Bosmer whispered, resting his head on her chest as he embraced her...

Meanwhile
Diana stumbled through the jungle, carrying-or, well, dragging-the unconscious Talin Warhaft behind her. She was breathing so hard as she ran that it felt as if her lungs were about to fly out of her chest. "C-C'mon, T-Tal..." She sobbed, trying to make sure he didn't hit his head on anything. Or, of course, aggravate the wound any further. "Th-there... h-has to be s-somewhere around h-here..." The Augment gasped, hurriedly looking around. Talin was growing more pale by the second, he was long past looking like a corpse, in fact that one way that Diana knew that he wasn't one was due to his heavy, drawn out breathing. He was in a great deal of pain but was unable to show it, he could feel his time running out... "C-Cave!" The blonde girl choked out, shaking Talin slightly to make sure that he didn't die before she even had a chance to fix him. She dragged him towards the entrance to the small cave, placing him down on the only place not full of tiny, aggravating rocks. "T-Tal..." Diana was so worried for his safety that she didn't even bother to go check out the back of the cave... Talin wheezed in agony as he was lay down on the floor, slowly falling back and sighing as the pain eased off but it was still there. His eyes were shut and his condition remained unchanged... ''What am I supposed to do? ''Diana practically sobbed to herself. She quickly pressed a healing hand to Talin's chest, trying not to distract herself by getting tears in his wound. "P-Please be okay..."Talin stabled under her healing hands, sighing a wheezy sigh as the wound slowly closed, though the poison didn't seem to be affected by it. The Imperial seemed to be settling down now, not as much in pain. "W-What do I d-do now?" Diana whispered, wishing that Talin could hear her. She didn't know what poison was going through his system, and trying to feed him antidotes could be fatal... She just needed to make him comfortable. If he was going to die, then she'd make sure that he didn't die in too much pain. If the poison was going to leave him, she'd have to ensure that he would be comfortable while going through that. = Talin's condition remained pretty much the same for several days, it wasn't obvious if anything changed internally or not but either way, he seemed oblivious to the world as he lay there, raspilly breathing throughout the night and the following mornings. After the best part of a week, however, Talin let out a faint gasp, which would have gone on heard, were it not for the deathly silence of the cave. "Talin?" Diana called out, hurrying over. Over the past few days she had cleared the cave out of little rocks, as well as moved Talin onto a bed of leaves and grass. She readied her healing spell, just in case... The Imperial's eyes slowly opened, they looked about as healthy as he did, red and blooshot and failing every two seconds. He blearily looked around the room before his gaze fell onto her..."D-Diana..." "Talin!" The aforementioned girl gasped, kneeling at his side. "Are you... Are you okay?" "I..." He gasped, cringing as the pain tore through his body."D-Don't think I'll... make it..." "O-of course, you will, Tal!" Diana gasped, pressing her hand to his chest and beginning to heal again, something she had done multiple times over the past few days."D-don't... talk like that...""N-No... I can... F-Feel it..." Talin whispered, a look of fear hung in his eye but it was a little worse than that as it wasn't only a look of fear but a look of acceptance as well."You need to go..." "Talin..." Diana whispered, keeping her focus on trying to heal him. She glanced at his eyes, once, before returning her attention to the task at hand. "I'm... going t-to do everything in m-my power to k-keep you going..." She looked at him, sadly. "And... if y-you do go... I'm g-going to m-make sure you're not alone...""I... You... Need to find... Others... G-Get yourself... Safe... Still Danger..." Talin whispered, in a shudder. "N-no, Talin!" Diana exclaimed, suddenly. "I won't leave you! Not like this! Not... alone!""I..." Talin paused to hack and wheeze, quickly sitting up as a bit of blood slipped out of his lips. "T-Talin..." Diana sighed, and ran a hand through her blonde hair worriedly. "Please, rest. Don't waste the energy you have.""I..." Talin eventually sighed and fell limp by her side, slowly rolling his head to one side as he went back to a state of unconsciousness... Diana rubbed his head, sadly, and went back to finding ways to make this cave more comfortable for the poor, unconscious, little, imperial man. = Talin continued to sleep throughout that week, his breathing grew more stable and he begean to sound a little less pained. Imaginably, it was a long week for Diana, having to do everything for herself and for him, not being able to stray away for too long in case anything or anyone curiously entered the cave. As Talin began to recover, it was hoped that he would at least be able to to be left alone, should he awaken. However, he