#beau was fucked up tonight n im interested to see wtf happens w that

[unicyclehippo]

Can you do "Take off your shirt" for Beaujester?

it’s early in the morning now; the sun hasn’t quite risen from its cradle behind the mountains but the sky is slowly bleaching to a pale gauzy grey, a rippled fabric roof that feels heavy and strange. maybe it’s just because jester is accustomed to the seaside, that burned blue sky that changes seemingly on a quick wind to storm tossed grey and back again. the sky in rexxentrum never seems to change. never goes entirely black with storm like it feels like it should. never clears. just...hangs there.

jester is staring out at it when a hand presses somewhat clumsily onto the glass pane, shoves it open. the latch strains and then pops open—not very strong, someone should tell the nice vaguely overbearing dwarven lady about that. hinges shriek faintly. a voice, probably belonging to the person whose hands those are, swears quietly.

‘you know,’ jester says, and watches those fingers grow white with pressure beneath the splattering of grime and blood, ‘you could have come through the door. it might’ve been quieter, beau.’

beau hangs a moment longer. then, with a long grunt of effort, lifts herself up onto the sill. she straddles it, inches carefully into the room and despite herself, jester is kinda impressed. if she hadn’t been awake already, she never would’ve woken up—and, and this can’t be forgotten, they are on the second floor.

‘very impressive!’ jester shuffles in the bed, sits up, applauses brightly. beau’s form is all in shadow, silhouetted by the rising sun, but jester sees her shoulders rise with a little shrug.

‘thanks.’

jester frowns. ‘are you okay? you sound weird.’

‘fine.’ beau pulls herself fully through the window. if jester hadn’t been watching closely, she would miss the way the other girl sways. puts her hand out on the end of the bed to steady herself. she wonders idly what she might have missed in the past, if she hadn’t been watching. ‘i’m gonna take a bath. wake myself up.’

‘oh, but, did you sleep?’

‘yeah. yeah, i slept,’ beau tells her. she doesn’t sound like she’s lying, but. jester also knows she’s good at it. ‘just went on a little, y’know, wake up run. some exercises. don’t wanna get flabby during down time, gotta keep in peak physical condish.’ her voice is typical beau: brash, harsh, over-confident, warm. pointed. like she’s talking right to jester. it isn’t so profound an effect when it’s just the two of them—and a sleeping yasha on the floor but she’s sleeping—but jester still feels it.

it’s distracting. jester pulls her knees up to her chest, wraps her arms around them. with a cheek pillowed on her knees, eyes tracking the way beau picks her way across the floor, jester wonders if maybe that means something. if maybe beau meant something, something real, when she talked about how good icky-thong and da’leth were at talking around something. how she had agreed when jester mentioned the details.

‘why do you have blood on your hands?’ jester asks, before beau can reach the door. ‘is that part of your morning exercises?’

beau stops. turns toward jester. not fully, but enough that she can eye the bed, and jester in it. enough that jester can see one corner of beau’s mouth as it twitches into a stretched smile.

‘yeah. sometimes, i dunno if you’ve noticed,’ she comments with a grin, ‘but i punch things.’

‘i’m not stupid beau.’

‘what? no, i know you’re not!’

‘i know you punch things.’ jester swings her legs out, touches her feet down onto the pleasantly chilly wooden floor. she wiggles her toes. ‘i know you don’t punch, trees and stuff,’ she insists. ‘not until you bleed.’

‘advanced monk techniques. always learning new shit.’

‘that lie,’ jester says, trying to keep her voice steady, ‘wasn’t as good as your others. turn around.’

beau stays where she is facing the door.

‘i’m gonna take a bath. i stink.’

‘turn around, beau.’

‘no.’

jester stares, confused, at beau’s back. ‘no?’ she doesn’t think beau has ever told her no before. not like that, not without suggesting something else, or, or saying hey i like the idea but it’s also the worst one i have ever heard, just sayin’.

‘i’m taking a bath. and i’m going to the archives afterwards. don’t wait for me. tell the others.’

