Caduceus had seen many different kinds of death. He had even killed himself for reasons other than just survival. He was a killer in the company of killers, and yet this was where the Wildmother wanted him to be. And so he was content.

"So how come you remember us this time Molly?" Jester asked, her eyes darting between the tiefling squashed in between Yasha and Caduceus and her sketchbook as if she couldn't quite believe her eyes.
"I'm not sure," Mollymauk began haltingly, Frumpkin curled up and purring in his lap, one purple hand reflexively carding through the thick fur, "It might have been because my death wasn't caused by a magic ritual going wrong."
"Well stabbing has it's own kind of magic," Beau chuckled, half slouched in her chair, swirling the beer round and round in her mug.
"It was an experience like no other," Mollymauk agreed.

Yasha made a small noise to his left. Caduceus didn't need to look to see the pain on her face, shoulders held so tight she seemed liable to shatter. She hadn't moved from Mollymauk's side since the first hug, tears streaming down her face and distorting her war paint, one hand resting on his thigh. Mollymauk shifted, using Caduceus as a brace to press a kiss to Yasha's cheek, his lips coming away stained grey. Caduceus didn't move, too many feelings rattling through him to make sense of, the calm serenity of the Wildmother abandoning him at the first press of Mollymauk's body against his. It was like he was trapped in the eye of the storm, winds whipping around him, and yet he revelled in the feeling, new and unknown.

"So can, can you remember nothing from when you were er- dead?" Caleb asked, leaning forward to be seen past Fjord, thumbs rubbing nervously at the grubby bandages wrapped around his wrists, Nott's large luminous eyes glowing from the depths of her hood, porcelain mask pulled over the bottom half of her face.
Mollymauk grimaced, the faintest peak of his teeth pressing against his bottom lip. His eyes dropped, shifting to the side, brow furrowed.
"Caleb! Maybe he doesn't want to talk about it! Maybe it was something super personal and he is embarrassed to tell us," Jester chided, her cheeks puffing out slightly as her tail flicked behind her. She let out a long drawn out gasp, slamming both her hands down on the table, Fjord managing to scoop up his drink a scant few seconds before she would have knocked it over.
"Is it that you are in love with me?" Jester said seriously and yet not. She appeared to be serious on the surface, eyes locked on Mollymauk's even as Fjord half choked on his mouthful of beer, Caduceus slapping him on the back, hearing his leather armour creak, without moving away from the warm beacon that was Mollymauk. But just underneath, she was worried, nails scratching minutely against the wood of the table, bottom lip slightly curled out even as she tried to smile.
"Yes Jester, I am hopelessly in love with you. But I'm sorry, our love can never be," Mollymauk replied, fighting to keep a grin from his own face, reaching out to cup Jester's face in his hands, leaning forward enough to bump his nose against hers.
"I knew it," Jester said immediately turning to Beau and collapsing back into her seat, Mollymauk slowly settling back down, resting against Caduceus, lightly headbutting him with his horns as he tried to get comfortable.

"Reckon we should maybe get a couple of rooms for the night?" Fjord gasped, coughing as he fought for breath, voice hoarse.
"Ah Caduceus?" Yasha asked quietly as Fjord, Jester and Beau slipped into room discussions, Nott keeping half an eye and injecting when necessary to alternative derail and maintain the conversation, Caleb having quickly drifted back into his recent book acquisition. Caduceus looked over, thin golden chains slipping over his lips, Molly slightly moving his head to ensure his horns didn't stab the cleric.
"Could you stay with Molly? I don't- I can't," she broke off, dropping her gaze to her clenched fists, knuckles white.
"There's a storm coming," Mollymauk murmured, his voice barely more than a whisper. Yasha looked towards them, her face grave, eyes dark and hooded.
"Yes."
"I'll look after him," Caduceus confirmed, Mollymauk's tail fluttering through his fingers, a living ribbon dancing in the wind.
"Are you not staying with us Yasha?" Jester asked, Beau managing to pull of an impressive show of not listening while listening intently, firmly placing her elbow in a pool of spilled drink during her acting.
"I... I can't."
"Will you find us okay after?" Fjord asked, Nott taking advantage of his distraction to swipe the remnants of drink for her flash, the alcohol numbing a wound that was still fresh, even after what must has been years.

