Warning: Contains emotional abuse, heavily implied sexual assault, and implied physical abuse
Tora looked out from the darkest corner of Baya’s dining room, surveying his fellow guild mates from a safe distance. Needles, Sheridan, and Bogs played cards at the roughly made wooden table. There weren’t enough chairs so one of them sat on a crate. They were engrossed enough in their game that they paid him no heed. Birr and Ebril stood aways from them by the door, chatting in whispers, and occasionally throwing Tora looks. He wasn’t sure he liked those looks. His back sank further into the wall, its wooden planks creaking in protest.
The guild was not what Tora expected. Not a charming band of adventurers doing good while on the fringes of society. Not a group of well-meaning misfits bonding over shared misfortunes. They were not the characters from his books, but he wasn’t sure why he thought they would be. Reality was never as good as fiction.
He’d been officially in the guild for almost a month, and it had been… rough. Confusing? Scary. Even Baya proved to have her own surprises, some he’d discovered the very day he joined. His eyes glanced involuntarily to the staircase leading to Baya and Darach’s room and he tensed. She hadn’t mentioned Darach until he joined.
“This is my husband, Darach” she’d said. “He’s not a real talkative type, are ya darlin’?”
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