‘oh. okay.’

jester hates the way her voice sounds—small and confused. hates the way beau’s shoulder twitches before she reaches out for the door to the hallway and slips out, out of sight.

she waits there a moment, tail curling and uncurling around her ankle. she listens to the sounds: yasha’s deep, even breathing, so nice to hear after she had been gone for so long; foot traffic and the wooden tap of wheels over cobbled stone from the one or two wagons moving around so early in the day; the silence like a held breath and then the distant rattle and hum of pipes from the bathroom.

jester’s eyes drop from the doorway to the floor. there’s a pool of blood where beau had been standing. small, maybe a good dozen or so heavy drops. jester’s stomach squirms at the sight of it. too much to have come from scraped knuckles.

‘oh this is a bad idea,’ she tells herself, but pushes open the door and follows after beau.

//

the washroom is lovely. small, only intended for one or maybe two occupants. the bath itself is only big enough for one adult, though feasibly if one wasn’t particularly concerned with comfort, two or three could cram into the space. the bottom one might drown, of course, but it’s only a hypothetical.

the room is filled with steam but beau is still dressed, leaned over the hand basin in a pose jester has never seen her in. slumped. tired. one hand is braced on the wooden tub and she stands a pace or two back, most of her weight on the one arm. her head hangs down, hair loose and falling like a curtain down around her face.

her other hand, jester sees—in the instant between breaking the handle to burst in and beau whirling around to face her—her other hand is curled arojnd her waist. no, a little higher. around her ribs.

‘what’s wrong with your ribs?’ jester demands.

‘what the fuck?’ beau hisses back. the steam isn’t enough to hide the damage to her face—the rapidly swelling cheekbone, obviously broken, the split in the same eyebrow. ‘jester, i’m in the fucking bathroom—i could have been taking a shit—‘

‘but you aren’t taking a shit!’ jester accuses, and kicks the door shut behind her. ‘you’re in here being weird and bleeding and not telling me what’s wrong! i know there’s something wrong beau, i’m not stupid!’

‘why do you—has someone called you stupid?’ beau half asks, half demands. ‘why do you keep saying that? who was it?’

‘no, no one, it’s just—ah!’ jester almost screams, jabs a finger toward beau. they’re close, not quite face to face but the room isn’t terribly large. ‘don’t try to distract me, it won’t work!’

the steam has wafted away from their faces, largely escaped out the door and now curls around their feet, building again, pouring from the bathtub as the water level rises slowly. with no filter, nothing hiding beau’s face, jester sees the flicker of something in dark eyes—fear? annoyance? upset? as soon as she sees it, it’s gone again; jester pours over beau’s face, her stance, but she’s gone still and silent and there’s nothing to pluck, nothing to catch.

‘bad training session,’ beau lies. out and out lies.

jester huffs, scowls across at her. ‘you don’t have to lie to me, beau. i don’t care what you were doing—well, no, i care but you know if it was a bar fight i would think that’s really fun, and if it was dairon i would kick her in the teeth because wow-a, you’re fucked up,’

‘thanks. i held my own pretty good, though.’ beau smirks. chucks her chin up in that infuriating smug way she does. there’s still nothing behind the unblinking eyes.

‘i just mean, whatever it is, beau, i just want to make sure you’re okay. you know that, right?’

‘of course.’

‘of course,’ jester repeats, brow crinkling. she can’t figure out why it sounds so weird, so off. shrugs it away uncomfortably. ‘so?’

‘so what?’

‘are you gonna let me heal you or what?’

there is a long, long moment where jester has no idea what beau is going to say. it’s strange, because they’ve been through storms and fights and people nearly dying and getting kidnapped and being pirates and shopping and rescuing people and jester was pretty sure that, if not an open book, beau was fairly easy to read. that she got the gist of what beau was saying, or what she wanted to say. but here, in a cramped steaming room with very little space between them and a pressing weight of a lot of very important very scary things bearing down on all sides, jester looks for the face of her friend in the woman across from her and finds nothing but a smooth mask. and who is standing behind it, she can’t quite say.

‘beau?’

‘i don’t mind a scar or two,’ beau says. smile ticks up at the corner, crooked, charming in a very roguish kind of way.