"I will send you a message when we stop in a town so you can find us that way," Jester promised, clapping her ink stained hands together, eyes almost seeming to sparkle.
"Thank you Jester," Yasha replied, shifting to stand up, her head almost brushing the low beams of the tavern. Mollymauk moved with her, rolling up onto his knees to wrap his arms around her, hands not meeting around her broad back as she buried her face into his shoulder. For a long moment, neither moved, both basking in a moment neither thought would happen again. But everything had to come to an end, something Caduceus knew more keenly than most, the sensation of death and decay something he carried with him everywhere he went. It went beyond the bags of carefully harvested mushrooms and tea from the Blooming Grove, the only home he had ever known. It was the fabric of his very soul, something the Wildmother knew and accepted. There could be no life without death.

Yasha and Mollymauk separated, Caduceus shifting forwards to support Mollymauk, the tiefling concealing a muted hiss of pain, the movement pulling at old barely healed injuries. One of which, the cleric suspected, was the one that had killed him for the second time. Yasha looked at him, worry building up in her eyes, the urge to stay warring valiantly with the need to go. Mollymauk twitched his head towards the exit, jewellery swaying softly.
"Go on. I've got my own personal cleric to look after me," he said with a small grin, reclining back into Caduceus, the firbolg reflexively wrapping his arms around Mollymauk's waist. The scent of jasmine seemed to fill the air, a few dried blossoms clinging to Mollymauk's hair, but underneath it was the scent of clean dirt and fresh rainfall. There was something else too, lingering just beneath the surface and Caduceus pulled up his magic, feeling the warmth of the Wildmother's blessing like slipping into a warm bath.
Eyes of the Grave burned as he drew on it, his eyes darkening almost imperceptibly. It tore at him, the urge to look but at the same time, a small strand of fear wove through his nerves. What would he see if he opened his eyes? It had been a sense on their first meeting, the Wildmother gently pushing Caduceus towards the lost looking dead yet not dead tiefling. He hadn't looked, he hadn't seen. And that not knowing was terrifying and thrilling all at the same time, an abyss under his feet that he didn't know how deep it was.

Wait.

Her voice was a whisper, hands pressing gently against his eye lids in a teasing caress. The magic rushed out of Caduceus in a wave, exhaustion following on it's heels.
"Ready to head up?" Beau asked, keys jangling in her grasp.
"Me, Caleb and Fjord in one," Nott announced, swiping a key from Beau's loose grasp, the monk twitching her hand out of the way to avoid the sharp claws.
"Me and Beau will share the other, and you and Molly can share a room!" Jester called from the stairs, bouncing in place, tail wagging furiously.
"Well, er," Caduceus began, beginning to speak without fully knowing how the sentence was going to end.
"You did buy me dinner, might as well go to bed now," Mollymauk teased, tail coiling around and around Caduceus' wrist unconsciously.
"I don't think I have much er, much choice in the matter," Caduceus said with a small chuckle, raising his forearm.

Mollymauk blushed a pretty shade of deep purple, freckles splattered across his nose and cheeks, a pattern Caduceus had the urge to trace.
"Guess I'm just attached to you," Mollymauk countered with a shrug, wriggling out of the booth and pulling Caduceus with him, lacing their fingers together. Jester let out a low whoop of appreciation, her tail speeding up in it's wagging, Beau bearing the steady impact with a grin on her face. That only solidified Caduceus vague suspicions, there was some further context to this situation he was missing.

Travelling with this group had been eye opening in many ways, some good and some bad, but it couldn't make up for the years Caduceus spent alone with only his garden and the lingering presence of the Wildmother. He was good with people, that couldn't be denied, and yet they still surprised him.

