Hug Your Destiny [NSFW] - Explicit / Kink (Trans Protag)
- Thread starter The_Letter_K
- Start date
- Mature Fantasy Romance
- Location
- Mid-Atlantic
Not gonna lie, the extent to which Thagolynn forced her own aggression on those around her has, in my eyes, kind of dropped her right to consideration. To my way of thinking there's an element of "live by the sword, die by the sword" here.
Thagolynn, when she isn't getting her way, seems to be defaulting to "I'm going to use deadly force to wipe out insults or strike at those associated with my enemies, in a society where deadly force isn't a normative means of conflict resolution, but I expect to get away with it because I'm so strong."
People like that tend to keep causing death and suffering until they are stopped by an outside force.
I'm not going to say that what happened to Thagolynn was right and proper, because it wasn't... But I can't see it as a straightforward case of Faust victimizing Thagolynn either.
Thagolynn, when she isn't getting her way, seems to be defaulting to "I'm going to use deadly force to wipe out insults or strike at those associated with my enemies, in a society where deadly force isn't a normative means of conflict resolution, but I expect to get away with it because I'm so strong."
People like that tend to keep causing death and suffering until they are stopped by an outside force.
I'm not going to say that what happened to Thagolynn was right and proper, because it wasn't... But I can't see it as a straightforward case of Faust victimizing Thagolynn either.
Aranfan
Team Plasma Grunt
If we are going to say mamamo using force to try to get what they want deserves death then Amy should die too. Which might be why she was so concerned in the aftermath in a way that completely went over Lyle's head. Thagolynn compared her making a nuisance of herself to Amy's antics and no one in the room objected to it.
Also, it wasn't Thagolynn who picked this fight. She tried to leave, and only attacked when Faust said she was going to kill her.
- Location
- Mid-Atlantic
1) Amy didn't try to kill anyone. Within the context of what mamono are, Amy's actions are far less threatening and inimical to others. I'm not saying Amy's actions were great, but when the entire mamono society as a whole has problems with sexual consent and violent recruitment of 'husbands,' Amy's actions don't really stand out from the general background as someone who specifically makes a problem of themselves as far as I can recall.
2) I didn't say "deserves death," I said something along the lines of "realistically is not going to stop inflicting suffering and danger on others until stopped by violence." Deserve, to quote the Eastwood, has got nothing to do with this.
In short, Amy made it fairly easy to stop her without having to kill her.
Thagolynn... does not strike me as the kind of woman who makes it that easy.
...
Combine that with the fact that the person performing these actions inherently has an extremely biased perception of how important actually dying is, viewing it quite as a transition between two comparable states rather than the ruinous end of everything... Again, I'm not saying what Faust did was right, but it's hard for me to work up a nice frothy head of righteous condemnation over it.
Amy kind of did; Faust didn't care. No one else was present.
Yes, bullies often do not pick fights with people they're not sure they can defeat, until they are cornered by such a person, that's correct.
And yes, "is a bully willing to escalate to lethal force" doesn't mean "deserves to die."
It does mean "I angst about it less if they're killed."
Aranfan
Team Plasma Grunt
I mean, unless I just missed a line about how there was a trial, it still means very bad things for how the justice system, or lack of one, operates in Morningwood. Powers of life and death are not something that should be exercised as cavalierly as was implied here. If the government, and Faust very much counts as the government here, can kill you without a trial that means they can kill you for any reason or none.
Faust is not omniscient. If she keeps killing people who "does not strike me as the kind of woman who makes it that easy" then eventually she's going to mess up and kill someone who is entirely innocent of wrongdoing.
That's why I am reacting so strongly to this. This is a state sanctioned extrajudicial murder, and in a story with as many queer themes as this one that should set off a ton of red flags.
Criminal Justice in Mamamo society is not the focus of this story of course, but it is a very important moment in the story for Faust nonetheless. Previously she had been the victim of systems that are larger than her and that she cannot really stop, now she is the system victimizing someone.
Faust is not omniscient. If she keeps killing people who "does not strike me as the kind of woman who makes it that easy" then eventually she's going to mess up and kill someone who is entirely innocent of wrongdoing.
That's why I am reacting so strongly to this. This is a state sanctioned extrajudicial murder, and in a story with as many queer themes as this one that should set off a ton of red flags.
Criminal Justice in Mamamo society is not the focus of this story of course, but it is a very important moment in the story for Faust nonetheless. Previously she had been the victim of systems that are larger than her and that she cannot really stop, now she is the system victimizing someone.
- Location
- Mid-Atlantic
Honestly, yes. Lines of authority in mamono society do seem to be vague and centered on (literal) cults of personality, with a large element of "And 'do what thou wilt' shall be the whole of the law" covering the wide gaps between those cults.
Because most beings in a mamono city have no real interest in administering or controlling large groups of other mamono, and the few beings that are indisputably "large and in charge" (such as Morningwood's resident 'fairy queen' whose name escapes me at the moment) are often, ah... preoccupied by their interests, shall we say.
The de facto state of anarchy leaves a lot of openings for Bad Shit to happen on the margins, even as it ensures that the majority of mamono seem to be able to just continue to do their own things in a relatively normal manner, or at least normal by mamono standards.
...
In other words, I don't think Faust counts as the government, I think she counts as a private citizen who happens to be very prestigious. We never see her directing administration, making laws, or doing any of the other things a government does. She's not government, she's just powerful and famous.
But it's the kind of power and fame that can exist under anarchy, at least if your anarchy exists on a world where there are mighty sorceresses.
...
(EDIT: I am not saying "Lol anarchy just means something out of The Purge." I am saying that Morningwood shows every sign of being a de facto anarchy except insofar as the quasi-deified queen occasionally shows up and makes suggestions and the sheer force of her aura makes people want to do as she says. I don't recall seeing much sign of police, formalized taxation, or a formal legal code. The closest we've come to official action was Amy being ostracized for Fran antics, and as that seems to have been as much because she was unpopular as because of any court ruling or the like. For practical day to day purposes, no one is actually in charge, least of all Faust. Faust just seems to be in charge because she's famous, respected, and has truly prodigious magical power on account of being a Lich.)
Why yes, absolutely.
Such as Lyle.
That was Faust's Plan A, remember?
Faust's attitudes towards death simply do not translate smoothly into anything recognizable to real Earth.
Because in the real world, dead women don't walk around practicing sorcery, daily experiencing the rewards of being famous and respected and popular, and generally living about as close an approximation of their best life as they could realistically attain given their own limitations.
Faust is a dead woman. Faust does all that.
I mean, it should, but it should be pointed out that the "state sanctioned" part is kind of wrong. Morningwood, at least to me, doesn't come across as a state society. It has a quasi-deified monarch who everyone cheers when she shows up in public. It has some prestigious and well-connected celebrities such as "the Human Founder," sure. But if there's a state apparatus, I'm not sure we've ever seen it in action. Maybe I'm missing something?
I don't read this as a state sanctioned extra-judicial murder.
I read this as just an extra murder.
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Chapter Thirty-Four - She's very well paid
The_Letter_K
Certified Character
- Location
- ...IJ_LM...
- Pronouns
- She/Her
To call it an assault on the senses would be an understatement. I was pretty sure that Nightcap's had declared all-out war on my eyes, my ears, my nose, my skin, and even my sense of balance.
I was pretty sure it was going to win in its opening move.
Something had been done to make sure that air rushed out when the door opened, rather than rushing in, and I was instantly aware of the smells swirling within as the wind swept past me. Alcohol. Sweat. Smoke. Prisoner Fruit. Spices.
Sex.
As I reeled under sensory assault, Akubra gently ushered me inside. Flashing lights and darkness had me blinking to adjust, so I processed the sounds next.
The beat was omnipresent, and omnipotent, but there was more to the music than that, strange sounds, things I'd never heard but which I doubted came from any instrument I knew. Among the many I had no frame of reference for, one sounded vaguely like a war trumpet, but with a rhythm and depth I'd never imagined. I thought I heard a violin, or something like it, but it was filled with a zeal and aggression I'd thought the instrument incapable of. Wasn't it for melancholy and repose? Something for stuffy nobles?
Even the force of the music, booming through my body, couldn't hide the roar of the crowd, though. Cheering, singing, exultant screaming, random slivers of conversation, all that and more pressed at my ears.
My eyes finally adjusted, and it didn't help. I still had no idea what I was seeing. The bars were obvious, at least, and I understood the concept of the dance floor, but I'd never seen one filled with such energy. It was lower down than the rest of the floor, only by a single stair, but it moved like a boiling pot. The music was fast and alive, and the dancing matched pace. It might have been mistaken for flailing, if you just gazed out over the crowd, but the rhythm and grace were evident the moment you focused on any one dancer. It all felt chaotic, yet coordinated, and bright lights flashed on and off in time with the beat, filling the dance floor with a brief, clear, still image of revelry, with only the shadowy undulations of the crowd like one creature visible in the absence.
The interior was large enough I couldn't see everything in the dim light, but there were multiple stages visible from where I was standing, a large, central stage, not currently lit, that was closest to the dance floor, and more throughout the room. One appeared to be where the music was playing from, another was barred off and featured an active brawl between two women, a Minotaur and a Jinko, each in ostentatious outfits, and each trying to reduce the other to nakedness, a third held a Dark Mage, preforming showy magical cantrips with lights and fire, and a fourth appeared to be someone painting. She was holding the brush in her… uh… well she wasn't using her hands.
