53- Such Unexpected Delights

Quayleigh couldn't help but smile, despite the mild headache and the lingering sensations of burning at the various puncture sites around her body. She clutched at Tau's hand and leaned against him as he wrapped himself protectively around her, pulling her close while Cole stood up and retrieved the shirt she had been wearing earlier.

"Come now, let's get you dressed," Cole remarked as he knelt down next to them offering out the shirt. "Best if you comfortable."

Taking the shirt from Cole's hand, Tau carefully helped Quayleigh put it on.

"If you have questions, you can ask," she said, having noticed that Cole hadn't stopped staring at her eye.

"I'm sorry cher, I just… it's just that I've never seen anything like it before. You told me you were blind, but I can't help but wonder, what is it that you actually see from it?"

"I didn't lie to you, if that's what you're wondering. Normally, I can't see much of anything, aside from the static and shadows I've told you about. But now, it's like I'm able to see into another world. I can see people's souls. What they really look like. It's really strange how yours is so dark, and so vibrant at the same time. You may have sold it to something else, but they left you enough to keep you alive."

"I see. So, what I saw, when I looked at him, when we were connected…"

"Yes," she replied as she closed her human eye and looked up at Tau. "When it's like this, I get to see him as he used to be. Before he was trapped here."

"And that? What you see when you look at that?" Cole questioned as he pointed behind her to where Uroxuz was laying stretched out against the floor.

"Uru got curious by what was happening and frightened Cole when he went closer to investigate," Tau explained as she shifted her position, turning around to see the large, dark, and slender form of Uroxuz less than a foot away.

"Well, hello there," she remarked as Uroxuz lifted his head. "I got a bit frightened the last time we met. I'm really sorry about that."

"Do not apologize. It was not my intention to frighten you or cause you harm. Yet the result will not change," Uroxuz stated as he dipped his nose to her.

"Still, I'd like if you didn't have a poor impression of me."

"Never. Such is inconceivable."

"Well, that's good to know. Because it is quite an honor to meet you, Uroxuz," she replied, extending her hand out towards him.

Lowering his head, he pulled himself forward and pressed the tip of his nose against her fingers. His skin was the texture of old beach glass, heated by the summer sun, warm, smooth, and strangely soft. She could feel his breath pass over her arm, and watched his nostrils, long, thin, slits, flare as he breathed. As she flexed her fingers, he stretched out his neck, rubbing his cheek into the palm of her hand. She giggled at the sensation and rubbed at his cheek as a low guttural rumble, near identical to a kitten's purr, began to emanate from him.

"Come here," she whispered and to her delight, he ducked his head beneath her arm, pushing Tau out of the way as he slithered around behind her back, and forced his way beneath her other arm.

Rising up in front of her, he looked her in the eyes and then promptly began to rub his forehead against hers.

"Well look at you," she laughed as he shifted his head back. "Aren't you just extraordinary." Reaching up she began to scratch him under the chin and felt his body tense up around her as his eyes grew wide.

It felt as if he had begun to vibrate as the purring grew louder and more pronounced.

"What is this?" he asked struggling to keep his jaw from hanging open.

"Chin scritches," she replied as she flattened out her hands, and pulled him closer.

Sinking down, it was if he was powerless to resist her motions, and once she had him close enough, she slid her hands back to behind his jaw. She wanted to scratch him behind the ears, but was uncertain where his were, given the frog-like shape of his skull, with a much heavier lower jaw, and a flat bone plate protrusion that extended out from the crown of his head, fanned out across its width, like a heavy shield, swooping up towards the pointed tip. Working her fingers up beneath the underside of where the bone plate attached to his neck, she thought it adorable the way his eyes sunk into his head and his lips curled up, revealing the solid wall of long, thin, needle shaped teeth, all while he began to tilt his head further back. She hoped that she could find out if he had a sweet spot, like a dog or a cat, although he resembled an odd mix of frog, snake, and triceratops- minus the horns. While she could clearly see his spindly arms that were twice as long in the forearm, further down his body, it wasn't apparent if he had back legs, given that his long, slender, snake-like body, despite being wrapped entirely around her, extended further into the living room and disappeared behind the couch.

Moving her hands further down his neck, she watched as he began to sway and felt his body relax beneath her fingers. Sinking further down, he unexpectedly rolled onto his back, and revealed his tender underside. Carefully lowering his head, she draped him over his body, before sliding her arm out from beneath him. He wasn't as heavy as she thought he was going to be and continued to rub up and down his neck in slow, even motions enjoying the comfort of being surrounded by something so large and warm.

"Marvelous…" Uroxuz gasped, chattering his teeth in a strange rapid manner, as the rest of his body feel completely limp.

"It seems you have a way with him," Tau remarked as he repositioned himself at her side, leaving just enough room for Uroxuz between them.

"Quays, what the hell are you doing?" Cole strained to speak; his face scrunched up in disbelief of what he was seeing. "That thing is a killer."

"Oh Cole, you don't need to be afraid anymore. Uroxuz isn't going to hurt you anymore than I would. As for what he is, I don't think it's fair that we judge him by our standards. Like Tau, he works with the authority of Death. I know this must be frightening to see, but I swear, he's harmless to me. And don't feel bad, I was petrified when I first met him too."

"That is the typical reaction," Tau commented as he reached under Uroxuz head and stroked at his muzzle. "But I have to admit, I've never seen him act like this before."

"Well, I'm betting you've never cuddled with him either. Although I'm wondering how you ever managed to resist. Look at him; so, freaking adorable!"

"It's a bit hard not to be afraid of something that refers to you as if you were nothing but a piece of food."

