Making Trauma and Love (Laraganus's Story)

(Story does contain sexual language)

Lady Laraganus was soaring through the skies on the back of Hex-Dris when she finally spotted her cottage in the dense foliage of the marsh she called home. She landed, took Hex-Dris to his stable, and went into her home exhausted from another adventure. When she went in, Shem was cooking a pot of stew and noticed her come in. "Well, hi there, my lady," he said with a lover's smile spanning ear to ear, and even did a low bow. "I am tired, so I'm going to take a nap, then you're going to please me, then we're eating, followed by a warm bath where you'll please me again," ordered Larganus as she dropped her adventuring gear and stumbled into Shem's arms. "Wow, what happened that got you this exhausted?" asked Shem. "I'll tell you at dinner or after the bath. I don't know yet," she said as she stumbled into their bedroom, collapsed on the bed, and fell asleep.

The adventure was a total nightmare. The quest was simple: Raid a Heretic mansion and take no prisoners. However, that is not what happened. Firstly, there were more zealots in the area than expected. Secondly, the group Laraganus was ill-equipped with their poor excuses for armour and a severe lack of potions and powerful magicians. Laraganus thought this was supposed to be an easy in and out operation, but instead it was going to be a desperate, fast-paced push into a very obviously trapped mansion with no support from other Chrissm groups coming in. The group first stormed through the back, catching the zealots off guard with spells and arrows. This set off bell alerts, but the group rushed in, killing every zealot in every hallway and room they came across. However, the zealots had laid out traps such as: tripwired arrows, which took out one of the rangers, acid and hot oil bucket dumps, which took out a paladin and a warlock. And then there was a pitfall trap, which got everyone except for Laraganus and the party's cleric. They managed to avoid it by sheer dumb luck and quick reflexes. After hours of fighting and dodging traps, Laraganus and the cleric finally found the zealot leader and killed him. They nearly died twice during the encounter, but pulled off a miracle win regardless. They then found the rest of the party in a secret room, nearly dead. The cleric almost collapsed from exhaustion after the operation and had to be carried by Larganus and another party member. They left the manion, not as victors but as victims.

Laraganus then woke up, her body aching but recovering quickly. She changed out of her gear and put on a thin silk robe and walked in on Shem adding finishing touches to the table with warm stew ready to be eaten. "I thought I said we were going to eat after you please me," said Laraganus as she leaned on the doorpost, arms crossed. "Well, I wasn't quite done..." Before Shem could finish his response, he looked up and saw his wife wearing the silk robe, which meant she wasn't in any mood for flirting, only action. She also never looked so stunning despite her hair going in all directions, sweat poking out of her face, and her scars being more visible, both from the distant and near past. "Well, once we're done, dinner will be cool enough to dig in. Hopefully," said Shem as he made his way to Laraganus, picked her up, and made love with her.

During the activity, flashbacks kept popping into Laraganus's mind. The faces of her party members as they died to traps and enemies, the faces of the enemies as she killed them, the screams of friend and foe alike echoed over and over again. Laraganus only snapped back to reality when she felt Shem's rhythm slow down. "Why are you slowing down?" she asked. "Sorry, you look like you weren't enjoying it, so I thought I'd back off a bit," he answered. "No, keep going. It's not you," ordered Laraganus. "Are you sure? You're sweating a lot, and you feel very tense right now," asked Shem in his usual concerned self. "Shem, I'm fine. I need this. Just keep going," she ordered once again. "Alright. Alright. I'm just concerned about you, that's all," said Shem as he resumed.

After the lovemaking, the couple sat on opposite sides of the small table and ate their stew. Laraganus was scarfing it down as if she hadn't eaten in weeks, while Shem was taking his time.

Lala was not herself, and he couldn't figure it out, other than something horrible must've happened on the last quest that has her so closed off and unwilling to talk about it. Especially if she wanted two different pleasure sessions, which only happen on each other's birthdays and sometimes on holidays. Not this time. This time, she seems so desperate to forget about something that she's trying every pleasure possible to see if it will help it go away. Shem's thoughts were interrupted when Laraganus was finally finished and said, "Now for a bath, Shem, care to join me?" she asked as she got up and went outside to the fogged-up glass dome, which housed a natural hot spring.

Laraganus took off her silk robe once again and sank into the warm embrace of the waters with only her head above water. Her back braced against the warm stone wall of the spring. Then, a few minutes later, Shem arrived. He climbed in, took off his magic coral necklace, and his once yellow scale legs were now a yellow fish tail. Fins grew on his arms and ears. Laraganus took the necklace and placed it behind her. "Feel better?" asked Shem. "Much better, now if you could just do your thing, then it'll be even better," answered Laraganus. "My thing? Well, only if you tell what happened on your quest," said Shem, flirtingly. "Fine. I guess it's been so long since I've had to fight that I got too rusty, and people suffered because of it. My sense for traps cost the lives of party members, and the plan had to be redone from scratch, right from the start, because there were way more zealot guards outside than what we were told, and throughout the whole time, I felt powerless. I haven't felt like that since I was a little girl," vented Laraganus. "Well, you did your best, and the quest was complete; that's all that matters," said Shem. "No, it isn't. I didn't do my best because I'm not at my best. Not anymore," said Laraganus. "Well, of course, you're not at your best; you forced yourself to go into self-exile nearly a century ago, it's not like you've been training a lot within that time. Also, did you really think your strength was going to last as long as you just because you're half-elf?" asked Shem, smacking Laraganus with a much-needed reality check.

Her half-orc side gave her strength and willpower, while her elf side gave her beauty and time. When she was younger, the two sides were a devastating combo, giving her the nickname "The Seductive Slayer" among the half-orc tribes of the Green Swamps. Now, it seemed that the only thing that wasn't leaving was time. She still had over 200 more years of life if she was lucky, but her strength, her beauty, her ability to help people would fade away long before that. "How did you get so wise? I hate it sometimes," said Laraganus, smiling flirtatiously. "Well, I married a much, much older half-orc lady who's seen a thing or two, so I just learned from her," he said as he kissed her, then her neck, and then continued to kiss downward and went underwater.

This time, the memories seemed more distant and blurry, less impactful; the screams weren't as loud, the feeling of powerlessness was diminishing, and the memories as a whole were becoming more manageable, which added more satisfaction to what Shem was doing to her. Then Shem poked his head up from the water. "What are you? Keep going," she ordered while breathing very heavily. "I couldn't tell if the noises you were making were good ones or painful ones, so I just wanted to check," said Shem. "Oh shut up, and keep going," said Laraganus, still breathing heavily, as she pushed Shem's head back into the water. If she was in pain, she had her ways of telling Shem. However, she was not in pain, not tonight at least.