A red form rose up in front of us from the floor, which I'd mistaken at first for carpeting, but which in truth appeared to be one contiguous Red Slime, perhaps a Queen Slime, as she seemed to also be the servers at the booths along the wall.
My first instinct was to apologize for stepping on her, but I stopped and considered that she probably liked it.
I wonder…
No, I should focus.
But… socks are kind of like a hug for your feet, right?
No no no.
"Ms. Nightcap." The woman said, "A pleasure as always. Shall I escort you to your offices?"
She gestured into the gloom, presumably to some door or corridor I couldn't make out from here.
"Mrs." Akubra said. The implication that she shared her name with the building and was being offered guidance to the offices was not lost on me. The reactions of those on the street, and the non-reaction of the bouncer were starting to make a terrible amount of sense.
The Red Slime's eyebrows rose. She was much more amorphous and gloppy than me, but her facial features were still pretty clear.
"Ma'am, you got married? Congratulations! I thought you looked better- Er, I mean…"
Akubra didn't seem to notice anything amiss. She gestured to me.
"This is my husband."
The Slime looked around behind me to see if she was somehow missing someone. I waved at her, sheepishly. She carefully controlled her expression.
"Your husband is… a woman, Ma'am. An… unorthodox choice."
Akubra smiled.
The Slime just let out a long-suffering sigh. From her perspective, this probably made zero sense. Just more Akubra being Akubra. In this case though, Akubra had a good reason for what she was saying, and she appeared to be, for whatever reason, omitting details for her own amusement.
A cold chill ran down my back as I considered the possibility she always had good reason, that she always made sense. I carefully didn't chase that thought. Even if it were true, no one would believe me and how would I ever explain?
Akubra's hand found mine and she pulled me a little closer to herself.
"Well, Ma'am, congratulations in any case." The slime said. She was polite, yet obviously dying to ask me what was going on. I considered saving her from her confusion, but Akubra's hand tightened on mine, just slightly, and I changed my mind. Let her have her fun. As long as I understood her, I suppose it didn't matter.
Again, she pulled me a little closer to herself.
The Slime turned, leading us off in the direction she'd gestured.
"We would like a table," Akubra said.
The woman tripped, splashing herself into the floor.
After a moment, she slid back up out of the false carpeting, her eyes narrowed at Akubra.
"Of course you would, Ma'am. Why not!? All the years you've owned the premiere restaurant in Morningwood, you've never once taken a table! Now that you're married, why wouldn't you stop by to grab a bite!? I don't know why I expected differently!"
This poor woman. She sounded like she was having to reassess her entire life in a single moment.
Her shoulders slumped as Akubra completely failed to react. "…The executive booth is free, as always." She turned back around, this time walking another way. "Follow me, please."
She led Akubra and I around the dance floor, and into the back corner near the large stage. A small room had been carved out of the larger one, and she opened the door, ushering us in.
The uproar in the room became considerably quieter as she did so, and I got the sense that those who could see what was going on were staring at us, but I didn't dare look back.
As we entered and she closed the door, the sounds were muffled considerably, and while I could see out through windows along the wall, almost like the walls weren't there from this side, the harshness of the flashing lights was greatly reduced as well. The smells hadn't penetrated either, and I sighed in relief as the oppressive atmosphere lessened considerably.
I could see the people outside, trying to see what was going on, but from the outside it wasn't possible to tell there were windows at all, so nobody met my eye, exactly.
"After Jack is done with his routine, have him come in," Akubra said. "We will have snacks and drinks in the meanwhile, I trust?"
There was a small bar in the room, and a door that looked like it led further into the building, rather than out into the public area. Rather than use it, the woman just nodded, and fell backwards into herself like a diver, leaving nary a ripple in the floor.
"So…" I said. "Does this make me Lyle Nightcap then?"
Akubra laughed, and it was an intensely joyful sound, in contrast to her airy, distant tone.
I suppose this wasn't so bad so far.
I was pretty sure it was going to win in its opening move.
Something had been done to make sure that air rushed out when the door opened, rather than rushing in, and I was instantly aware of the smells swirling within as the wind swept past me. Alcohol. Sweat. Smoke. Prisoner Fruit. Spices.
Sex.
As I reeled under sensory assault, Akubra gently ushered me inside. Flashing lights and darkness had me blinking to adjust, so I processed the sounds next.
The beat was omnipresent, and omnipotent, but there was more to the music than that, strange sounds, things I'd never heard but which I doubted came from any instrument I knew. Among the many I had no frame of reference for, one sounded vaguely like a war trumpet, but with a rhythm and depth I'd never imagined. I thought I heard a violin, or something like it, but it was filled with a zeal and aggression I'd thought the instrument incapable of. Wasn't it for melancholy and repose? Something for stuffy nobles?
Even the force of the music, booming through my body, couldn't hide the roar of the crowd, though. Cheering, singing, exultant screaming, random slivers of conversation, all that and more pressed at my ears.
My eyes finally adjusted, and it didn't help. I still had no idea what I was seeing. The bars were obvious, at least, and I understood the concept of the dance floor, but I'd never seen one filled with such energy. It was lower down than the rest of the floor, only by a single stair, but it moved like a boiling pot. The music was fast and alive, and the dancing matched pace. It might have been mistaken for flailing, if you just gazed out over the crowd, but the rhythm and grace were evident the moment you focused on any one dancer. It all felt chaotic, yet coordinated, and bright lights flashed on and off in time with the beat, filling the dance floor with a brief, clear, still image of revelry, with only the shadowy undulations of the crowd like one creature visible in the absence.
The interior was large enough I couldn't see everything in the dim light, but there were multiple stages visible from where I was standing, a large, central stage, not currently lit, that was closest to the dance floor, and more throughout the room. One appeared to be where the music was playing from, another was barred off and featured an active brawl between two women, a Minotaur and a Jinko, each in ostentatious outfits, and each trying to reduce the other to nakedness, a third held a Dark Mage, preforming showy magical cantrips with lights and fire, and a fourth appeared to be someone painting. She was holding the brush in her… uh… well she wasn't using her hands.
A red form rose up in front of us from the floor, which I'd mistaken at first for carpeting, but which in truth appeared to be one contiguous Red Slime, perhaps a Queen Slime, as she seemed to also be the servers at the booths along the wall.
My first instinct was to apologize for stepping on her, but I stopped and considered that she probably liked it.
I wonder…
No, I should focus.
But… socks are kind of like a hug for your feet, right?
No no no.
"Ms. Nightcap." The woman said, "A pleasure as always. Shall I escort you to your offices?"
She gestured into the gloom, presumably to some door or corridor I couldn't make out from here.
"Mrs." Akubra said. The implication that she shared her name with the building and was being offered guidance to the offices was not lost on me. The reactions of those on the street, and the non-reaction of the bouncer were starting to make a terrible amount of sense.
The Red Slime's eyebrows rose. She was much more amorphous and gloppy than me, but her facial features were still pretty clear.
"Ma'am, you got married? Congratulations! I thought you looked better- Er, I mean…"
Akubra didn't seem to notice anything amiss. She gestured to me.
"This is my husband."
The Slime looked around behind me to see if she was somehow missing someone. I waved at her, sheepishly. She carefully controlled her expression.
"Your husband is… a woman, Ma'am. An… unorthodox choice."
Akubra smiled.
The Slime just let out a long-suffering sigh. From her perspective, this probably made zero sense. Just more Akubra being Akubra. In this case though, Akubra had a good reason for what she was saying, and she appeared to be, for whatever reason, omitting details for her own amusement.
A cold chill ran down my back as I considered the possibility she always had good reason, that she always made sense. I carefully didn't chase that thought. Even if it were true, no one would believe me and how would I ever explain?
Akubra's hand found mine and she pulled me a little closer to herself.
"Well, Ma'am, congratulations in any case." The slime said. She was polite, yet obviously dying to ask me what was going on. I considered saving her from her confusion, but Akubra's hand tightened on mine, just slightly, and I changed my mind. Let her have her fun. As long as I understood her, I suppose it didn't matter.
Again, she pulled me a little closer to herself.
The Slime turned, leading us off in the direction she'd gestured.
"We would like a table," Akubra said.
The woman tripped, splashing herself into the floor.
After a moment, she slid back up out of the false carpeting, her eyes narrowed at Akubra.
"Of course you would, Ma'am. Why not!? All the years you've owned the premiere restaurant in Morningwood, you've never once taken a table! Now that you're married, why wouldn't you stop by to grab a bite!? I don't know why I expected differently!"
This poor woman. She sounded like she was having to reassess her entire life in a single moment.
Her shoulders slumped as Akubra completely failed to react. "…The executive booth is free, as always." She turned back around, this time walking another way. "Follow me, please."
She led Akubra and I around the dance floor, and into the back corner near the large stage. A small room had been carved out of the larger one, and she opened the door, ushering us in.
The uproar in the room became considerably quieter as she did so, and I got the sense that those who could see what was going on were staring at us, but I didn't dare look back.