seemed to not be changing much, at least not for the first few days. That was until his eyes opened, one late afternoon and he began to look around, remaining silent. Diana was busy eating a piece of fruit, the only ones that grew near enough to the cave so she wouldn't have to leave Talin alone. She was too focused on getting some food in her stomach that she didn't notice the Imperial was awake...Talin watched her from afar, wondering what was even going on... The last thing he remembered, he was on a battlefield, fighting that... bastard with the rapier. Of course, it must've been poisoned, no stab wound could do this to a man, it must've been a very potent and powerful poison, one that probably should have killed him...He didn't remember being saved by Diana or waking up last week as he was in a feverous dream..."D-Diana..." he wheezed, rather faintly. "Tal..." Diana whipped around, smiling nervously, as if he had caught her doing something terrible. Which, in her mind, he had, because she was eating without letting him do so first. "Are... Are you hungry?""I... Nah... I think I'd be sick..." Talin sighed, glancing up to her with his somewhat healthier eyes."T-Thank you though... I... Y-You alone here?" "Yeah..." Diana replied, quietly. She had run out of powder the day that Talin got injured, so she hadn't even been able to contact Levi. "Just me... and you, of course.""Wow... You kept us bother alive, by yourself?" Talin asked, he was a bit too weak to notice how condescending that sounded but in truth, he meant it. He doubted that he could've kept two people alive, when one of them was near dead for a week."An-nyone ever told you that you're amazing?" He asked, with a weak smile. "You'd be the first..." Diana smiled, lightly, moving over so she could get another healing in while he could still talk. "How are you feeling?""I'm... Well, I don't feel too bad." Talin admitted, though it was mostly in comparison to the last time he was conscious."S-Still too weak..." "I figured..." Diana smiled, placing her hand on his chest as she began to heal him again. "Maybe in a few days... we'll be able to get moving?""I'm just hoping I'll be able to sit up..." The Imperial sighed, obviously not as optimistic as she was. "Talin, you're going to be fine." The Augment replied, after a moment. "You won't die. At least, not on my watch.""Heh... I know... I'm through the worst of it." Talin agreed, with a sigh, glancing up to her."But... I think it'll take a few days to get my strength back..." Diana finished up her healing, still smiling. "Rest up, Talin, and maybe you'll heal up faster.""Heh... I'm not exactly going anywhere." The Imperial pointed out, laying his head back and sighing heavily."Did... you see if anyone else made it out okay?" "N-no, I..." Diana sighed, looking away. "Y-you were hurt, and I w-was... panicking... I have... no idea who survived...""Well... They probably had a better chance than we did and we did okay, right?" Talin pointed out, with a smile."I'm... Confident that they did okay." "I hope so..." The girl nodded, looking back to Talin. "Are you sure you don't want to eat? You haven't eaten in a little while..."Talin sighed and shook his head, tiredly gazing up at her again."No... Thought of food makes me feel sick." "Oh..." Diana gave him a small smile. "Well... try not to throw up on me, yeah?""Heh... I dunno, it'd be a good training exercise to work on my aim." The Imperial chuckled weakly, wincing in pain as the laughter made him move a little. Diana wrinkled her nose, with a light smile. "Okay, first, ew. Second, don't move so much. I mean, I know I'm amazing, but don't get all worked up." She teased."I'll try..." Talin whispered, it was obvious that he was running on fumes at this point."You... Going to be... Okay?" "Yeah..." Diana patted his arm, kindly. "Especially now that you'll be okay..." She faltered, before continuing. "Please... get some sleep..."Talin gave her a faint nod as he rested his eyes, exhaling heavily as he slowly began to drift off to sleep, smiling under the touch of his guardian angel. = Talin continued to sleep throughout the night but to his own surprise, he awoke the following morning. It was around 4AM, judging by the light outside and the sky being a redish colour. His head rolled to the side as he looked across the room for Diana, wondering where she was sleeping. Diana, of course, was not sleeping. Talin needed her to stay awake, to keep watch, to make sure he didn't die. She couldn't live with herself if he died... She yawned, her back to Talin as she stared outside the cave."You should sleep..." Talin uttered, resting his arm underneath his head. "I... can't." Diana murmured, in response. "Not while you're still... in trouble." She yawned, once more."Diana... Has anything attacked us, whilst we've been here?" Talin asked, knowing that the answer was likely 'no.' "N-no..." She sighed. "B-but that's probably because I've been watching!" She protested. "I imagine they'd be more inclined to attack, if they saw you looking out..." Talin wheezed, growing