You bare all

The five you all received concerned looks from the tavern owner as you headed to your rented room in the Good Knight’s Rest. The rooms were not intended for five people, to say nothing of one orc male and four women of great beauty. The possible suspicion and judgement weighed on you, an additional burden on top of the heavy conversation that now laid before you. The door locked behind you, and relative safety from Lord Diamant and his demon cult, there was nothing for it now but to start talking. Each person eyed each other, trying to figure out who would be the one to break the terrible tension of silence.

“Before we get into anything else” Trevolia said loudly, “I have to know this much. How long as this been going on for?”

“Since the beginning” You admit, the guilt and shame precluding you from speaking loudly.

Joan, strangely was there to back you up “You can’t fault Silve, I extorted him. Sex with me in order for me to help rescue you. He’d have done anything for you, but there was no one else he could turn to for help. Well, no one that would be successful, at any rate.”

Trevolia’s anger softened, only slightly “That doesn’t really make it better Joan. Now I’m just mostly mad at you. Why did you do it?”

“Your boyfriend is incredibly handsome, especially for an Orc. All of you can see that.” Nods from Clodagh and Tifa concurred with the sentiment “Gettting a little bit of what I want seemed fair trade for risking my life to dismantle the social order.”

“That hardly excuses one time, there’s still however ever many times after that. How do you justify that?”

“I can’t” Joan replied, crossing her arms in front of her chest “Not in a way an entitled princess would accept”

“Excuse me?” Trevolia asked loudly, pushing off from the wall she had been leaning against

“You just assumed that you were entitled to your man because you claimed him first, that he didn’t have any agency in his own decisions of who he might want to be with, and that he might recognize he’s better off with someone else.”

“You were trying to steal him from me!” Trevolia shouted “You admit it!”

“Yes!” Joan replied, more in guilt than defiance “Fine, I wanted Silve to myself. I wanted what you two had. Can you blame me? A talented, handsome, loving, considerate guy like him? To be loved by him the way he loves you? Who wouldn’t want a taste of that?”

Joan’s tone become muted, in self defeat “I know it’s bad, that it was dooming the two of you. I couldn’t help it. I mean, you think Drow know how to handle feelings like this? You think I know anything about actually being loved? Fuck, I don’t even know if that’s what this is, but I knew I’d probably find another like him again.”

Trevolia looked back at you again, still emotionally flummoxed and angry.

“He never came after me, Princess. It was me seducing him, every time. Sometimes it was hard, sometimes it was easy, but it was always my idea.”

“That go for you too, than?” Trevolia turned to Clodagh

“Hey, I’m just here for the ride.” She said defensively. “Silve’s not the first orc I’ve had, and not even the biggest one, but he’s talented”

“You’re digging your own grave here” Joan said nudgingly

“I knew Joan before I teamed up with the lot of you. We used to work together. I knew what her track record was. I figured if Silve was hammering it out with Joan, than things must be open.”

“The fact that I kept saying I shouldn’t do this didn’t give you pause?” You asked accusingly

“That’s not as much of indicator of monogamy as you’d think. You should see how things were back home”

“The point!?” Trevolia shouted

“Look, Joan is right, up to a point. I’m not the kind of lady to be left to my own devices. I make poor decisions, I take bad risks, and people around me get hurt as much as myself. Silve stook his neck out for me when nobody else was doing it, and he helped recover a ring that got taken from me from a man I loved and lost. Another Orc, like him. I’ll never get to see Drasht again, but when I’m around Silve…” Clodagh paused for a second “I can close my eyes and pretend.” The barbarians back straightened as she took a stand for herself.

“You can hate me if you like Princess, but until you really lose Silve, don’t you dare try and judge me. You would be as **** to fill that hole in your heart as me. Maybe even more so, based on what you did today”

“Getting your ass filled is a far distance from your heart” Trevolia shot back fiercely. “This isn’t about me, okay? I’m not the one who did anything wrong!”

“Perhaps,” Joan replied “But there’s a lot that you could have done and didn’t. Being a neglectful lover is unbecoming”

“How dare you!” Trevolia grabbed the wizard’s staff, which she had left in the room since before this whole escapade started. “I love Silve, he knows that!” Her eyes turned to you, but your face didn’t return the affirmation she was looking for.

“I don’t believe this. You’re saying it’s my fault that you fell down on these two, maybe three sluts?”

“I didn’t say that at all Trevolia, and you’re right. I do love you. That doesn’t change fact that offering to do things you wouldn’t gives them a lot of bargaining power.”

“Still sounds like you’re making this my fault.” Trevolia slumped, throwing her staff to the ground “And I don’t like that you’re saying that in order to keep you all to myself I have to lower myself to that of a petty harlot.”

“Only petty harlots give men what they want?” You retort crossly

She groaned “No! Maybe, I don’t know. Does my boundaries mean I love him less?”

“No” You add in “Nobody doubts that”

“Do you think him getting what he can’t get from you means he loves you less?” Joan asked “I mean, I understand how you feel totally betrayed and that he didn’t love you, but moving forward.”

“You unrepentant whore” Trevolia clenched her fists as she stormed towards Joan “After all of this you’re still trying to get some?” Joan, being unafraid and the better combatant stood unafraid, deflecting the punch meant for her jaw. Things started spiral out of control, and you rose up to try to put a physical barrier in place. Lita’s interjection was quicker, and more affective. In an otherworldly shout, a solitary “Stop” rang through the walls, bringing everyone to a still. Her inhuman eyes glowed again, but not quite with the fiery intensity as before. Her hands moved in a series of obscure gestures, as she spoke softly.

“Listen to me.” Her words were soft and slow, as one speaks to a child heading to sleep “there is nothing that any of you can say or do to change the past. We all have the same thing in common, that we have been swept up by this peculiar nobly orcish bard. We don’t have to compete with one another for attention and affections with him. There is enough love and sentimentality in this room to go around. Let’s take a quiet moment, and explore that.”

Lita’s hands dropped, and the anger and vitriol fell out of the room like a lead weight.

“Thank you, miss” Trevolia started “And, I guess you’re right. The only one trying to claim Silve for themselves was me. I can share, I think” The princess walked slowly to you, and sat next to you. Without a word, she gently kisses your lips. Her hands roaming your body feel familiar, as the fast leadup to greater intimacy. You lay down on the bed, and she follows with you, making out side by side. Though you can’t see, you’re hearing gentle moans coming from the other two ladies. Whatever Lita did to clear the air has also set the mood. After all that’s happened, it feels weird that this is how your evening ends.

The romantic interlude is cut short as a series of loud screams are heard outside. Snapping to alertness, all five you swarm to the same tiny window. You see three women running the streets in terror as demonic imps fly towards them.

“Diamant!” Lita lets out “He can’t get what he wants, so he’s damning us all”

“Well” You let out as you get yourself presentable, Trevolia having previously unbuttoned your clothes “We got to go fix this. Everyone in?”

A series of nods came forward as each grabbed their weapons and gear. Where there had been seething hatred, there was a unity now that could not have been predicted just a few moments ago.

“Right” you say with a smile “Let’s get after it than”