As we entered and she closed the door, the sounds were muffled considerably, and while I could see out through windows along the wall, almost like the walls weren't there from this side, the harshness of the flashing lights was greatly reduced as well. The smells hadn't penetrated either, and I sighed in relief as the oppressive atmosphere lessened considerably.
I could see the people outside, trying to see what was going on, but from the outside it wasn't possible to tell there were windows at all, so nobody met my eye, exactly.
"After Jack is done with his routine, have him come in," Akubra said. "We will have snacks and drinks in the meanwhile, I trust?"
There was a small bar in the room, and a door that looked like it led further into the building, rather than out into the public area. Rather than use it, the woman just nodded, and fell backwards into herself like a diver, leaving nary a ripple in the floor.
"So…" I said. "Does this make me Lyle Nightcap then?"
Akubra laughed, and it was an intensely joyful sound, in contrast to her airy, distant tone.
I suppose this wasn't so bad so far.
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Aranfan
Team Plasma Grunt
Lyle, your a shoggoth, open an eye in your back.
- Location
- Somewhere!
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Definitely modern music, then. It's interestingt how hard to tell whatk ind it might be? That sounds like trumpet and guitar, which could be... a lot of genres, really. Or even just an electric violin and it's a fancy jazz arrangement or something?
Getting to see her mess with other people is very fun.
Okay yeah, this really lines up with my interpretation of Akubra. Lyle is finally noticing how she works!
- Location
- Mid-Atlantic
I'm picturing something like a Lindsey Stirling violin piece.
- Location
- In front of my computer
That's the fun part about wonderlanders: they are, for the most part, internally consistent; it's just that if you try and understand their logic and actually succeed, then you're a wonderlander too. It can be an all-new layer of corruption in a setting already based around corruption.
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- Location
- Wingmaiden's Reach, the Near Roofs, Town
- Pronouns
- She/Her
...
I am willing to cede ground on socks. Maybe socks are alright.
Shoes are the devil though. awful foot prisons and who said the ground could be so hard and pokey anyway
It's a real shock! The foundations of her world are shifting!
I'm sure Akubra is only a little doing this to booli her subordinate.
That's really cute. I've said it a buncha times before, but you always do so well with the little moments, K; and it's those that sell the story of these people loving each other.
Chapter Thirty-Five - A tag that reads; "Drink me"
The_Letter_K
Certified Character
- Location
- ...IJ_LM...
- Pronouns
- She/Her
CW: Alcohol
I'd never been much of a drinker; I was sort of a wuss in that regard. I could handle a beer or two, but I never liked the taste, and the stronger stuff that came to town on the backs of traders and merchants was really only any good when mixed with something else, in my opinion. I think the last time I'd had a drink had been at the AA meeting with Nicole, honestly, and that had only been a few mouthfuls of wine.
Some of that was down to the fact that I ate dirt and stuff these days, as embarrassing as it was to acknowledge, and that I didn't really have a pressing need to drink anything at all. Despite being a slime, I didn't seem to like… dry out, or anything, which had been something I'd worried about as I laid in bed shortly after my change. One of the many silly little worries that had peeped in around the deep, life-shattering ones. I'd been a mess there for a minute, and I appreciated the support everyone had offered to get me through it.
I didn't like thinking about those days too much, though.
Anyway, I think between my lack of need, and my time spent with Amy getting all the milk my heart desired, I was all good on the drink front, in general. I could actually even drink myself if I ever got the urge, which was a really weird sensation, but filled the tummy I instinctively seemed to keep hollowed out, so the bizarre sensation of being both liquid and container was worth keeping the cravings at bay a bit.
All that said, I wasn't immune to temptation, and Mamono goods had a startling tendency to outpace human wares by an order of magnitude. It might be down to the city I was in, practically everything produced in Morningwood was made by an artisan devoted to their craft and explicitly pursuing their passions, but…
Well, actually, that probably amounted to a huge part of the difference all by itself. Dark Energy certainly played a role, but like with all things, it wasn't clear where the line was. Even back when I'd first had sex with Beeps, my first real experience with the stuff, I wasn't sure how much was corruptive magics seeping into me, and how much was that I'd been pinned down by a hyper-competent sex-machine personally devoted to making sure I enjoyed myself as much as possible. That it had been my first everything, from my first kiss to my first time probably played a role, so did our very personal connection. I'd always loved her, and that love crossing into new boundaries could only have enhanced things.
The smell of her steam was admittedly entrancing, but I'd smelled fresh-cooked food when I was starving that had been just as distracting, if not moreso, and there'd been no magic involved there at all.
That's not to say that the Dark Energy hadn't had an effect, I'd spent many multiple hours in her embrace, which was an impossible feat of endurance, but… it wasn't clear what was and wasn't its influence. Five percent? Ninety-five? Neither seemed truthful, if I was being honest.
Where was I?
Oh right, the alcohol. Akubra's staff were a dizzying wave of bodies that brought out and took back alcoholic drinks seemingly at random, and a great many of them were extremely fruity, but much harder drinks. Colors, shapes of the glass, ingredients, the variety was staggering, I at least sampled them all, in an attempt to be polite, but the only ones that stayed on the table were the ones I specifically fought for, and only as long as I was paying attention to the cup. After a certain point, each drink they brought was markedly better than the last, and cups I thought were worth protecting at the start were abandoned for new favorites I had to be feisty about prioritizing, lest they disappear. A current favorite was salt-rimmed and sour caramel flavored whiskey. It had a fish swimming inside, and the glass refracted rainbows through the liquid such that it was impossible to tell the actual color.
A waitress went for it, and I had to growl at her to get her to back off. Another disappeared while I did so.
They were relentless, and it was the same with the snacks. Prisoner fruit didn't even feature, at least not on its own, though it was a prominent ingredient in several of the tastier confections and assortments. I had to grow extra eyes and arms just to keep up, and if anything, that only renewed their vigor, the speed increasing as pairs of my arms protected candied nuts and jellied breads, and I watched in dismay as a particularly spicy dip with some crisp wafers was whisked away before I could so much as whimper.
Akubra's end of the table was much more slowly and deliberately curated, and when I stopped to consider that it was likely because they'd been slaking her thirsts and cravings for much longer and could provide for her more efficiently, I shook myself out of the thought to discover an entirely new spread with my current favorites nowhere to be seen.
I was starting to feel really loose, though. I think it had taken longer to do me in because of how much more of me there was elsewhere, but we were starting to reach a pleasant haze.
I let out a giggle as they set down a drink that matched the shade of my body exactly.
"Look, 'Kubra, s' me!" I grinned at her, pointing to the cup. She smiled her beautiful, light little smile, and took the cup from the table before I could, licking her lips suggestively. She brought it to her mouth, tongue circling the rim, lapping up the drink slowly, and sipping at it.
"I wanna taaaaaste," I said, jealously. "I'm prolly really yummy!"
I skootched around the corner booth, trying to get closer to her, steadying myself on the table as I did. She finished the drink before I could get there, and I pouted at her.
"Heeeeeeey." I crossed some of my arms, as others helped me sample the tables new wares.
Her cheeks bulged, and I could hear her tongue swishing around, tasting the drink. I got a really devilish idea, and threw myself at her. She smelled strongly of alcohol, just like me, and I kissed her desperately. It was an incredibly strong boysenberry drink, sweeter than candy, and it played nicely with Akubra's own more umami flavor. Like she'd frosted herself with an expensive jam.
I drank what I could as she did the same.
"Love you, you know?" I said, nuzzling her cheek. "You're like… really great."
She giggled, and I started giggling too.
"Hmmmmmmm…" she said "I think…"
I stared at her, enraptured. What would she say?
"You're great too!" She said happily.
Wow.
I had really gotten lucky, huh?
Speaking of which…
"Heeeeeyyyy~" I said. I kissed her nose.
She pressed herself into me, immediately, and I cuddled up to her. She pushed me down into the plush booth seating, running her fingers across my body, dreamily.
"Love you, Lyle," she said.
"No, you," I said.
We laughed, and I felt her body shaking mine. I shook my hips in response, and she met me with the same. I took her hat, and put it on my head. She let out a little gasp, a tiny growl, and kissed me on the mouth with a fire I couldn't believe. I licked at the inside of her hat on my head with mouths and tongues made just for that purpose, and she moaned in response, each little touch of my tongues sending shivers through her body.
I wrapped as many of my arms around her as would fit, stroking her every way I could think of through the haze.
It felt clumsy.
It felt good.
Suddenly, she was taking bites out of me, pulling me deeper and deeper inside her, drinking and breathing and consuming me in a way that felt so very very right. Of course she wanted more. Hadn't I shown her this before?
But it meant more for her to do it herself, to feel her raw need for the sensation.
A flit of memory brushed against my mind, when I first donned my clothes, it felt so long ago now, and I pulsed inside her, and she screamed, rapturously, clawed at me ferally, tried to fill herself with my body, but I just pulled more and more from the away-place.
Then I pressed in from the bottom, between her lower cheeks, and lower lips both.
And I pressed hard.
She came immediately, writhing and shaking under my vicious thrusts, that only continued and intensified as I drove deeper and deeper.
I pulsed again.
She came again, and this time I did too.
All it did was drive my fluids deeper into her.
I realized my cum wasn't made of me.
I was made of cum.
