In Which Further Etiquette Lessons Are Offered
Some combination of the shock of being frozen, the pain that came from resisting, the disappearance of my intended target, and Suzi’s cute/clueless outburst dimmed my immediate wrath, leaving me stuck in mid stride, my mouth open and face contorted in silent rage.
It seemed like I could move my eyes a little bit, but that was it… I couldn’t even blink.
Somehow, my eyeball immediately decided it was time to itch. Who the hell has itchy eyeballs? Paralyzed people, apparently.
“Give her another cookie and send her away,” Dee said to Two.
“Okay,” Two said. She gave the cat girl another cookie and said, “Please go away now.”
Suzi, either not remembering all of her newly learned manners or not willing to risk losing a second cookie, crammed the whole thing into her mouth.
“‘kay, thanks, bye,” she mumbled before turning and leaving.
“Things could become awkward if anybody came into the lounge now,” Dee said. “We could, of course, move her, but that could result in awkward questions and embarrassment, as well.”
“Ian will be back with Amaranth soon,” Two said. “She’ll think of something.”
“Something helpful?” Dee asked.
“I do not know,” Two said. “She is smart when she isn’t trying to be.”
“Let us hope that she isn’t feeling particularly motivated, then,” Dee said. She sat down on the arm of the couch, facing me. Her hands were held out in front of her, palms up. It looked like she was concentrating on maintaining or strengthening the spell which held me.
Two had something to say about her choice of seats, though.
“You aren’t supposed to sit on…”
“Shh,” Dee said, and Two bit her lip, the need to tell Dee what the armrest was for practically leaping off her face.
She didn’t have to wait long for something to take her mind off it, though, as Amaranth came bursting into the lounge, with Ian in tow.
“Boys aren’t supposed to…” Two started to say before Amaranth cut her off. She was getting to be so fucking bossy lately. Somebody really needed to remind her…
I made myself try to move, prompting another wave of pain. Good, distracting pain. That was what I needed. Yes. Pain.
“Oh, hush, Twoey,” Amaranth said. “This is an emergency.”
“Okay,” Two said. She picked up the plate of cookies. “Would anybody like a cookie?”
“Not now, honey,” Amaranth said.
“Um, I’ll take one,” Ian said.
I mentally prodded him to say “thank you” as he accepted one from her.
Nope. Still not telepathic.
“Say thank you,” Two said.
“Thank you,” Ian said.
“Oh, baby,” Amaranth said, throwing her arms around me. I felt myself tipping backwards and probably would have fallen if she wasn’t holding me. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to leave you alone all day, but Twoey said you didn’t sleep well and then it was time for the match and I’d already promised…”
She babbled on, and I understood that everything she said came down to the same thing: I’d needed help and she hadn’t even known. She felt guilty. I wanted to return her embrace, press myself against her and sink into her warmth, let her know that it was okay… but I couldn’t.
“I’m sorry, baby… and everybody,” Amaranth said, putting me back on my feet and then stepping back. “We would have been here sooner, but we had to stop and get Steff. I figured, she might know somebody with access to the necromancy supplies… even better, though, one of her friends is a virgin! What are the odds?”
“I would say abysmal,” Dee said. “But apparently they were high enough.”
“Anyway, she should be here soon… she ran ahead of us but had to detour to Warwick,” Amaranth said. She bit at her lip. “That won’t be a problem, will it? I mean, your spell will hold for a bit longer?”
“I am quite well rested and should be able to channel the divine energy for some time,” Dee said. “It’s worth noting that, had I accepted your invitation to expend my energy healing gratuitous and pointless injuries at the skirmish match, I would not have been available to help your lover.”
“I don’t like fighting myself, but really, it’s just good, permanent-harmless fun,” Amaranth said, shrugging… an action which did wonderful things to her breasts. “Anyway, they use spectral weapons and phantasmal spells, so most of the injuries are incidental.”
“As you say,” Dee said, a phrase which I took to mean “I cannot begin to voice my disagreement with your stance on this issue but see no point in continuing this conversation.”
“And, of course, it’s a great way for people to work off their aggression and cut down on actual fighting,” Amaranth said. “So, really, I don’t think there’s any conflict between my pacifist stance and my support of skirmish… and it’s fun to watch all the fighters going at it, too, and the blood… which is mostly illusions, of course…”
“It sounds… thrilling,” Dee said, and this time Amaranth appeared to get the point. She settled into what had to be a very uncomfortable silence.