concerned. "I won't hold it against you if something eats us, whilst we're asleep..." He uttered, slowly pulling his bedroll back. "Talin..." Diana sighed. "You need to not have anything disturbing you... If I need to sleep, I can find some grass or something..." "You DO need sleep... At this rate, you're likely to fall asleep on watch." Talin uttered, weakly."Please..." Diana sighed, moving over to lay down beside him. "Alright... But no frisky business, alright?" She replied, teasingly, though now that she was close to Talin it was obvious how tired she was."Heh... Not whilst you're awake at least." Talin teased back, suppressing a giggle as he went back to looking back up to the ceiling."I'll... Keep a look out, as long as I can..." "Th-thanks, Tal..." Diana murmured, curling up beside the tall Imperial. "I feel so safe..." Due to her sleepy tone of voice, it was impossible to tell if she was being sarcastic or not. Within moments, the girl was asleep...Talin gave her a smile and within a minute or two, he had gone back to sleep again, too exhausted to play guard duty for any longer than that... = After a few hours-at least fourteen-the blonde Augment woke up. She blinked and lay back, wondering why she had fallen asleep, when Talin needed her... Speaking of Talin, where was he? Diana began to be worried as she scanned the cave for him, before relaxing when she felt his heavy breathing behind her. And then, she tensed up again. Why was she sleeping in the same bed as Talin? She lightly got out of the 'bed' and moved away, not wanting to get into any awkward situations...Talin winced as Diana began to move, not making too much of a big deal out of it but jolting awake as he did so. His eyes quickly fell upon her..."M-Morning..." He uttered, awkwardly. "I actually think it's nighttime." Diana replied, lightly, as she glanced at him. She was too near to him to pretend that they hadn't slept in the same bed, so she tried to ignore it."Oh..." Talin uttered, slowly rolling over to face her."Sorry... The ceiling looks the same whether its night or day. Must be a good fire if it's been burning this whole time." Talin pointed out, with a smile."Were you taught to do it that way?" "Nah..." Diana blushed, slightly embarassed. "I sort-of just... threw sticks together and tried to set it on fire...""Heh... Those must be some good sticks then." Talin grinned, glancing up to her."You're a woman of many talents." "Thanks." Diana snickered, he was one of the first in recent memory to say something so nice. "You're good... at sleeping..." She teased."Pfft... I find that insulting." Talin said, indignantly."I am the best at sleeping!" "Whatever you say, kid." Diana laughed. "I heard that there are some people in Skyrim that have you beat." "And High Rock... There was an Altmer there who slept for over a thousand years." Talin said, with a smirk. "But to be fair, those were aided by magic... Not laziness." "You are pretty lazy..." Diana admitted. "But these recent long sleeping periods have been poison-induced, so...""Fair enough..." Talin muttered, giving her a faint smile."Plus, I had the best nurse to look after me, which is hardly sporting." "Stop it..." Diana laughed, as if she was embarassed, though it was easy to tell that she was enjoying the complements. "I had the best patient.""Why? Cause he slept all day?" Talin teased, lifting his head a little. "And then was nice enough to let me sleep with him..." Diana snickered, before blushing. "I mean, uh... Sleep in the bed I prepared for him...""Well... She did need it, he just didn't want her to keel over and bash her head on a rock, forcing him to become the nurse for a week." Talin pointed out, with a smirk. "I'm sure he would've been a cute nurse." Diana teased. "I'd really like to see him in a skirt.""Heh... That would probably be a little breezy... Maybe he could just not wear a shirt instead?" Talin suggested, that usually went down well. "I've already seen you without a shirt." Diana mused. "I had to pull it off while I was trying to fix the stab wound...""Pfft... Likely excuse." The Imperial uttered, slowly looking down to examine the wound for himself, it was just a line on his stomach now. "You caught me." Diana sighed, sadly. "I undressed you just for the kicks." She joked."You could've asked you know." Talin uttered, putting his hands behind his head and grinning at Diana. "Nah, I know how you don't like taking off your clothes unless there's money involved..." Diana sighed, mockingly."For you, I'd make an exception." Talin uttered, resting his hands behind his head."I mean, you saved my life afterall. "Alright, take off your shirt, then!" Diana laughed. "And then, uh... dance!""M-Maybe when doing so won't make me pass out from the pain." The Imperial sighed, looking up to her meakly Diana snickered, "Alright, Tal." She smiled, lightly, placing her hand on his stomach. "Do you need another healing?""N-Nah... It's mostly internal, I should be okay." Talin uttered, slowly sliding back under his bedroll."Though... If there's still some food on