The delirious thought wrapped itself around my mind and refused to let go, and suddenly I was orgasming from everywhere at once. It was orders of magnitude more intense. Every inch of me simultaneously both cum and cumming; pulling more and more of myself from the away place to make it all possible.
I filled the room before I could come down from it, and I consumed every treat and beverage at once, and filed them away, learning everything I'd need to know about them to make them myself.
Make myself them.
I pressed at the walls of the tiny room, still cumming, still cumming everywhere, and suddenly there was nowhere for the pressure to go but further into Akubra. I pulsed and she came once more.
She desperately fought to hold me close and fuck me, but where was I when I was everywhere?
The mouths I'd made to kiss and tease her were so numerous that in a way they were contiguous. Hundreds of tongues, or tentacles, the difference semantic, wrote confessions of love and joy across her skin and still she clawed for me, searching, not able to think clearly through the pleasure and the pressure to understand that her arms could not contain what already contained her.
I felt the alcohol leaving me as I came, felt me come back to myself, and slowly, tortuously, I receded back to the away-place, leaving the least of me to hold her close the way she needed.
Tiny gasps and moans escaped her as I left her body and cuddled close, and put her hat back on her head, with loving, tender care.
But my tongues were still in there.
I did not want to leave her entirely ever again.
I would not.
We slowly caught our breath, my separate self gently cleaning and brushing her hair from its place inside her hat, restoring her composure in looks, if not in deed.
"Wow." I said.
She looked at me, adoringly.
That tiny smile graced her lips.
"And yet," she said, "feeding is even better."
I clung to her closely.
That couldn't be possible.
Right?
I'd never been much of a drinker; I was sort of a wuss in that regard. I could handle a beer or two, but I never liked the taste, and the stronger stuff that came to town on the backs of traders and merchants was really only any good when mixed with something else, in my opinion. I think the last time I'd had a drink had been at the AA meeting with Nicole, honestly, and that had only been a few mouthfuls of wine.
Some of that was down to the fact that I ate dirt and stuff these days, as embarrassing as it was to acknowledge, and that I didn't really have a pressing need to drink anything at all. Despite being a slime, I didn't seem to like… dry out, or anything, which had been something I'd worried about as I laid in bed shortly after my change. One of the many silly little worries that had peeped in around the deep, life-shattering ones. I'd been a mess there for a minute, and I appreciated the support everyone had offered to get me through it.
I didn't like thinking about those days too much, though.
Anyway, I think between my lack of need, and my time spent with Amy getting all the milk my heart desired, I was all good on the drink front, in general. I could actually even drink myself if I ever got the urge, which was a really weird sensation, but filled the tummy I instinctively seemed to keep hollowed out, so the bizarre sensation of being both liquid and container was worth keeping the cravings at bay a bit.
All that said, I wasn't immune to temptation, and Mamono goods had a startling tendency to outpace human wares by an order of magnitude. It might be down to the city I was in, practically everything produced in Morningwood was made by an artisan devoted to their craft and explicitly pursuing their passions, but…
Well, actually, that probably amounted to a huge part of the difference all by itself. Dark Energy certainly played a role, but like with all things, it wasn't clear where the line was. Even back when I'd first had sex with Beeps, my first real experience with the stuff, I wasn't sure how much was corruptive magics seeping into me, and how much was that I'd been pinned down by a hyper-competent sex-machine personally devoted to making sure I enjoyed myself as much as possible. That it had been my first everything, from my first kiss to my first time probably played a role, so did our very personal connection. I'd always loved her, and that love crossing into new boundaries could only have enhanced things.
The smell of her steam was admittedly entrancing, but I'd smelled fresh-cooked food when I was starving that had been just as distracting, if not moreso, and there'd been no magic involved there at all.
That's not to say that the Dark Energy hadn't had an effect, I'd spent many multiple hours in her embrace, which was an impossible feat of endurance, but… it wasn't clear what was and wasn't its influence. Five percent? Ninety-five? Neither seemed truthful, if I was being honest.
Where was I?
Oh right, the alcohol. Akubra's staff were a dizzying wave of bodies that brought out and took back alcoholic drinks seemingly at random, and a great many of them were extremely fruity, but much harder drinks. Colors, shapes of the glass, ingredients, the variety was staggering, I at least sampled them all, in an attempt to be polite, but the only ones that stayed on the table were the ones I specifically fought for, and only as long as I was paying attention to the cup. After a certain point, each drink they brought was markedly better than the last, and cups I thought were worth protecting at the start were abandoned for new favorites I had to be feisty about prioritizing, lest they disappear. A current favorite was salt-rimmed and sour caramel flavored whiskey. It had a fish swimming inside, and the glass refracted rainbows through the liquid such that it was impossible to tell the actual color.
A waitress went for it, and I had to growl at her to get her to back off. Another disappeared while I did so.
They were relentless, and it was the same with the snacks. Prisoner fruit didn't even feature, at least not on its own, though it was a prominent ingredient in several of the tastier confections and assortments. I had to grow extra eyes and arms just to keep up, and if anything, that only renewed their vigor, the speed increasing as pairs of my arms protected candied nuts and jellied breads, and I watched in dismay as a particularly spicy dip with some crisp wafers was whisked away before I could so much as whimper.
Akubra's end of the table was much more slowly and deliberately curated, and when I stopped to consider that it was likely because they'd been slaking her thirsts and cravings for much longer and could provide for her more efficiently, I shook myself out of the thought to discover an entirely new spread with my current favorites nowhere to be seen.
I was starting to feel really loose, though. I think it had taken longer to do me in because of how much more of me there was elsewhere, but we were starting to reach a pleasant haze.
I let out a giggle as they set down a drink that matched the shade of my body exactly.
"Look, 'Kubra, s' me!" I grinned at her, pointing to the cup. She smiled her beautiful, light little smile, and took the cup from the table before I could, licking her lips suggestively. She brought it to her mouth, tongue circling the rim, lapping up the drink slowly, and sipping at it.
"I wanna taaaaaste," I said, jealously. "I'm prolly really yummy!"
I skootched around the corner booth, trying to get closer to her, steadying myself on the table as I did. She finished the drink before I could get there, and I pouted at her.
"Heeeeeeey." I crossed some of my arms, as others helped me sample the tables new wares.
Her cheeks bulged, and I could hear her tongue swishing around, tasting the drink. I got a really devilish idea, and threw myself at her. She smelled strongly of alcohol, just like me, and I kissed her desperately. It was an incredibly strong boysenberry drink, sweeter than candy, and it played nicely with Akubra's own more umami flavor. Like she'd frosted herself with an expensive jam.
I drank what I could as she did the same.
"Love you, you know?" I said, nuzzling her cheek. "You're like… really great."
She giggled, and I started giggling too.
"Hmmmmmmm…" she said "I think…"
I stared at her, enraptured. What would she say?
"You're great too!" She said happily.
Wow.
I had really gotten lucky, huh?
Speaking of which…
"Heeeeeyyyy~" I said. I kissed her nose.
She pressed herself into me, immediately, and I cuddled up to her. She pushed me down into the plush booth seating, running her fingers across my body, dreamily.
"Love you, Lyle," she said.
"No, you," I said.
We laughed, and I felt her body shaking mine. I shook my hips in response, and she met me with the same. I took her hat, and put it on my head. She let out a little gasp, a tiny growl, and kissed me on the mouth with a fire I couldn't believe. I licked at the inside of her hat on my head with mouths and tongues made just for that purpose, and she moaned in response, each little touch of my tongues sending shivers through her body.
I wrapped as many of my arms around her as would fit, stroking her every way I could think of through the haze.
It felt clumsy.
It felt good.
Suddenly, she was taking bites out of me, pulling me deeper and deeper inside her, drinking and breathing and consuming me in a way that felt so very very right. Of course she wanted more. Hadn't I shown her this before?
But it meant more for her to do it herself, to feel her raw need for the sensation.
A flit of memory brushed against my mind, when I first donned my clothes, it felt so long ago now, and I pulsed inside her, and she screamed, rapturously, clawed at me ferally, tried to fill herself with my body, but I just pulled more and more from the away-place.
Then I pressed in from the bottom, between her lower cheeks, and lower lips both.
And I pressed hard.
She came immediately, writhing and shaking under my vicious thrusts, that only continued and intensified as I drove deeper and deeper.
I pulsed again.
She came again, and this time I did too.
All it did was drive my fluids deeper into her.
I realized my cum wasn't made of me.
I was made of cum.
The delirious thought wrapped itself around my mind and refused to let go, and suddenly I was orgasming from everywhere at once. It was orders of magnitude more intense. Every inch of me simultaneously both cum and cumming; pulling more and more of myself from the away place to make it all possible.
I filled the room before I could come down from it, and I consumed every treat and beverage at once, and filed them away, learning everything I'd need to know about them to make them myself.
Make myself them.
I pressed at the walls of the tiny room, still cumming, still cumming everywhere, and suddenly there was nowhere for the pressure to go but further into Akubra. I pulsed and she came once more.
She desperately fought to hold me close and fuck me, but where was I when I was everywhere?
The mouths I'd made to kiss and tease her were so numerous that in a way they were contiguous. Hundreds of tongues, or tentacles, the difference semantic, wrote confessions of love and joy across her skin and still she clawed for me, searching, not able to think clearly through the pleasure and the pressure to understand that her arms could not contain what already contained her.