‘i think you’ll mind when your broken cheek stops you from eating. or gets infected and your brain swells and you die.’

‘sexy. the way i’ve always wanted to go.’

‘beau.’

finally. beau’s eyes cut away from her. it isn’t much, but it’s enough. almost a flinch.

‘have i—done something wrong?’

‘no,’ beau insists, instantly, the word spat between them. her eyes are back on jester, burning hot. ‘no.’

‘then what is it? because first you’re not wanting to sleep with me and then you’re not talking to me and you’re sneaking out in the middle of the night to go i don’t even know.’

‘fight.’

‘well obviously,’ jester mutters, accent thick with upset.

‘in a fighting pit.’ beau breaks her harsh stance a bit. steps over to the bath and twists the tap off so it stops filling. it’s at about the halfway mark now and she busies herself with sniffing at a few of the bottles on the counter, nose wrinkling at the heavily perfumed ones. she tips in a few drops of something that smells of wood notes, lets the oil diffuse into the water.

‘i get to fight,’ she tells jester, and lowers herself down onto the small stool beside the bath, one arm resting on the lip of it, the other curled around her middle. ‘until i win, or until i’m fucked up.’ she grins. tired. more of a baring of teeth.‘same thing, kinda.’

‘oh.’ jester looks around for another stool. there isn’t one, so she perches on the edge of the bath. ‘so. you’re, like, not okay then.’

beau’s grin widens. she laughs a little, disbelieving. shakes her head. ‘i guess not.’

‘is it because of caleb?’

‘what?’

‘you were super pissed the whole time we were at—at that place. and every time caleb mentioned icky—‘

‘don’t. say his name,’ beau breathes. squeezes her eyes shut tight. winces at the pressure on her cheek. ‘yeah. i hated that.’

jester narrows her eyes. ‘but is that really why? or are you letting me think it?’

‘i’m not that good of a liar, jester.’

‘but are you really not, or are you just saying tha—‘

‘jes.’

jester huffs. arranges her skirts.

they sit for a few long moments in silence. then beau bends with a groan to start to remove her boots. jester slides to the floor to help, batting beau’s hands away.

‘jes, no, you don’t have to—‘

‘you’re hurt, beau. just...let me.’

the laces hiss out of their hoops, loosen from around beau’s ankles. jester tosses one and then the other into the corner of the room, peels beau’s socks off next and throws them soon after. it might be the heat of the room but beau is flushed, embarrassed, and the hand on the bath comes up to cover her face.

‘thanks,’ she grunts.

‘you’re welcome.’ jester glances up from beneath lowered lashes, catches the exhaustion written over beau’s face when she thinks jester isn’t looking. ‘beau?’

‘mn.’

‘are you okay? for real?’

‘i mean, i’m beat to shit but that was kinda the point.’

‘no, i know,’ jester says, though she doesn’t think she does know entirely. not in the way beau seems to be implying. ‘but. everything with caleb and the beacon and, and yasha, and,’

‘right. yasha,’ beau sighs, sounding ten times more exhausted. ‘i need to talk to the soul.’

‘about yasha?’

‘nah. i mean. sort of.’ she tilts her head from side to side in a half nod. ‘about the way da’leth fuckin’ lied to them about who yasha was.’ beau shakes her head, seeing jester’s worry. ‘i’m not gonna let them do anything to her. i’m not mad—i’m relieved as hell we got her back, trust me.’

‘i do,’ jester says instantly.

the tightness in the corners of beau’s eyes loosens a fraction. enough that jester notices.

‘yeah. i just can’t—i can’t side with the assembly on lying to the soul just because my friend is caught in the mix.’ beau sighs. stands. ‘anyway. fuck. i need a bath. gotta soak and—not think. for a second, anyway.’ jester stands when she does and for a moment beau looks at her expectantly and then sighs. ‘i don’t mean to be rude but like, alone?’

jester rolls her eyes. ‘i’m not leaving until i’ve healed you.’ discomfort slashes across beau’s face like the cut of a knife. ‘you didn’t think i would seriously follow you and let you get away with not getting healed, did you?’

‘i mean...’

