Gods, I never thought I'd see this much sand in my life. Given my amnesia, I don't have a full life's worth of memories to go back on, but still, I don't think that even with thirty years of memories would I have seen this much sand. For that matter, when the noblemen told me that we'd be heading to the desert, I didn't even know what to make of that. I didn't expect miles upon miles of sand, scorching heat, and absolutely nothing else bar the occasional set of bones in the sand. At least today I'm far away from the fighting—due to the spread out nature of the desert and the bandits we are fighting, direct command of our troops just wasn't a real option for me—as I'm searching the desert for treasure together with our thief, Matthew.
We weren't originally going to do this, but Matthew suggested that there were riches to be found in this desert that common bandits would never stumble over. However, with his trained thief's eye, he would be easily capable to dig up some treasures that could greatly help us on our path, and so I tagged along, and now I'm helping where I can. The sun is beating down on us, but at least we're not fighting, just walking and searching, and to his credit, Matthew has already dug up some old relics that at the very least can fetch a good sale price and will greatly bolster our war chest. And of course, his success has left him quite braggadocious.
"I told you, ${Tactician's name?}! I told you there were riches around here, ripe for the picking! You better make sure that our lordships recognize what I'm adding to this group!" he yells, continuing his search with boundless enthusiasm while I struggle to keep up. Matthew... I've never spent a lot of time with him. He's always kept to himself, not necessarily because he wanted to avoid me, but just because his work as thief and spy necessitates that he works alone most of the time. And now that I've gotten to spend some time with him in his element, I feel like I'm growing fond of him. He's cheerful and a joy to be around, and, well... he's kinda cute. Since he's a thief, he by necessity needs to be athletic and slim, which I really like. Of course, I'm never going to tell him that. I am trying to be a bit, uh, less forward with people, just because it might make things awkward.
As Matthew practically skips along the dunes and I slowly follow, I find myself wondering for a while about how the others are doing in their battle. However, I quickly dismiss the thought, since I do have full confidence in them being capable of winning this fight with only general strategies. They'll be fine, and I can focus on finding treasure, which is a welcome change of pace. But as I am still lost in thought, I suddenly bump into Matthew's back, sending both of us falling into the sand. After a few moments of confusion, Matthew gets up and asks "What the hell was that for?" while still sputtering out sand that ended up in his mouth. Similarly sputtering, I say "Sorry, got lost in my thoughts for a moment, but why did you stop anyway?".
Matthew simply points down, and looking there I can see a small blue thing. He swiftly digs it up and holds it in his hand where we both can get a good look at it—it's quite clearly a potion of some kind, but we can't tell what kind. "Huh, I wonder what that is..." I muse out loud, but Matthew simply shrugs his shoulders. "Ah, it's probably ancient and inert. The way this thing looks it might have centuries behind it, and potions usually don't last that long, to my knowledge." he says, shaking the potion back and forth carefully, looking for some sort of reaction. Then, he seems to get an idea. "Hey, bet you 500 gold you won't take a swig of this." he says, laying the potion into my hand.
I'm hesitant, given that we have absolutely zero idea what this is, but at the same time, it seems Matthew was pretty confident it wouldn't actually do anything. So, hey, 500 gold is 500 gold, let's give it a shot. And so, I open the flask, take a decent swig, and swallow it. Afterwards, I don't seem to notice any change, but looking closer at the flask, I actually suddenly recognize some of the inscriptions, and if what I read in one of the army's mage's books is correct... oh, hell. This is a love potion! The kind that makes you fall for whoever you see first when you drink it... and right now, all that's there for you to fall for is Matthew. Gods... what have I gotten myself into?
Well, there is still a chance that this potion is inert and won't have any effect, but at the same time, there's this uneasy feeling in my stomach that that won't be the case. So if I still haven't fallen head over heels in love with him yet, I'm at the least going to try and get him to drink this as well, the bastard. If I'm going down, he's going down with me! Quickly, I act as if the potion tasted horrible, spitting and retching. "Gods, that is horrible! Bah! You know what, Matthew? Bet you 2000 gold you won't take a drink of this as well!" I offer, trying to entice him with some money. And it seems I pegged him correctly, as he snatches the flask from my hand. "Ha! You're on, ${Tactician's name?}. You could've just taken your 500 gold as a win, but you just couldn't let go, huh?"
And so, Matthew takes a swig from the flask as well, swallowing it. "I don't know what your problem with it is, it didn't taste of anything to me... weak stomach, eh?" he quips with a smirk. Just you wait, Matthew, if I'm right about this, I'm having the last laugh here. As we continue walking through the dunes, searching for treasure, I feel myself starting to sweat more heavily. This must be the potion taking effect, as Matthew seems to be feeling it as well. And then it happens. With a "Hey, give me some of the water you're carrying, I think I'm parched...", Matthew turns around, our eyes meet, and the potion works its magic. I can feel my picture of him being rewritten as I think about it, becoming more beautiful, more lovable.
Matthew's clearly feeling the effects of it too. With heavy breath, he steps closer to me, looking deeply into my eyes. "${Tactician's name?}... I... have I ever told you... you're really pretty? I... don't think I have..." he says, panting and reaching out to caress my cheek. His touch is so gentle, I find myself instinctively leaning into it like a kitten desperately yearning for love and affection. Even so, my mind is still trying to tell me this isn't right. "We... we shouldn't be doing this... they're fighting out there, it's dangerous..." I mutter, even as I feel my resistance fading every second. His lips graze against my cheek, so soft I could barely notice they were there, but I could still feel it resonating deeply within my heart.
"I know... but nobody is here. You can see for ages out, and there's no soul in sight. We're far behind the battle lines... and I think this is the only time we'll ever be this alone. So... why not indulge a bit?" he replies, carefully undoing the latch on his cape and letting it sail into the sand before grabbing the hem of his shirt and pulling it up and over his head as it joins the cape in the sand. I don't know if it's the love potion or what, but right now, Matthew's shirtless body is the most drop-dead gorgeous thing I've ever seen, and it leaves me weak in the knees. I don't even put up a fight as he slowly unties the belt that keeps my robe together and slides it off my shoulders. "It's so warm... clearly, we should lose a few layers, huh?" he says with a smirk.
Right now, I'm still dressed more than Matthew, with him wearing only pants and boots, and me still wearing a shirt, pants and shoes, but I don't believe that will last. And sure enough,