I felt the alcohol leaving me as I came, felt me come back to myself, and slowly, tortuously, I receded back to the away-place, leaving the least of me to hold her close the way she needed.
Tiny gasps and moans escaped her as I left her body and cuddled close, and put her hat back on her head, with loving, tender care.
But my tongues were still in there.
I did not want to leave her entirely ever again.
I would not.
We slowly caught our breath, my separate self gently cleaning and brushing her hair from its place inside her hat, restoring her composure in looks, if not in deed.
"Wow." I said.
She looked at me, adoringly.
That tiny smile graced her lips.
"And yet," she said, "feeding is even better."
I clung to her closely.
That couldn't be possible.
Right?
- Location
- Somewhere!
- Pronouns
- She/Her
A neat description of everything that's changed, and hey, some acknowledgement of how hard it must have been in the immediate aftermath!
Well, clearly, since the narration avoids it pretty hard. (For understandable reasons, but I wish I could see like... the day after or something, just for that look in how Lyle was doing it. The glimpse here is good though.)
Hm.. a way to get people to drink more? Showing off for the boss?
Sappy and sweet.
Chapter Thirty-Six - The Harkness Test
The_Letter_K
Certified Character
- Location
- ...IJ_LM...
- Pronouns
- She/Her
AN: Those of you who enjoy my stuff should check out @Queen Fiona's excellent It's No Game, a story about a cute lady who gets hypnosis powers from the future to maybe save the world with, and decides the best way to prepare for the inevitable is to show everyone how great it is to be enjoying all the kissing and the cuddling. (And other stuff too!) Go give it a try!
Akubra and I spent a few minutes just basking in each other's company, cuddling, watching the dancers and listening to the music. I was listening to her heartbeat, too, but I didn't really have one, so I supposed she wasn't listening to mine.
"Hey, Akubra?" I asked, idly.
"Mmmm?"
"How much of you is mushroom, anyway?" It was a legitimate question. I'd been inside her and I somehow wasn't sure, like my memories of it were fuzzy, incomplete, or self-conflicting.
"Hmmm…" she said, nuzzling into me more.
"I can feel your heartbeat, and I know you have those cute little caps poking up through the skin, here and there…" I mused, "Do you have mushroom bones, maybe?"
Come to think of it, Mad Hatters were supposed to be connected to their hats like the cap of a mushroom, it supposedly grew into their brains, but they could also take them off? Akubra sure could, and I knew for a fact she had hair under there, and a solid scalp. I was massaging it from inside her hat, after all.
"What does it mean, Lyle, to be mushroom?"
"Uh…" I wasn't sure how to answer that.
"Fungi generally aren't considered plant or animal; did you know?"
"I didn't, no."
"Humans aren't generally considered to be plant or animal either. They see themselves as separate from both, and monsters are seen as animals when they're considered at all. Perhaps we're the same, then, human and mushroom? I've never been anything but myself, I can't say where any one piece of me begins or ends."
I guess I didn't really know where my bones were either, when I had them, anyway. I couldn't have given anyone who asked a breakdown of where and what things were. Still, it was a disappointing answer.
"Maybe we should get Faust to check?" I asked, lightly. "At the very least I bet you're just as pretty inside as out."
I could probably make eyes in there, but wasn't sure I could see in the dark.
She let out a non-committal hum, leaning her head against my shoulder again.
We were silent a few moments more, and then a change overtook the crowd outside the window, as the lights dimmed even further. The beat of the music became frantic, and cheers rose up.
"Ladies and- well, let's be honest, ladies!" A laugh rippled through the crowd as the voice accompanying some of the night's music rang out clear across the din, "We have a treat lined up for you tonight!"
The crowd roared in response.
The voice continued, "Now, normally, you'd all be in the running for a Nightcap with our next act, as I'm sure you're all aware~." Some cheers and 'woo-woos' rang out. "And normally I'd be angling to win it myself, but rumor has it the club's owner, Ms. Nightcap herself, is here tonight with a very close and personal friend of hers, you might have seen them come in? And hey, can we get a little appreciation for the woman who brings us this amazing lineup night after night?"
The crowd all but vibrated the building with their cheers.
"Seems to me," the voice said, "there's really only one way to properly thank her. You see, rumor has it Ms. Nightcap and her special friend are hungry. Rumor is it might even be the first proper feeding for both of them! I think it's only right they have a turn with the cream of the crop, after sharing him around every night, what do you say!?"
The response wasn't as enthusiastic as she'd hoped, I think. There were a lot of disappointed sounding voices mixed into to the cheers.
"Don't be like that," The voice said, chidingly, "You're here for something that might be once in a lifetime! One of our lifetimes. He puts on a show for you girls every night, but tonight, for one night only, you get to watch the best of the best try to impress his boss!"
The crowd sounded intrigued by that idea, hungry. She was turning them around.
"Tell you what ladies, have a round on us, for the trouble, and don't forget, memories of a night like this are going to be primo fodder for any Mindflayer willing to buy. Make sure you get a good seat, and try to enjoy yourselves! After all, he's not the only dancer here, and you can still have yourself a nice meal tonight!"
The crowd joined in with her as she shouted; "All! Night! Long!"
Slime servers sprouted up all around the room, handing out drinks to everyone who could reach their trays. I thought that the drinks must have come through the ground, somehow, and I realized there was no reason to assume the Red Slime we were standing on was only a thin layer, she might be a foot or more thick, and indeed, why wouldn't she be, cleaning up the fluids from a place like this every night?
"And now, without further ado," the voice said, "everyone please give it up for-!"
The lights dropped completely, and the music cut out. The crowd was silent, and I found myself tensing in anticipation with them.
"Jack!"
The large center stage was awash with light, flashing, sparkling, dazzling, as firecrackers fizzled and popped, and the drums built up louder and louder.
"FLAAAAAAAASHERRRRR!"
The lights cut out, all except one. Right in the center of the long walkway, it was like a dot of light, so concentrated that it had clear edges as it shown.
The building did shake this time, I was sure, maybe the sheer presence of the crowd shaking the Red Slime beneath us all beyond her ability to stabilize.
Then I thought I saw something drop from the ceiling, and suddenly there, amidst the light in a three-point pose, was a man.
That was a bit of an understatement, though, like saying the sun was a light, or the ocean a cup. Not… technically wrong, maybe, but a gross simplification which failed to grasp the truth.
He had skin like the sticky, salty candy you can get from sugar just before it burns, and blackish-brown hair on his head, thickly curled, almost messily so. His eyes were a blue so light it seemed nearly luminescent, and his smile was easy, and guileless.
He shone with a… not a light, but a sort of vibrance, a kind of hyper-realness that set him apart from everything even though no one thing about him seemed particularly unusual. That's not to say he was an average man, he could have posed for any kind of sculpture and have improved it just by being the model, he was that kind of flawless. It was just, he was sharper, more defined, clearly visible from across even this distance like a true-life portrait on an impressionist background. If I had to guess, my senses were instinctually prioritizing him, highlighting him. Targeting, even.
His body was… was taut with power, pressing out from inside him at every inch, only barely contained. It was a little weird to see what must have been an incredibly powerful Incubus shining in the same sort of way that Mamono did. Generally, a man was paired with one or more women who sipped at him with little touches all day long, and so while I might have seen a stronger guy amidst the Queen's Consorts, for example, I'd never seen someone so… so obviously brimming with life to the point of bursting. I'd never noticed.
Not like this.
In a completely mad way, I almost felt like I knew him already, like just by having seen him I'd learned things it might have taken me weeks or years to suss out. I looked at him and saw someone who was kind, patient, and soft-spoken, someone who'd been an athlete for years, and could get over-competitive in that context. I saw a confidence, the charisma of a natural snake-oiler, with none of the callousness or self-interest they had, but still too charming for his own good. Too trusting, I thought. Maybe a bit naïve. He had absolutely no head for numbers or letters, but he was still smart in his own way. A bit high maintenance, over-concerned with his looks. Not that that wasn't working out for him, I guess.
All this and more besides hit me like a wave in a single instant, and suddenly I felt so foolish for it, for making up some kind of imaginary story about Jack in my head.
But it still felt real.
I came back to myself, the cheers and cries of the crowd cutting through my musings and pulling me back in.
But I didn't look away.
Because he'd started to move.
Akubra and I spent a few minutes just basking in each other's company, cuddling, watching the dancers and listening to the music. I was listening to her heartbeat, too, but I didn't really have one, so I supposed she wasn't listening to mine.
"Hey, Akubra?" I asked, idly.
"Mmmm?"
"How much of you is mushroom, anyway?" It was a legitimate question. I'd been inside her and I somehow wasn't sure, like my memories of it were fuzzy, incomplete, or self-conflicting.
"Hmmm…" she said, nuzzling into me more.
"I can feel your heartbeat, and I know you have those cute little caps poking up through the skin, here and there…" I mused, "Do you have mushroom bones, maybe?"
Come to think of it, Mad Hatters were supposed to be connected to their hats like the cap of a mushroom, it supposedly grew into their brains, but they could also take them off? Akubra sure could, and I knew for a fact she had hair under there, and a solid scalp. I was massaging it from inside her hat, after all.
"What does it mean, Lyle, to be mushroom?"