‘no. take off your shirt.’

‘not the way i’m used to hearing that said,’ beau jokes. she turns around. grips her shirt at the waist and pulls it up and over her head.

jester stares. she can’t help it. she’s seen beau get changed in their shared room before, shared excursions to bath houses before, but not like this. maybe because it has been a while, maybe because beau has gotten stronger and harsher on their travels, maybe because beau is holding herself tight and tense with pain or worry or vanity, but beau’s back is sculpted—layer upon layer corded muscle and scar, make up the planes of beau’s back, holding tight to the column of her spine, taut muscles of her shoulders leading to the notch of her neck where it meets the spine. her scapula shift, probably out of discomfort, but it looks mesmerising to watch the muscle and bone move beneath her skin.

and the bruises. the imprint of knuckles, of dull bootprints, the too-perfect ring of knuckledusters, paint purples and reds over beau’s skin, breaking the surface now and again in red scratches and contusions.

jester reaches out.

‘i’m—going to heal you now.’

‘yup. cool.’

she lays her hand flat on beau’s back. it falls of its own accord, seemingly, to curl around beau’s hip and the magic doesn’t burst out of her or sparkle like it sometimes does but instead jester, maybe because she’s so entranced so focused on beau and healing her, that jester feels beau. feels her like her magic is touching her, like she’s seeping into beau, the edges of herself and beau merging for a second. it’s weird and scary and jester whips her hand away quickly.

stares as beau rolls her shoulders out, the movement exaggerated by being so in her face.

‘thanks, jes. that—that feels better.’

‘good.’

‘can i have my bath now?’ beau asks.

jester hesitates. tries one more time. ‘are you okay, beau?’

‘i mean, you healed me so never better.’ she waits a moment. ‘i’m kinda half naked, jes.’

it’s not the answer she wanted. or, it is—she wants beau to be okay—but it was casual, easy. another lie. she leaves, feeling like she has seen more of beau than she was prepared for. and not the naked skin part.

jester focuses a minute on mending the handle and lock of the door she had broken. that, at least, is straightforward. that, at least, she can fix.

[obannthepunished]

This weeks notes Mostly transcription this week i think, i tried my best for nott’s scene. as usual ignore the asterisks because theyre just notes to myself.

peace

Molly is Nervous (tm) abiut sticking around, or going to the gentleman

theres a fight in the evening nip, beau is fucking excited its thedd (halfling from sewers) and lewis (one of the ones that had run from the research facility)

N: "I got three gold on Thedd" M: Seems a bit late for a wager at this point N: Just you and me! M:.... fair. I'm in.

Thedd wins by standing on lewis' throat til he passes out holy shit M: (drops coins into Nott's hand) N, smug: Thank you :)

oh now Nott and Beau are fighting jesus christ. C: "I cast Haste on Beauregard." Laura: YOU PIECE OF SHIT **

J: Inflict Wounds (17 dmg) ((Fjord, changing his voice: "I GOT 5 GOLD ON THE HORNY ONE)) B: WHAT THE FUCK JESTER, Stunning Strike, (7dmg, jes fails con save (6), she is stunned, extra attack from haste, 6dmg) J: (is stunned for this round, until the end of beaus turn) B: Beaus the shit outta her ( 12dmg, 6dmg) ((MOLLY blinds her)) B: still goin, but misses 2 of em, hits on the third (12dmg) J: (goes down)

caleb: goes for the low five, and Beau just.... ignores him unintentionally bless.

Frumpkin is sent to lick the blood off of jesters face, Beau cleans her up <33

They are called to the gentleman's side

offered a forward of 500gp and a pot of 4500g to travel to Shady Creek Run, the criminals town, and free and bring back Ophelia... something, who corresponds often with the gentleman

the tldr of the second (250 adv, 1750 pot) is that the swamps are dangerous for the gentlemans safehouse which has gone dark.

theyre promised resources for missions from the gentleman

Jester: "IS HE MOIST"(re the gentleman)

they take on both, starting with the swamps. The Gentleman advises they travel the 70 miles above ground.