"Jester seems very happy with this arrangement," Caduceus murmured to Mollymauk as they slowly navigated the stairs. They were of a height while sitting but standing side by side made the difference all the more striking. Caduceus had to stoop to murmur into his ear, momentarily stunned by the way the digit twitched away, Mollymauk's tail tightening his grip on his arm for a barely noticeable moment.

"She's a good friend," Mollymauk answered. Caduceus' eyes narrowed slightly. He couldn't explain it, more flash of intuition and a feeling in his gut than knowing the tiefling, but he was hiding something, uncertainty weighing on his tongue. Caduceus filled it away, retrieving his hat from Nott who had doubled back with a somewhat sheepish grin, ears drooped. Frumpkin attempted to slip through the door with them, but Mollymauk struck quickly, scooping up the cat and kissing the top of his head.

"Some privacy please Caleb," Mollymauk laughed as Frumpkin let out a small mrow of discomfort, his pink tongue slightly protruding from his mouth. The cat let out a yowl as Mollymauk shut the door in his face, lightly scooting the cat out of the way with his foot.

"They missed you," Caduceus said simply, seeing the weariness bleed out of Mollymauk, his shoulders slumping, tail drooping, having freed Caduceus from it's grasp.
"And I them. But..." Mollymauk paused as he strode across the room, carefully levering himself down onto the bed, biting back a groan of pain, teeth nearly breaking the skin on his bottom lip.
"I can heal you," Caduceus offered, moving away from the door, Mollymauk's bright red eyes tracking him across the room.
"Thought you only dealt with dead things," Mollymauk sighed, inclining his head towards the empty space next to him. He paused, frowning up at his jewellery, almost going cross-eyed to inspect the tiny chains. The firbolg ambled over, having to duck his head slightly as the ceiling sharply dropped off before sitting next to Mollymauk, similar to how they were yesterday in the crush around the single table but now they were alone.
"You are somewhat dead after all," Caduceus said lightly, healing magic tickling the palms of his hands and yet he resisted. Placing his hands on Mollymauk would change something, twist this budding friendship into something new. His gut twisted, but with fear or longing he couldn't say.
"Funny cleric," Mollymauk chuckled, holding himself carefully stiff, "I'd like healing please. From you."

It rushed out of Caduceus like a flood, releasing himself to the Wildmother's mercy to do as She willed him to. Mollymauk arched against him, hands curling in the bedsheets, talons ripping through the cheap material as easily as if it were paper. His breath exploded out of him, collapsing sideways against Caduceus as the magic halted like a puppet with it's strings cut. The pair remained there in silence, breathing in unison, a few golden sparks crawling from Caduceus to Mollymauk.
"I need to ask a favour of you Caduceus Clay," Mollymauk said quietly, shifting to climb more fully onto Caduceus' lap, thighs straddling his legs, Caduceus hand's reflexively shifting to his waist.
"Ask it. I mean- I can always try," Caduceus answered, his nose gently brushing Mollymauk's, close enough to count even the smallest of freckles in the corners of his eyes.
"If I die again, or return to death," Mollymauk began, talons pricking Caduceus' shoulder as he stared into the firbolg's eyes, "and I come back as a different person. Someone named Lucien Nonagon, or as nobody at all."
Mollymauk swallowed, his throat bobbing, drawing in a shaking breath before he continued, "I need you to kill me properly."
"You're sure?"
Mollymauk nodded, shifting forward the scant few centimetres that separated them to press his forehead against Caduceus'.
"They love this me too much to ever give up on my return. If I die andI don't come back, they won't be able to do what needs to be done. You can."
Caduceus nodded slowly, not blinking as he gazed into Mollymauk's deep red eyes.

"I will."
"Promise?"
"I promise."
Mollymauk leant up and kissed his forehead, his lips a burning brand that felt like a blessing.
"I feel like I should stay here for the night," Caduceus said, smoothing his thumbs over Mollymauk's hipbones, gazing up at the tiefling above him with devotion.
"I'd be grateful. Thank you Caduceus."