"Uh…" I wasn't sure how to answer that.
"Fungi generally aren't considered plant or animal; did you know?"
"I didn't, no."
"Humans aren't generally considered to be plant or animal either. They see themselves as separate from both, and monsters are seen as animals when they're considered at all. Perhaps we're the same, then, human and mushroom? I've never been anything but myself, I can't say where any one piece of me begins or ends."
I guess I didn't really know where my bones were either, when I had them, anyway. I couldn't have given anyone who asked a breakdown of where and what things were. Still, it was a disappointing answer.
"Maybe we should get Faust to check?" I asked, lightly. "At the very least I bet you're just as pretty inside as out."
I could probably make eyes in there, but wasn't sure I could see in the dark.
She let out a non-committal hum, leaning her head against my shoulder again.
We were silent a few moments more, and then a change overtook the crowd outside the window, as the lights dimmed even further. The beat of the music became frantic, and cheers rose up.
"Ladies and- well, let's be honest, ladies!" A laugh rippled through the crowd as the voice accompanying some of the night's music rang out clear across the din, "We have a treat lined up for you tonight!"
The crowd roared in response.
The voice continued, "Now, normally, you'd all be in the running for a Nightcap with our next act, as I'm sure you're all aware~." Some cheers and 'woo-woos' rang out. "And normally I'd be angling to win it myself, but rumor has it the club's owner, Ms. Nightcap herself, is here tonight with a very close and personal friend of hers, you might have seen them come in? And hey, can we get a little appreciation for the woman who brings us this amazing lineup night after night?"
The crowd all but vibrated the building with their cheers.
"Seems to me," the voice said, "there's really only one way to properly thank her. You see, rumor has it Ms. Nightcap and her special friend are hungry. Rumor is it might even be the first proper feeding for both of them! I think it's only right they have a turn with the cream of the crop, after sharing him around every night, what do you say!?"
The response wasn't as enthusiastic as she'd hoped, I think. There were a lot of disappointed sounding voices mixed into to the cheers.
"Don't be like that," The voice said, chidingly, "You're here for something that might be once in a lifetime! One of our lifetimes. He puts on a show for you girls every night, but tonight, for one night only, you get to watch the best of the best try to impress his boss!"
The crowd sounded intrigued by that idea, hungry. She was turning them around.
"Tell you what ladies, have a round on us, for the trouble, and don't forget, memories of a night like this are going to be primo fodder for any Mindflayer willing to buy. Make sure you get a good seat, and try to enjoy yourselves! After all, he's not the only dancer here, and you can still have yourself a nice meal tonight!"
The crowd joined in with her as she shouted; "All! Night! Long!"
Slime servers sprouted up all around the room, handing out drinks to everyone who could reach their trays. I thought that the drinks must have come through the ground, somehow, and I realized there was no reason to assume the Red Slime we were standing on was only a thin layer, she might be a foot or more thick, and indeed, why wouldn't she be, cleaning up the fluids from a place like this every night?
"And now, without further ado," the voice said, "everyone please give it up for-!"
The lights dropped completely, and the music cut out. The crowd was silent, and I found myself tensing in anticipation with them.
"Jack!"
The large center stage was awash with light, flashing, sparkling, dazzling, as firecrackers fizzled and popped, and the drums built up louder and louder.
"FLAAAAAAAASHERRRRR!"
The lights cut out, all except one. Right in the center of the long walkway, it was like a dot of light, so concentrated that it had clear edges as it shown.
The building did shake this time, I was sure, maybe the sheer presence of the crowd shaking the Red Slime beneath us all beyond her ability to stabilize.
Then I thought I saw something drop from the ceiling, and suddenly there, amidst the light in a three-point pose, was a man.
That was a bit of an understatement, though, like saying the sun was a light, or the ocean a cup. Not… technically wrong, maybe, but a gross simplification which failed to grasp the truth.
He had skin like the sticky, salty candy you can get from sugar just before it burns, and blackish-brown hair on his head, thickly curled, almost messily so. His eyes were a blue so light it seemed nearly luminescent, and his smile was easy, and guileless.
He shone with a… not a light, but a sort of vibrance, a kind of hyper-realness that set him apart from everything even though no one thing about him seemed particularly unusual. That's not to say he was an average man, he could have posed for any kind of sculpture and have improved it just by being the model, he was that kind of flawless. It was just, he was sharper, more defined, clearly visible from across even this distance like a true-life portrait on an impressionist background. If I had to guess, my senses were instinctually prioritizing him, highlighting him. Targeting, even.
His body was… was taut with power, pressing out from inside him at every inch, only barely contained. It was a little weird to see what must have been an incredibly powerful Incubus shining in the same sort of way that Mamono did. Generally, a man was paired with one or more women who sipped at him with little touches all day long, and so while I might have seen a stronger guy amidst the Queen's Consorts, for example, I'd never seen someone so… so obviously brimming with life to the point of bursting. I'd never noticed.
Not like this.
In a completely mad way, I almost felt like I knew him already, like just by having seen him I'd learned things it might have taken me weeks or years to suss out. I looked at him and saw someone who was kind, patient, and soft-spoken, someone who'd been an athlete for years, and could get over-competitive in that context. I saw a confidence, the charisma of a natural snake-oiler, with none of the callousness or self-interest they had, but still too charming for his own good. Too trusting, I thought. Maybe a bit naïve. He had absolutely no head for numbers or letters, but he was still smart in his own way. A bit high maintenance, over-concerned with his looks. Not that that wasn't working out for him, I guess.
All this and more besides hit me like a wave in a single instant, and suddenly I felt so foolish for it, for making up some kind of imaginary story about Jack in my head.
But it still felt real.
I came back to myself, the cheers and cries of the crowd cutting through my musings and pulling me back in.
But I didn't look away.
Because he'd started to move.
Last edited:
derpfen
Somone
- Location
- Somewhere
- Pronouns
- He/Him
I'm not sure whether that description at the end is carefully constructed, or if Lyle has some sort of intuition going on. I'm leaning toward the former, cause of just how appealing that description is, but I would believe the other one if it came up.
Chapter Thirty-Seven - Dazzling
The_Letter_K
Certified Character
- Location
- ...IJ_LM...
- Pronouns
- She/Her
I'd never seen any woman move like that, let alone any man. The closest thing I could have compared it to was the channels of rain that raced down a window amidst a thunderstorm, as the lightning struck and brought rainbows of light shooting through the droplets like a prism. Like those streams, he was all but liquid, maybe morseo than myself, and he flitted to and fro almost faster than the eye could follow, always following the path of least resistance, very nearly magical in its effortlessness. Like those lights, he caught the eye in ways that constantly surprised and fascinated, revealing worlds of contours for the barest moment before whisking them away again.
It was a moment before I even noticed the music, so entranced was I. The crash of cymbals, or thunder, the clatter of drums, or falling rain, the howling of wind, or the strings of the violin, he was somehow in rhythm with it all, and the way the music echoed through me as he moved in time with it made it feel almost as though he were touching me himself.
In spite of myself, I think I liked it.
His outfit was unlike anything I'd ever seen, it shone and shimmered, all colors and lights, reminding me more of Faust's gathered magics than of any fabric or textile. Accents like tassels and straps, or maybe feathers and smoke, trailed from him as he moved, some separating and fading away as they floated down behind him, marking where he'd been, claiming the space for a few moments beyond what nature had intended. It made me wonder whether he was wearing anything at all, or if it was all illusion, set to be peeled away at a moment's notice.
I felt myself gulp as I realized I'd likely find out first-hand.
The tempo of the dance only increased, and, at some nigh-imperceptible inflection point, he was no longer like water, but like an unquenchable fire. The lights of his outfit flared, and from behind him spread out something alike a great fan, colors and patterns I'd never seen now leashed to him, increasing his apparent size by an order of magnitude, and leashed to the movements of his hips.
He'd shifted from flowing, elegant movement to snappy, flickering motion, quick steps and hands snapping out, then darting back, and as the smoke of the room moved around him, I could have sworn I saw myself in the shapelessness of it, his hands under my chin, stroking my arm, his hips coming dangerously close to mine, each motion dispersing the gathered air and illusion just before we could touch, but also beckoning in a new one so tantalizingly close, and it was always his next focus. The burning passion of his body in motion melding with the smoke to the point it wasn't clear where the line between even was, undoubtedly a dance of heat and flames no different from any campfire I'd ever seen.
Much like those campfires had always been, it was so, so easy to stare, to lose myself in the endless motion of it.
I wanted to.
With all the other lights in the room gone dim, he really did seem to be like the flame of a lonely campfire as he burned so brightly under that sole spot of light, with the edges of his outfit flitting outside its confines like stray embers, slowly fading.
The music swelled and changed again, and his dancing followed suit, this time much more thoughtful and breezy. Breezy really was the right word for it, because he seemed to be almost pushed by the physical force of the music now, like a flag in a breeze, and his outfit shining and vibrant, began to shed more and more of those magical particles as he moved, the great fan of his tail losing feathers, fading away.
He stepped off the stage, into open air, and the 'floor' rose to meet him, providing only the barest hints of support, the translucent red of the slime almost invisible in the dimness, and he moved above the crowd with such speed that by the time any one woman had realized he was in reach, he'd already moved past her, but you could see his path in their swoons and sways, caught by his lingering scent in the air if nothing else.