offer..." "Oh, yeah!" Diana nodded, glancing to the pieces of fruit that had rotted over the night. "Will you be okay if I step out and... get some more?""N-No... It's okay... It was just because I haven't eaten... I'm not particularly hungry." Talin lied, not wanting her to put herself in harm's way. "No, don't worry Talin." Diana reassured him. "It's really close to the cave...""I..." Talin sighed, knowing that she had probably done this dozens of times and that nothing he could say could stop her."Okay... Just be careful, yeah?" Diana nodded. "Alright, Tal..." She smiled and stood up, running out to get to that fruit quickly...Talin sighed and rested his head back on his pillow, waiting with a degree of anticipation for Diana's return... After about an hour, Diana came darting back into the cave, holding a bundle of small, red fruit. "Here, Tal!" She smiled.Talin had dozed off again, though it was lightly as he awoke as soon as she spoke."Oh... You're... Okay?" He asked, slowly pulling himself upright, propping himself up on his elbows. "Yeah..." The girl nodded, sitting down cross-legged beside him. "I brought you food..."Talin slowly reached down for it, quickly glancing up and giving her a smile."Thank you." He whispered, quickly taking a bite out of it."Woah... Tastes like... What they sold in the market district, back home." "Maybe they had them shipped in from Valenwood..." Diana shrugged, with a small smile. "They are pretty good...""Yeah... I'm surprised." Talin said, with his mouthful, taking another bite."Normally the fruit we find is beaten up." "I don't think a lot of people hang around this area..." Diana shrugged, thinking about it. "Must be why no one has found us...""Yeah... that would make sense." Talin uttered, groaning as he pulled himself up. "Do you know how far you dragged me?" "No..." The Blonde woman sighed, looking away. "I was panicking so much that I... I wasn't paying attention...""Yeah... I didn't think you would. Still... Must've been pretty far." Talin uttered, glancing back up to the ceiling. "Took me a while to find a place that was... relatively safe." Diana admitted, glancing around the cave. "Honestly, I have no idea where we are." "Anywhere's better than where we were..." Talin uttered, staring up at the ceiling with a sigh."Don't think we've been through anything quite like that before..." "Yeah, it was... horrible." Diana agreed, shaking her head as if to chase the memories away. "Very hectic. I just hope that the others found their way out..." "I... Remember getting seperated from someone... But I can't remember who." The Imperial uttered, gently touching his head. "Whole thing's a blur to me..." Diana patted his arm, comfortingly. "Talin, don't worry. Whatever happened to you in there... it's over now." "You're safe with me." Talin gave her a smile, seeming a little more comforted by that than one would expect. "Thanks, Diana... Nice to know that I have my own guardian angel watching out for me." He whispered. "'Guardian Angel' is a bit of a stretch." Diana laughed. "I'm more like an angel that tries to help but is making things worse." "Well.. It's the intent that matters." Talin pointed out, slowly propping himself up on his elbows. "And for the record, you do an excellent job of protecting me." "Well, let's not make a habit of it, alright?" Diana teased, tucking her hair behind her ears. "If I see you again like you were after the Oakvales... I might just die myself." Talin fell silent as his eyes slowly veered off to his left and he sighed heavily. "I'm er... Sorry for putting you through that... Through all of it. I... Should've been more careful." "Nah, it's alright." Diana mused, rubbing his arm. "Don't worry about it. I can put up with the whole 'taking care of you thing'..." She paused, as if gathering her thoughts. "But when I saw you, laying there... My heart dropped so far so fast. I couldn't... deal with the thought of you... being gone." "Still got a long way to go yet... And erm... I'm not sure that I can promise that I won't be by the end of all of this." The Imperial said, falling solemn. Diana looked away, sadly. "I... I know, Talin, b-but... Promise me... Promise me that you'll try your best..." Her voice broke. "T-try your b-best t-to keep... f-fighting. Don't just... just g-give in..." "Oh... I can promise that." The Imperial said, with a smile, gently taking hold of Diana's hand to assure her. "Make no mistake..." Diana wiped her eyes with the back of her free hand, turning back to him. "T-Talin, you're... you're one of the only people I... I can truly call my friend... I... I need you..."Talin fell silent once more, glancing away as he thought twice about asking his next question, especially when he already knew the answer. He felt like he was torturing her, that he wasn't exactly being fair anymore in playing dumb. She needed a chance to say it... "Diana... Am I right in thinking that you... Have feelings for me?" Diana recoiled, her face going from sad to confused to angry to confused again all in the span of about three