Fjord is so fuckin smooth talky wtf. they get greater heling potion(s)?? + cure disease? Caleb's gettin some ink + paper, but its not good for spells 8(

Nott keeps making water puns. im counting 4. and a hankie.

Jester wand of smiles Kutha again, poor kutha 8(

Caleb + beau ( + assumedly nott) go to pumat's

have they paid their inn tab??

Cay buys incense for rituals, probably find familiar lbh. he also gets his magical ink+parchment.

Beau is interested in the bracers of defence. Theyre like 1200gp tho arent they??? B: how much PS: 1200 gold B:HOLY SHIT PUMAT. [snip] B: HOLY SHIT PUMAT(S).

C: (tells beau he cast haste) B: YOU SLIP SOMETHIN IN MY DRINK CALEB??? WHAT THE FUCK MAN

they have 6 horses, 2 pulling, 6 solo. Jes is driving thr cart.

Caleb: (brings up the feywild) Jester: oh the traveller has told me about that!!

Frumpkin is (one of) the first cats yasha has seen 8'O shes fuckin loving it **

lots of fucking soldiers heading to war. hundreds, if not thousands.

night falls as they reach the origin of the. road. they cant find a campground because tal rolled SHIT even with advantage.

Jester + Fjord take first watch. (13. Nothing) Yasha + Beau on second watch. (14. Also Nothing.) B: We should huddle together for warmth??? Y: Fr- Frumpkin is keeping me. very warm. are you cold??? do you want my, my cloak? B: No, no my, my (jacket??? cant remember what she said) is fine, its htin, but its warm Then they talk about Yasha ands this is the furthest shes ever been. Y: "i like this stuff. Grass, and, things. you know." B: You appreciate grass?

B: What was your favourite part of xorhas? Y: I... dont know if i HAD a favourite part

this was the CUTEST shit

third watch is Nott + Molly (10, nothing happens) taliesin trying a jester voice makes me the heart eyes emoji

goblins canonically steal children what THE FUCK. And EAT them. But Nott, apparently, has not eaten a child. "My clan, we STOLE from people. money and clothing and things. And when things got tough, we'd steal the people too." Goblins dont do family. "I do not have an urge to kill and eat children" "i have cravings for... rats... cats-" (Caleb snaps) Frumpkin goes back to the feywild Yasha: =(

taliesin taking watch after rolling shit cmon. he gets 16. Noon, broken cloud cover, a tiny distant curl of smoke. oh not again. its a mile away tho so like

the smoke is coming from a small shack.

"For you, Fjord, I will make Frumpkin a bird." He doesn't though but its the sentiment.

Yasha gets shoulder frumpkin back!

The shack door opens to "an elderly fullblood orc" with hair and beard and all that shit.

for 1 (one) gp a month, you TOO can bother a whole old man orc. Jesus christ he had a battleaxe. puts it down, invites yasha and molly in. THIS IS SO UNNECESSARY Molly buys hide armor + 2lb of meat for 16gp. M: Perception check 10. Matt: "Okay." There is sOMETHING SUS about this.

and theyre off again, i am glad for this. i do not like elderly orc man.

yasha and molly double up on that goof "we totally killed him, three times." its very good

M + Y: What kind of meat is this? (fuck their rolls) its meat! its good meat!

M+Y take first watch, its 12. Nothing happens. Yasha collects some flowers to press awww. N+C Second watch, they roll w advantage lmao. 22. something is going to happen. "you hear the snapping of a twig. you see a shifting of shadow. a few things" Cay casts mage armor

Two arrows for Caleb. con saving throw. probably poison. 10. its poison. he is poisoned. fucks frickin sake. is it gnolls?? is it goblins??? hyenas??? furred barking things. wolves.

two ogres, a cluster of wolves, and goblin-like creatures

initiative order:

Beau: Nat20, 24 Goblins Caleb: 18 Fjord, Molly: 16 Ogres Nott: 15 Yasha, Jester: 6 Wolves

B: Jester, puppies!!

Yasha and Jester shrug off poison of those that hit them.