He slid and skated across the room, just out of reach of the grasps of the revelers below, and the swells and burst of music blasted away more and more of the layers of light clothing his body. The whims of the woodwinds seemed to blow him back to the stage with a well-timed jump, and a forceful sound, and he caught onto the pole with his hands, held at a right angle to it by sheer the musculature of his body as he swayed there in the air like a flag, the music stripping him more and more of the magical clothing, small pieces disappearing with each instrumental flourish.
He began to twirl around the pole, a human tornado, his body never quite leaving it but never clinging to it either, at least not in a way I'd have expected. He spun freely around the stage like a weather vane, a flurry of light and sound accompanying his body until suddenly!
It was gone.
The last of the light had been blown from his body and now the room was dark, the music now silent, the crowd tense and alert.
My body, tense and alert.
A light flickered on, and the beat was back, for just a moment, and I could see that he lay there on the floor of the stage, unmoving, only the barest hint of cloth to preserve his modesty, as darkness and silence fell again.
A second flicker, a second crash of cymbals and thump of the beat, and now I could see he was standing, looking at me, at the wall between us.
A third, he had one foot off the stage, once more supported by the Red Slime.
A fourth, and faster now. He was getting closer. It was like being stalked by an oncoming avalanche. I knew at any moment he would fall upon me, the feeble distance between us was an illusion wrought by time. In my heart he was already here.
A fifth, he was outside the window.
A sixth, he'd disappeared!
A seventh, before I could panic, and he was here, my only hint to what had happened being the slime dripping off his feet. He'd come in through the floor!
The flashes and sounds came much faster now and he strutted towards me amidst strobes of light and noise with a smile so sweet that for a moment I almost forgot where we were, what this was.
I was transfixed.
He fell into a bow before me as the music ended, and the crowd roared and stomped and clapped, although they could not see the last of his act. At this point they must know it by heart.
If I'd had my wits about me, I might have clapped along. As it was, the smell of him was overwhelming, and when he looked up and spoke, I only barely managed a response.
"Jack Flasher," He said. He looked over to Akubra and nodded. "Ma'am."
"L-lyle," I said, belatedly.
He turned back to me, and a smile so honest graced his face.
"It's a pleasure to meet you."
It was a moment before I even noticed the music, so entranced was I. The crash of cymbals, or thunder, the clatter of drums, or falling rain, the howling of wind, or the strings of the violin, he was somehow in rhythm with it all, and the way the music echoed through me as he moved in time with it made it feel almost as though he were touching me himself.
In spite of myself, I think I liked it.
His outfit was unlike anything I'd ever seen, it shone and shimmered, all colors and lights, reminding me more of Faust's gathered magics than of any fabric or textile. Accents like tassels and straps, or maybe feathers and smoke, trailed from him as he moved, some separating and fading away as they floated down behind him, marking where he'd been, claiming the space for a few moments beyond what nature had intended. It made me wonder whether he was wearing anything at all, or if it was all illusion, set to be peeled away at a moment's notice.
I felt myself gulp as I realized I'd likely find out first-hand.
The tempo of the dance only increased, and, at some nigh-imperceptible inflection point, he was no longer like water, but like an unquenchable fire. The lights of his outfit flared, and from behind him spread out something alike a great fan, colors and patterns I'd never seen now leashed to him, increasing his apparent size by an order of magnitude, and leashed to the movements of his hips.
He'd shifted from flowing, elegant movement to snappy, flickering motion, quick steps and hands snapping out, then darting back, and as the smoke of the room moved around him, I could have sworn I saw myself in the shapelessness of it, his hands under my chin, stroking my arm, his hips coming dangerously close to mine, each motion dispersing the gathered air and illusion just before we could touch, but also beckoning in a new one so tantalizingly close, and it was always his next focus. The burning passion of his body in motion melding with the smoke to the point it wasn't clear where the line between even was, undoubtedly a dance of heat and flames no different from any campfire I'd ever seen.
Much like those campfires had always been, it was so, so easy to stare, to lose myself in the endless motion of it.
I wanted to.
With all the other lights in the room gone dim, he really did seem to be like the flame of a lonely campfire as he burned so brightly under that sole spot of light, with the edges of his outfit flitting outside its confines like stray embers, slowly fading.
The music swelled and changed again, and his dancing followed suit, this time much more thoughtful and breezy. Breezy really was the right word for it, because he seemed to be almost pushed by the physical force of the music now, like a flag in a breeze, and his outfit shining and vibrant, began to shed more and more of those magical particles as he moved, the great fan of his tail losing feathers, fading away.
He stepped off the stage, into open air, and the 'floor' rose to meet him, providing only the barest hints of support, the translucent red of the slime almost invisible in the dimness, and he moved above the crowd with such speed that by the time any one woman had realized he was in reach, he'd already moved past her, but you could see his path in their swoons and sways, caught by his lingering scent in the air if nothing else.
He slid and skated across the room, just out of reach of the grasps of the revelers below, and the swells and burst of music blasted away more and more of the layers of light clothing his body. The whims of the woodwinds seemed to blow him back to the stage with a well-timed jump, and a forceful sound, and he caught onto the pole with his hands, held at a right angle to it by sheer the musculature of his body as he swayed there in the air like a flag, the music stripping him more and more of the magical clothing, small pieces disappearing with each instrumental flourish.
He began to twirl around the pole, a human tornado, his body never quite leaving it but never clinging to it either, at least not in a way I'd have expected. He spun freely around the stage like a weather vane, a flurry of light and sound accompanying his body until suddenly!
It was gone.
The last of the light had been blown from his body and now the room was dark, the music now silent, the crowd tense and alert.
My body, tense and alert.
A light flickered on, and the beat was back, for just a moment, and I could see that he lay there on the floor of the stage, unmoving, only the barest hint of cloth to preserve his modesty, as darkness and silence fell again.
A second flicker, a second crash of cymbals and thump of the beat, and now I could see he was standing, looking at me, at the wall between us.
A third, he had one foot off the stage, once more supported by the Red Slime.
A fourth, and faster now. He was getting closer. It was like being stalked by an oncoming avalanche. I knew at any moment he would fall upon me, the feeble distance between us was an illusion wrought by time. In my heart he was already here.
A fifth, he was outside the window.
A sixth, he'd disappeared!
A seventh, before I could panic, and he was here, my only hint to what had happened being the slime dripping off his feet. He'd come in through the floor!
The flashes and sounds came much faster now and he strutted towards me amidst strobes of light and noise with a smile so sweet that for a moment I almost forgot where we were, what this was.
I was transfixed.
He fell into a bow before me as the music ended, and the crowd roared and stomped and clapped, although they could not see the last of his act. At this point they must know it by heart.
If I'd had my wits about me, I might have clapped along. As it was, the smell of him was overwhelming, and when he looked up and spoke, I only barely managed a response.
"Jack Flasher," He said. He looked over to Akubra and nodded. "Ma'am."
"L-lyle," I said, belatedly.
He turned back to me, and a smile so honest graced his face.
"It's a pleasure to meet you."
- Location
- Somewhere!
- Pronouns
- She/Her
So, place your bets! Is he a really good performer, or is he genuinely a happy and nice guy in his work?
The dynamics would be really interesting as a professional here.
The dynamics would be really interesting as a professional here.
- Location
- In front of my computer
My bet is taht it's mostly sincere, incubization having enhanced what was already there. Part of the big thing about mamono, after all, is that it's not just a fantasy; you actually do get the experience you secretly hoped for inside. He's probably playing it up somewhat for the crowd, but I'd be extremely surprised if it was a lie, per se.
Chapter Thirty-Eight - Getting to Know You
The_Letter_K
Certified Character
- Location
- ...IJ_LM...
- Pronouns
- She/Her
The moment lingered past what I think he had expected, and it was a little awkward. At some point during the dance, I'd left my seat at the table to get a better view through the window, and that left him kneeling there, occasionally glancing at Akubra, who was watching us both with her classically casual interest, and me completely incapable of processing.
Well, at the very least, I felt awkward.
"H-How are you d-doing?" I squeaked out.
Some kind of understanding seemed to bloom in his eyes, and the bravado, the showmanship, the sheer presence of him slid right off like he'd shrugged out of a heavy coat.
"Are… you okay?" he asked, and it was striking how much smaller and warmer he suddenly seemed with only three words. He went from conqueror to cuddler in the span of a second.
I nodded, slowly.
"I.. uh… I'm an Alp." I said. It seemed relevant.
And well… I had to say something.
"Oh." He blinked. "All of… uh" he gestured at the stage out past the glass, "all of that... might have been coming on a little strongly then?"
"A bit." I squeaked.
His expression fell, his shoulders sagging slightly.
"It… it wasn't bad!" I scrambled to say, and he looked up. "It was even pretty good, actually!"
A light seemed to enter his eyes, and a smile crept back onto his face.
"I can't tell if that's the best review I ever remember getting... or the worst." He said, and I could hear the mirth in his voice, "Here at Nightcap's, we usually aim for a little bit more than 'pretty good, actually'."
I could feel myself blushing, and I took a moment to consider how much better I'd become at putting my foot in my mouth now that they were both made of the same goo.
"S-sorry."