seconds."Why... Why do you think that?" She asked, quietly, neither confirming nor denying his statement."I've... Always gotten that impression, ever since High Rock. I just noticed a lot of... signs and I've... Well, given that you were married I figured it would be best to play dumb but... recently I've been thinking about it and... maybe it's not my decision to make." Talin explained as best he could, he was pretty weak and his brain wasn't at it's sharpest."What do you mean, 'not your decision to make?'" Diana replied, still not answering his question. She did, however, make a point of releasing his hand."I just... Decided that nothing could happen, because of Levi. It... Sounds stupid now but... I felt like... It was impossible, I never really thought about... asking about it. Not until recently..." Talin explained, doing his best.Diana sighed, before beginning to try to explain. "You know, Talin, I've been on such an... emotional rollercoaster over these past few years. I mean, first, I was happily married, and then I met you, and you were so much... nicer to me than Levi was. I began to... think about you in that way, I suppose, back in High Rock." She paused. "But then, you got together with Naomi, and I felt so... so overwhelmingly jealous. And then the Lich came into the picture, and I thought more about... about getting you back, than caring what happened between us after. Then, you found Nissa, and I... well, I had told her about... what I thought my feelings were for you, and she... she went ahead. I don't know if my feelings at that point were more angry towards her or jealous, but... I began to suspect that Levi was the Hunter, as you know, so my marriage became... less than happy. I opened myself up more to a relationship with you... or anyone, really..." She took a deep breath. "Over the past few months, Crimson and I have gotten closer to each other, and he agreed to... flirting in front of you, to see if you would get jealous." She laughed, looking away. "I guess I seem really... really childish right now, don't I?""Not... Really..." Talin uttered, nervously."I'm... Just glad that I wasn't crazy and imagining it all to be honest." "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have... done anything." Diana sighed, burying her head in her hands. "I feel so embarassed..."Talin slowly lifted his hand and placed it on her knee, he's take her hand but it was tough enough doing that..."No... I... Wanted to know... Whilst there's no one else here and whilst..." He paused, feeling like he could back out if he wanted to but he didn't... "Diana... What would you say if I said that... I'd like to give it a try?""I'd ask what you meant by that..." Diana replied, wanting to clear things up before she began to hope for it.Talin swallowed, hoping that she would understand."I... Wanted to know if you wanted us to be... More than friends." "Talin..." Diana tried not to look like some happy schoolgirl. "You know that I'd be more than willing to give it a try, then..."The Imperial gave her a smile, relieved that nothing immediately bad came from that."Come here..." he whispered, slowly rolling over to face her.Diana moved closer, pressing her lips lightly to his. She pulled back after a moment, trying not to revel in the moment. He was, of course, rather ill. "You need sleep, I think.""I... Think you're right." Talin murmured, giving her a faint smile before moving back."You're welcome to join me, if you like..." He added, though it wasn't flirtatious in any way, she just looked cold and tired."I do need a nap." She agreed, climbing up next to him and laying beside him, just taking comfort in his warmth and the joy she was feeling. Diana really hoped she wasn't just dreaming...Talin let her rest her head on his shoulder, being mindful of his injury as he slowly lay on his back and let her wrap around him."This is... Nice." He yawned, gently reaching across her chest and taking her hand."Very." Diana agreed, quietly, closing her eyes and beginning to drift off...

Talin continued to sleep for the next eighteen hours, though he was awake for a bit, it was obvious that he hadn't fully recovered and was still sleeping his injuries and the sickness off. Diana slept nowhere near as long, she pulled herself from his arms after a few hours, deciding to get more food and do another healing while he slept. Talin continued to sleep, oblivious to her abscence and the sounds of skipping which quickly followed. Several small feet hit the ground in rapid succession, a large number of them in fact, it sounded like there was a group of whatever was coming to investigate them. Diana stayed out, trying to find another tree of the fruits she had been using. It seemed like she had picked her old tree clean...The creatures stuck to the shadows, only visible by their glowing red eyes as they began to sniff around the cave, seemingly looking for something specific...The Augment finally found her tree and climbed it, to get to the best fruits.The pack leader slowly emerged from the darkness, revealing its dark snout, black