"You are not food. You are spoiled. I would never eat spoiled fruit. As beautiful as it looks, it lacks all flavor," Uroxuz remarked before licking his lips and swallowing harshly given his inverted state.

"Well, now that be how you give someone a compliment," Cole remarked as he stood up and took a deep breath. "Look Quays, I may not like it, but if you certain you're safe, I'll let it be."

"Then you can let it be. I trust them, implicitly."

"Alright then, but you know I'm just trying to look out for you, right?"

"I know, and I'm thankful for it. You really have nothing to be concerned over though."

"Actually, he may," Tau said as he looked away and scratched at the back of his head. "When you were in the ritual, Uru may have licked his face, and then proceeded to insult him, a few times, while you were resting."

"No, no, it be fine. He went and apologized after. Can't be holding his nature against him now, even if he did scare the daylights out of me," he replied as he looked around the apartment. "Tau, why don't you start cleaning up, while I make us all something to eat."

Tau leaned over and kissed Quayleigh's temple before following Cole into the kitchen. She didn't pay any attention to what either was doing and continued to run her hands over the underside of Uroxuz neck; his purring growing softer and steadier. She was fascinated with the feeling of the structure of his body beneath his skin. His muscles felt long and thick, like large ropes, and would occasionally twitch and shudder when she would press against one that felt uncomfortably tight or knotted. Moving further down his neck, she could feel the indentation and ridges of what she could only assume was some sort of skeletal structure, similar to collar bones, and the upper part of a ribcage, but given how his body was twisted and curving around behind her, it was difficult for her to tell exactly what was going on. Seeing how close his arm was though, she rubbed against his forearm and smiled as he instinctively stretched it forward, until she reached his palm, and it relaxed, retracting to its former position. Resting her palm in his, it was as large as her entire hand, while his fingers, three plus a thumb, were each the length of his forearm including the small, hooked talons at the tips.

The more she admired him, the more he began to remind her of a painting that used to hang in her father's study. Depicting a wingless dragon floating in the sky over a raging sea, she remembered the way she adored it, and found herself unable to stop smiling at the memory, even though she wasn't entirely certain that she was remembering it correctly.

"Sorry to interrupt, but it's time to let the lady up so she can eat," Cole remarked, drawing Quayleigh's attention.

"That smells amazing," she remarked as she took a deep breath in, the savory aroma slowly filling the room as something bubbled away in a pot on the stove.

"You heard him Uru, time to get up," Tau reiterated as he approached them.

Uroxuz slowly flipped over and shifted himself off of Quayleigh before dropping limply to the floor.

"Such unexpected delights," he muttered as he stretched his arms back and closed his eyes once more.

"And to think, I barely even got started," she said as Tau knelt down and scooped her up in his arms.

"There's plenty of time tomorrow for you to continue." He smiled as she wrapped her arms around him.

"One day," she whispered into his ear," I'll be able to do the same for you."

"I look forward to that day," he replied back as he carried her over to the couch and set her down. Grabbing the blanket from off her bed, he placed it over her lap as Cole handed her a mug with a spoon in it.

"Careful, cher, it's hot," Cole warned before returning to the kitchen, "I hope you don't mind that I brought dinner with me. Goat stew with a few extra bits to help with our recovery."

"I don't mind at all. That took way more out of me than I thought it would," she admitted, while stirring the contents being careful not to spill any. "Three seconds certainly felt more like a lifetime than I thought it would."

"That's because it was more like fifteen or twenty. Even I got pulled into the same strange time distortion of the ritual. That eye of yours, it be like a void. It was sucking up all the energy I was trying to pull past it. I would have broken off our connection, but I couldn't risk what that might have done to you," he said as he returned with two more mugs, one for Tau, and another for himself. "Tell me though, did you dream of the bayou or just the butterflies?"

"Neither," she replied, glancing down into the mug as Tau moved to the floor allowing Cole to sit on the couch with her. "At first it felt like I was just drowning, but then the water, it began to boil." She closed her eyes and shook her head. "I'm sorry but I would really rather not think about how it all began. It was horrifying, and even though I know it wasn't real, it doesn't make it any easier to talk about."

"That's okay cher, no need to bring it up then. I'm sorry you had such a dreadful experience."

"Oh no, it was wonderful, really. At least for the majority of it. At some point I was pulled up from the water, and I found myself floating over an ocean of perfectly still water. It was like a mirror reflecting the stars in the sky above. It was so beautiful and serene, and when I looked around me, there was this river of sparkling gold and silver lights that went on far beyond the horizon but was never reflected in the waters below. I followed it and eventually I reached this shoreline that was made of a smooth, hardened clay, and trees without leaves were dotted along it and well off into the distance. It was always night there, but it wasn't dark. It was so strange. It felt like I was never going to leave that place, and I never wanted to. I lived a lifetime on that shore watching the stars shift above as the river flowed passed like a golden ribbon. Then I started to feel heavy, and I closed my eyes to sleep for the first time only to wake up here, with a mild headache, to the most incredible sight." Looking over at Tauluthet, she smiled as she watched him lift the mug up and take a smell of the contents.

She loved to see the real him, even if it was super imposed over his human self. It gave her yet another opportunity to confine even the smallest of details of him to her memory.

"I just be relieved to know that you spent most of your time in such a relaxing place. I was worried about the toll of being stuck in that state was going to take on you."

"Worry no more then. I'm perfectly fine. Came through only nominally scathed, but I'll heal."

"That you will, cher. Now hurry up and eat. There be more on the stove if that isn't enough."

They didn't speak much as they finished down their food, and as Cole and Tau cleaned and packed up, Quayleigh found it difficult to keep her eyes open. Before long, she tucked the edge of the blanket up under her chin and drifted off to sleep.