His smile only grew. "It's alright, really. It's kind of… novel. I don't think I've ever performed for an Alp before. At least, not one so fresh." He lost the slight slump to his shoulders as he stood. "It's a cool challenge!"
"Yeah?"
He nodded. "Like, I'm a dancer, right? An artist, I guess. I know how to draw the eye of a Mamono exactly where I want it. But… you don't really want your eyes there, do you? Or… maybe, you're embarrassed that you want it?"
I squeaked, and I heard Akubra chuckle from her seat at the table.
"Don't worry," he said, "I'm here for you. I'm not going to do anything you aren't comfortable with."
"You're not… you know, disappointed?" I asked, only barely meeting his eyes.
"Disappointed? With the chance to perform for Ms. Nightcap herself?" He shook his head. "It's an honor to be here. Besides, my pride as a server couldn't withstand providing service you aren't completely satisfied with. And, well, my wives would have my head."
He gestured for me to sit, and he moved over to the table himself.
"You're married?" I asked, incredulous. "Your wives let you… uh…?"
"Whore myself out?" He chuckled. "They're super into it. I'm married to a Nurarihyon and a Cancer."
Cancers were the crab-like tauric monsters. I'd seen a few of them scuttling around. I felt a weird sort of kinship with them now, we shared an interest in uh… cleaning. They washed their husbands obsessively to get every other girl's mana off of them before they'd deign to dine, and their husbands very often didn't have the stamina to last under their… thorough attentions, letting loose more than once before the cleaning was done, which only prolonged things.
When I looked at it in that light, I saw the appeal, I guess.
"I know the Cancers, but…" I trailed off.
"Nurarihyons are kinda uncommon here, yeah." He said. "To hear her tell it, they're a real terror on the mist continent, though. Their magics turn their husbands into… well. Into me, basically. The kind of guy who has hundreds of Mamono clambering for the chance to get a bite and who needs every single one just to feel relief. I turned it into a job, but a lot of the other guys I've heard about basically can't leave bed, or they wind up getting ferried around town in a crowd of horny hangers-on as they're passed around."
I couldn't help it, I raised an eyebrow at that.
He blushed. It was cute. "I really like to cum. I kinda need to."
I snorted. "I get you. I got turned by a Lich, an Automaton, a Bicorn, a Hostaur, a Shoggoth, and Akubra here. Before I... flipped over... I was a mess."
His light blue eyes danced. They were so deep, like they led somewhere far away, like the sky giving way to the infinities of space.
"That's quite the list. You'll have to tell me how that went sometime."
Akubra shifted in her seat, and I started, suddenly aware of how my unease had been just draining away as I talked to him.
I narrowed my eyes. "You're pretty good."
He beamed at me and it struck me like a physical force.
"I'm glad you think so."
"I... I'm, uh, I'm glad you're glad I think so, I think?" I babbled, still reeling.
Akubra put her hand on mine, grounding me.
What a life I lived that she was a person I could trust to do that.
"Jack," she said.
"Ma'am?"
"I am hungry for more than cheerful conversation, I fear."
His eyes widened. "Uh, right."
He stood back up, leaving the table. Akubra stood too, following him out, having to scoot along the curved booth until there was room to get up.
Those two were more familiar with what was going on than me, and so I stood too.
As I stood, I saw Akubra start to fall over backwards, bonelessly. I rushed to catch her, frantically, but her head hit the ground before I could stop it.
And went straight through the floor.
The rest of her body followed, and I could feel the piece of myself that was a piece of her now as it was swept away by the Red Slime I kept forgetting I was putting my feet all over.
Jack just shook his head, and then tapped his foot three times, suddenly seeming to sink and vanishing quickly in a similar way.
"Uh." I said. "Hello?"
Nothing.
"...Guys?"
I tapped my foot three times, hesitantly.
I was surrounded by an army of Red Slime bodies. They all leapt at me, and I got a good look at their faces before they subsumed me.
I recognized the expression of someone who thought they were very very funny, and the sense of panic faded as I too was pulled under.
Well, at the very least, I felt awkward.
"H-How are you d-doing?" I squeaked out.
Some kind of understanding seemed to bloom in his eyes, and the bravado, the showmanship, the sheer presence of him slid right off like he'd shrugged out of a heavy coat.
"Are… you okay?" he asked, and it was striking how much smaller and warmer he suddenly seemed with only three words. He went from conqueror to cuddler in the span of a second.
I nodded, slowly.
"I.. uh… I'm an Alp." I said. It seemed relevant.
And well… I had to say something.
"Oh." He blinked. "All of… uh" he gestured at the stage out past the glass, "all of that... might have been coming on a little strongly then?"
"A bit." I squeaked.
His expression fell, his shoulders sagging slightly.
"It… it wasn't bad!" I scrambled to say, and he looked up. "It was even pretty good, actually!"
A light seemed to enter his eyes, and a smile crept back onto his face.
"I can't tell if that's the best review I ever remember getting... or the worst." He said, and I could hear the mirth in his voice, "Here at Nightcap's, we usually aim for a little bit more than 'pretty good, actually'."
I could feel myself blushing, and I took a moment to consider how much better I'd become at putting my foot in my mouth now that they were both made of the same goo.
"S-sorry."
His smile only grew. "It's alright, really. It's kind of… novel. I don't think I've ever performed for an Alp before. At least, not one so fresh." He lost the slight slump to his shoulders as he stood. "It's a cool challenge!"
"Yeah?"
He nodded. "Like, I'm a dancer, right? An artist, I guess. I know how to draw the eye of a Mamono exactly where I want it. But… you don't really want your eyes there, do you? Or… maybe, you're embarrassed that you want it?"
I squeaked, and I heard Akubra chuckle from her seat at the table.
"Don't worry," he said, "I'm here for you. I'm not going to do anything you aren't comfortable with."
"You're not… you know, disappointed?" I asked, only barely meeting his eyes.
"Disappointed? With the chance to perform for Ms. Nightcap herself?" He shook his head. "It's an honor to be here. Besides, my pride as a server couldn't withstand providing service you aren't completely satisfied with. And, well, my wives would have my head."
He gestured for me to sit, and he moved over to the table himself.
"You're married?" I asked, incredulous. "Your wives let you… uh…?"
"Whore myself out?" He chuckled. "They're super into it. I'm married to a Nurarihyon and a Cancer."
Cancers were the crab-like tauric monsters. I'd seen a few of them scuttling around. I felt a weird sort of kinship with them now, we shared an interest in uh… cleaning. They washed their husbands obsessively to get every other girl's mana off of them before they'd deign to dine, and their husbands very often didn't have the stamina to last under their… thorough attentions, letting loose more than once before the cleaning was done, which only prolonged things.
When I looked at it in that light, I saw the appeal, I guess.
"I know the Cancers, but…" I trailed off.
"Nurarihyons are kinda uncommon here, yeah." He said. "To hear her tell it, they're a real terror on the mist continent, though. Their magics turn their husbands into… well. Into me, basically. The kind of guy who has hundreds of Mamono clambering for the chance to get a bite and who needs every single one just to feel relief. I turned it into a job, but a lot of the other guys I've heard about basically can't leave bed, or they wind up getting ferried around town in a crowd of horny hangers-on as they're passed around."
I couldn't help it, I raised an eyebrow at that.
He blushed. It was cute. "I really like to cum. I kinda need to."
I snorted. "I get you. I got turned by a Lich, an Automaton, a Bicorn, a Hostaur, a Shoggoth, and Akubra here. Before I... flipped over... I was a mess."
His light blue eyes danced. They were so deep, like they led somewhere far away, like the sky giving way to the infinities of space.
"That's quite the list. You'll have to tell me how that went sometime."
Akubra shifted in her seat, and I started, suddenly aware of how my unease had been just draining away as I talked to him.
I narrowed my eyes. "You're pretty good."
He beamed at me and it struck me like a physical force.
"I'm glad you think so."
"I... I'm, uh, I'm glad you're glad I think so, I think?" I babbled, still reeling.
Akubra put her hand on mine, grounding me.
What a life I lived that she was a person I could trust to do that.
"Jack," she said.
"Ma'am?"
"I am hungry for more than cheerful conversation, I fear."
His eyes widened. "Uh, right."
He stood back up, leaving the table. Akubra stood too, following him out, having to scoot along the curved booth until there was room to get up.
Those two were more familiar with what was going on than me, and so I stood too.
As I stood, I saw Akubra start to fall over backwards, bonelessly. I rushed to catch her, frantically, but her head hit the ground before I could stop it.
And went straight through the floor.
The rest of her body followed, and I could feel the piece of myself that was a piece of her now as it was swept away by the Red Slime I kept forgetting I was putting my feet all over.
Jack just shook his head, and then tapped his foot three times, suddenly seeming to sink and vanishing quickly in a similar way.
"Uh." I said. "Hello?"
Nothing.
"...Guys?"
I tapped my foot three times, hesitantly.
I was surrounded by an army of Red Slime bodies. They all leapt at me, and I got a good look at their faces before they subsumed me.
I recognized the expression of someone who thought they were very very funny, and the sense of panic faded as I too was pulled under.
The_Letter_K
Certified Character
- Location
- ...IJ_LM...
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Sorry for the delay, by the way. I'd love to say I had a good reason, but honestly it just slipped my mind. Whoops.