fur and bearing its sharp teeth as the Hellhound drew clower to Talin. It swiftly threw its head back and barked, getting the the attention of its breatherin. Diana heard the bark from her tree. It sounded like it came from nearby the cave... She grabbed what little fruits she had time for before she climbed down and hurried to get back...The Hellhounds slowly massed together, grouping up as they slowly approached the unconscious form of Talin, snarling and bearing their fangs as they got ready for the kill. Diana made it back to the cave, not expecting to see a pack of demonic creatures hovering around her new boyfriend. "Hey!" She called, angrily, throwing one of the fruits at the Hellhounds. "Pick on someone your own size!"The creature whipped its head around, snarling and barking at her and prompting its fellow Hellhounds to hop away from their pray and make a move on Diana, whilst the Alpha male returned to their original target. Diana opened her mouth and sent a wild, unbared scream towards the hounds coming towards her, having absolutely no time for anyone to hurt her friend. The hounds seemed somewhat resistant to it, they were held down by the shriek but managed to stay as steady as a rock in the face of it as soon as it died down they snarled and leapt forward, going for the Imperial as they jumped up at her throat. Diana leaped out of the way, determined not get eaten when Talin needed her help. She grabbed a nearby branch and swung it with all her might at the nearest hellhound's face, hoping it would deter the rest. The Hellhound didn't seem to be that hurt by the attack and just continued to go for her, its commrades didn't seem to care either as one of them bit into her shin. Diana screamed, turning down to it in wild fear and opening her mouth, screaming right into its large ears. The Hellhound, being sound sensative, yelped and retreated, burying its face into the floor, its commrades stopped and shook their heads before lunging forward and scratching at Diana's thighs. Diana screamed again, knowing it wouldn't do much, so she ran and leaped over the hellhounds, going for the alpha. From there, she screamed in its ears, hoping to scare the rest of the puppies away. The creature, rather than seeming threatened, grew more enraged. It lunged for Diana, scratching at her thighs. Diana screamed again, though this time it was more in pain. Nevertheless, her sonic blows were becoming more and more deafening with each cry. The scream echoed throughout the cave, making Talin cringe and writhe in response as the wolf backed away, whining before lunging forward, this time going for Diana's throat. The Augment screamed again with all her might, right into the wolf's face to slow it before she lunged to the side, diving away from the monstrous beast. The wolf rolled out of the way, quickly rising to its feet and lunging forward with a snarl.Diana grabbed a fist-sized rock from the cave floor and swung it at the face of the Hellhound, trying to cave in its skull and save Talin. The creature snarled and hopped to one side, hanging its head as some blood dribbled out of its gums and a tooth loosened. It wasn't about to be beaten so easily and quickly ran at her, lunging upwards, straight at her. It looked like it was going for her throat again but instead it vanished, becoming little more than a cloud of smoke that flew into her face...Diana gasped and darted forward, to get away from the smoke. She had no idea if that was something it could do, or if someone had done it for the beast, but she didn't want it to reappear without her being ready. As predicted, the beast re-appeared above her, continuing to lunge down on her, however,  its pack quickly appeared around Diana's feet and each of them went for her legs, biting down on her shins and tugging at them to hold her in place as the hellhound alpha lit up with a fiery aura. Diana opened her mouth and screamed, putting all her remaining energy into that one sonic blast, seeing as it was probably the only way she would be able to escape. The flames dispersed under the power of her voice and eventually the Alpha male flew away, doing several backflips before being pounded into the ceiling, with a vile 'snapping' sound before spinning across the cave and landing in a heep on the floor. Diana fell to her hands and knees, gasping for breath in between coughs and retches, her vision blurring slightly as she looked to see if the hellhounds would continue.The Hellhounds had no intentions of backing down and all four of them lunged for her at once, figuring that they had her pinned. Diana gave one more, rather pathetic scream before she scrambled backwards, trying to at least shield Talin with her body before the hellhounds got to him.The Hellhound directly in front of her was hit, flying back into the nearest wall, leaving two remaining. Diana could move back to put some distance between them, an opportunity she would have to take if she didn't want the wolves to reach Talin. Diana sent another scream their way, scrambling back until she rested