Caleb casts slow on one ogre. unrelated liam is so good???

oh yeah eldritch blast gets two beams of eldritch blast at lv3

Molly radiants once scimitar and cuts RIGHT through one of em. misses the second.

Caleb hit with a javelin, 4-5 inches into his stomach, holding itself upright. Caleb keeps the spell going.

Nott pretends shes one of them and aims for Caleb, hits the book instead. and nails it.

Jester (traumatised): CALEB!!! cure wounds 2nd level. but he is pretty fucked so its ok. he heals to full its ok its ok. Jester cares so much

Yasha pulls necrotic shroud! which as someone who cant watch TM, this is a reveal for me! :D

J: (to cale) Youre alive! How did- C: (monotonous) haha! funny, joke.

Fjord explodes a goblin Molly cuts one in half, vertically

Molly curses the ogre attacking beau

Nott shoots the ogre, and then the goblin next to her... but misses and is fucked

Yash gets the hdywtdt on one of the ogres

Beau @ necrotic shroud!yasha: you look... dope. You look FUCKIN HOT LETS GO.

cay has magic missile!

fjord gets the second hdywtdt w eldritch blast.

cay n molly go to retrieve stolen goods from goblin but apparently just Molly

Yasha necrotic shrouds when shes startled awake. F: Can you fly? Y: ...no J: Have you tried? Y:... yeah.

Yasha n Caleb have a conversation in celestial C: No really, are you an angel? Y: of sorts, i guess [snip] C: You will have to explain this now, or later. do you want to explain this now, or later? Y: i- ill explain it, just, maybe we should clean up first!

i have no idea whats going on but i heard marisha say "bad dragon" and im gonna die

J: Nott, are you okay? Was it weird to fight other goblins? N: it was... rewarding. I'm only sad that... one got away. B: Nott, do you share the same hatred in yourself? [snip] N: Do... do I hate myself? No. I'm... I'm cool. F: You seem excited to hurt your own kind. N: I know, I'm a goblin, for as long as I've been alive I haven't felt comfortable in, in there. I havent felt comfortable in my skin. It feels like I shouldnt be, i dont fit in with them. I feel, this feels WRONG, like I should be in a different body. The way they act, the way they are, it's not ME. They do horrible things to people, and they seem fine with it. I never felt the same with them. It's not that I don't like myself or anything, I think I'm okay, I just don't like how I feel when I see my hands, or my feet. They just feel wrong. I just want to be... different. C: Was there anyone you were close to? N: Not in my clan, but there was... someone. They tried me on different jobs but I was not a soldier, i was not a good cook, not good at sweing, or building, they stuck me with the torturer. I was the torturers assistant. there was a halfling village not far away and they captured someone from the village, they wanted me to kill him, but instead, I was kind to him. And he started talking, and my... fellow gobbies didn't like that, but they allowed it, because i was getting valuable information. [about halflings resources] I became friends with him. He was nice. J: What happened to him? N: I hope he got away J: Did you leave before him? N: We left together [snip J: Did you love him? N: .... I don't know. The halfling taught her how to speak in halfling, taught her about alchemy, when he has taught her everything, the goblins said to kill him. And she didnt want to. so she got REAL drunk, and shot another goblin in the ass. N: I hope he got away. We ran off in separate directions. I've been running ever since.

+1 to the quest log, find Nott's friend.

Beaus trying to be nice i love her.

C: I do not care. I know who you are now. (<333)

B: I think we're all a little bit of island of misfits.

F: You showed a lot of bravery tonight B: Nott, The brave. J: Maybe there is a comma.

Y: Nott, I'm sorry we made fun of you eating children N: I HAVE NOT EATEN CHILDREN

B: What got you locked up with this guy? (Caleb) N: Being me. Stealing food? C: You told me it was cherry wine. N: OKAY IT WAS BOOZE.

it is now raining.

M: Well, I'm sleeping underneath the cart! if anyone wants to join me... J: We wont all fit! M: We'll snuggle. *

Molly + Jester are under the cart.

"i tasted a baby once. ONCE. they were handing around a bowl, I didn't know-" -N Liam takes Sam's flask and takes a swig so i assume caleb does the same in canon C: "Who am I to judge?"