in front of Talin. She sent another just to deter them, praying to all the gods that the beasts would leave.The Hellhounds backed away, it would seem that her prayer had been answered until they faded into smoke... "D-Damn it..." Diana sighed, making sure to keep her eyes on the two puffs of smoke as her hands weakly scrambled around for a nice rock to use. The smoke trails slowly began to move around Diana, their intentions remained uncertain.Diana watched them, fearfully, picking up a rock in each hand. This day wasn't going so well for her.... As Diana grabbed the rock, one of the hell hounds materialised in front of her, lunging straight for the Imperial, with a hungry glare in it's eyes. Diana swung her large rock and screamed at it, weakly.The creature was hit, stumbling to the side as the rock was aquinted with its face, knocking a few teeth to the ground. The Hellhound, losing its patience, errupted into flames before lunging at the Imperial once more. Diana screamed in its face once more, slamming her rock into its face again and again. She winced as the flames burned her hands, but saving her own life and Talin's was more important. The Creature whined at first but it eventually fell silent, yelping as the rock destroyed the lacrimal bone was shattered and its eye was popped out of its socket, the shock of which killed it almost instantly. Diana wasn't safe, however, as it's fellow Hellhound materialised behind her. It snarled, rather lowly as it crept up on her before trying to lung at her, however, unlike the other one, it didn't even reach her before meeting an unknown assailant's blade, which was cleaved down, through the creature's head, decapitating it and reducing its body to ash.Talin stumbled back as the creature dissolved before him, clutching his side and groaning as he fell to his knees, placing a hand on Diana's shoulder. "You... Okay?" He panted, desperately. "F-fine..." Diana lied, looking to the Imperial man and promptly collapsing back on her hands and knees, having to ride out the coughing and retching that came when she overused her powers.Talin gently took her hair and gripped it into a pony tail, doing her best to hold her hair back so that she wasn't sick on it. "Urgh... You've done too much... You need rest." "N-no, you... you w-won't be able t-to... p-protect us if something else c-comes back..." Diana sobbed, curling up against Talin's chest. "And you will?" Talin asked, giving her a smirk. "C'mon, I could push you over in this state, I'll keep watch and let you know if we're about to die." the Imperial assured her, gently taking her hand. "Besides, I killed one of them, didn't I?" "I... I distracted it..." Diana chuckled, weakly. "B-but... okay..." Soon, the woman was out, breathing deeply as she went to sleep. Talin slowly rose to his feet, lifting Diana in his arms as he carried her over to his bedroll and gently placed her down. He gasped in pain as the woman's weight stretched his aching muscles but was thankful that he could just slump down beside her and rest his eyes, with a heavy sigh. It didn't take long for him to join her in sleep... Talin didn't wake up throughout the night, it would seem that his small act of conflict had exerted him and so, he slept by Diana's side, eventually moving a little closer to her and resting his hand on her stomach, pulling her a little closer into an embrace. It wasn't a conscious decision on his part, his mind just sort of grabbed out for her.Diana eventually awoke, with a yawn. She glanced at Talin, giving him a small smile. "Hey, Tal?" She asked, gently shaking the man. "Ready to head out?" Talin grumbled in his sleep, eventually opening his eyes and giving her a faint smile before realising that his hand was resting on his stomach and his fingers curved around her hip. "Oh... Sorry." he said, retracting his hand. "Don't worry about it." Diana chuckled, turning so that she was facing him better. "How do you feel?" "Still ache..." The Imperial admitted, with a sigh, glancing down to his pillow. "What about you? You were in a bad way yesterday." "My throat hurts a bit, but I'll manage." Diana admitted, cheerily. "Do you think we could try to head out today, get back to the others?" "I'll get... All but two feet I'm afraid..." The Imperial admitted, with a sigh, gently placing his hand on Diana's shoulder. "I think I... Kind of overdid it yesterday." Diana kissed him on the forehead. "Don't worry about it, then. Focus on resting and getting better, okay?" "Yeah... Don't have much choice really." Talin sighed, almost wanting to touch his forehead to see if the kiss was real or a fever dream. "Hey... Diana? Yesterday... You saved our... My life again. I'd like to say thanks." He uttered, ending with a smile. "Anytime." Diana smiled, before taking a second to reconsider that statement. "Just... don't make a habit of it, okay?" "Heh... Words aren't enough, Di..." Talin chuckled before leaning forward and kissing her deeply, gently wrapping his hands around her back. Diana returned the kiss, smiling all the way through it. This was so much better than she had ever imagined... Talin continued to kiss her hungrily for several moments before eventually pulling away and sighing heavily, he enjoyed that a little more than he was expecting to. "Will... That suffice?" He asked, nervously. "Yeah." Diana nodded, looking rather blissful at his repayment of her heroic deeds. "Thanks." "Heh... Glad I made it worth your while." He whispered, moving back under his covers again as the cave air was a little nippy. "Y'know... Part of me never wants to leave this place, it's the only place where we're safe from Tharn." He sighed, gently cupping her cheek. "And Levi..." Diana sighed, looking at Talin. "Speaking of him... I don't know when I'll see him next, but... I don't know if Hawke and Adder will put their loyalty to him before our friendship, so... I think..." "I think for both our safeties, we should keep what is between us a secret." "I was... Going to anyway." Talin assured her, giving her a smile. "Less chance of him finding out then, right?" "Yeah." Diana nodded, resting her head on his shoulder. "Less chance of either of us getting hurt..." Talin nodded in agreement, rolling over to face her before looking her in the eyes. "Well... We have a day here, not sure what there is to do... Did you have any thoughts on that front?" The Imperial asked, rather cluelessly. "Uh..." Diana frowned, thinking. "I don't really know what two people could do, really, in a dark cave with only a bed, some fruit, and a sword." She shrugged, just as clueless as him. "Heh... I don't know, that sounds like the ingredients of an errotic story to me." The Imperial giggled, wincing as the laughter caused him a little bit of pain. "Sounds like something Agatha would read." Diana admitted, laughing along with him. "Borrowed from Nissa." The Imperial added, with a smirk. The sound of Talin's old flame gave Diana pause, but she continued to laugh. "And written by Scire." "Who stole the idea from Crimson." Talin added, with a grin. "Who received it from you." Diana accused, teasingly. "Proving that this was all an elaborate ruse to get me alone in a cave." "Pfft... A pretty woman like you? Can you blame me for putting the effort in?" Talin asked, poking her in the stomach, playfully. "Nah, I can't." Diana admitted, restraining from poking him back so that she didn't hurt him. "But, y'know, you could've just asked me out." "I could've but where's the fun in that?" Talin asked, with a grin, laughing faintly. "True." The blonde Imperial replied, moving over so that she was lying perpendicular to Talin, her face next to his. "Now, you've made me see how fun you can be." She joked. "Writing all these erotic tales..." "Well, you are my inspiration..." The Imperial said, with a smile. "Oh?" Diana teased, kissing his lips lightly and drawing back. "You'll have to show me, sometime..." "Heh... I'm free all day y'know?" The Imperial replied in a sultry tone as he moved a little closer to her. "Oh, so then you could show me right now, if you wanted?" Diana grinned, tossing her hair and looking at him with her best  seductive eyes. "I could..." He whispered, pulling her in rather swiftly as he rolled on top of her, practically pinning her to the matt of their sleeping bag. "Go for it, then." Diana snickered, letting herself be pinned as she looked up at her boyfriend-of-sorts. The Imperial then proceeded to kiss her deeply,  gently tugging at her shirt as his tongue hungrily searched her mouth. The next day, Diana lay peacefully by Talin's side, having recovered her clothes after all the time they had spent together over the course of the day before.The pair had taken a long rest after they had finished, both of them being rather tired from their endeavour. "Wow..." She breathed, with a laugh, after waking up. "H-How do you feel, Tal?" "Heh.... I think..." The Imperial paused, glancing over to his secret girlfriend with a contentented sigh. "I think I can I die happy now..." He chuckled, catching his breath again.Diana snickered. "So, you're not ready to get a move on, then?" She teased. "I erm... Don't feel as sore today." The Imperial said, with a smile, rolling over towards her. "So long as I don't do anything... Over strenuous, I should be okay." "Don't worry, I'll help you." Diana smiled, standing up and extending a hand to her secret boyfriend. "Let's get going, then, Tal." "Alright... You lead." The Imperial said with a smile, wrapping his shirt around his shoulder to prevent it from moving too much. Diana took his hand and led him out, into the jungle, beginning the long trek that marked the search for their friends... (That was a collab by me and Sunny by the way, I'd really like to thank her, because it nearly didn't happen. We finished it the first time, whilst I was swapping PCs and the original version of that coop pie vanished during the switchover. Thankfully Sunny was willing to do it again and it even turned out better than the original as the Hell Hounds were originally going to be some guys who wandered in. Annieway, give your love to Sunny! xD)