Ian leaned against the wall, not looking at me directly. Probably because I couldn’t really look back, I thought. I wished I could. He was being so quiet.
“So, Twoey, you made cookies?” Amaranth asked.
“Yes,” Two said. “My friend Hazel helped.”
“Oh, good,” Amaranth said absently. “That’s good.”
“Yes,” Two agreed. “It is.”
Mercifully, Steff arrived in short order, carrying an oversized white mug.
“You have procured the necessary material?” Dee asked.
“No, but I got a big mug of virgin blood here,” Steff said, holding up the coffee cup. It was emblazoned with the legend “Do Not Meddle In The Affairs Of Administrative Assistants, For They Are Petty And Quick To Misfile” on the side. “Good thing my friend Leeza from the Gay/Straight Horde refuses to do the deed until after her transformation… but she’s perfectly willing to donate other fluids to a morally questionable cause. I hope it’s enough. She was looking a little pale by the end, but then, she’s a bit squeamish.”
“Uh, right,” Ian said. “Let’s get this done, then.”
“Hold on, let’s not be too quick here,” Steff said. “I mean, will you take a look at that face?” she said, awed. She put the mug down on the coffee table. “Such rage, such power… and yet… so helpless.” She stepped around to the side and leaned in, breathing heavily on my ear and neck, breathing me in. “Like a work of art… don’t you just want to take her home and mount her?”
She stepped behind me and grabbed my ass as she said the last part. Ian made a noise that might have been a protest or might have been approval… or might have started as one and ended as the other.
I couldn’t do anything. Steff was running her hands over my body now, under my shirt, and there was nothing I could do to stop her. She leaned in, and I could feel her dick pressing against my back. She could rub against me until she came, or even work my clothes off somehow and do more, and I couldn’t do a thing to stop her.
I couldn’t even open my mouth to encourage her.
It was elegant torture.
I reminded myself that Two was there… and Ian. Who knew what he was thinking, watching the scene unfold? If I could have spoken up, I would have put a stop to it, for Two’s sake.
But I couldn’t. It was absolutely beyond my control. Anybody could have come out into the hall, looked towards the lounge, and seen Steff with her hands on my breasts, grinding up and down against me from behind… and I couldn’t stop it.
I don’t know if I was relieved or disappointed when Dee pulled Steff away.
“My magic serves a higher purpose,” she said. “I would not have it become an accessory to mere molestation.”
“Hey, I wasn’t going to merely molest her,” Steff said, managing to sound hurt.
“I know this could be a lot of fun, but we do have more pressing matters,” Amaranth said. “Can we feed her somehow without releasing her?” She leaned in close to me, looking at my mouth. “I mean, her mouth is open a bit, in a kind of cute little snarl…”
Cute? I’d been seconds away from committing nekocide.
“..but if we try to pour it in, I’m afraid it might just dribble out,” Amaranth finished.
“Maybe if we got her on her back first?” Ian suggested.
“A man after my own hard-on,” Steff said. “Your considered opinion, oh Deacon Dee-kins?”
“It is my considered opinion that I will kill you if you ever call me that again,” Dee said.
“Noted,” Steff said. “And the plan?”
“I am not certain she would be able to swallow in this state,” Dee said.
“Well, Ian would be the expert there,” Steff said.
Ian turned red and ducked to the side, out of my field of view.
“Steff, honey, you’re not helping,” Amaranth said.
“Hey, I got the blood,” she said. “I’ve already done the big part… now I’m just trying to keep our spirits up, among other things.”
“I think it’s probably safe to release her,” Amaranth said, studying my face. “I mean, it’s hard to tell when she’s stuck in the same pose and facial expression, but look at her eyes… I think she’s calmed down.”
“It would be neither prudent nor wise to pry into the mind of a half-demon without extensive preparation,” Dee said. “But the fragmentary thoughts and emotions which are leaking from her seem to indicate a mind that is calm, if not precisely at peace.”
“Okay,” Amaranth said. “Um, let’s get the blood off the table so she doesn’t knock it over, and…”
“Hey, wait,” Steff said. “I want to do something before we let her loose.”
“I’ve told you I will not be made a party to…” Dee protested.
“Hey, chill,” Steff said. “I’m just going to try to help calm her down.”
“I think that’s a great idea,” Amaranth said. “I’ll help, too.” She stepped forward and bent to speak into my ear. “Be strong, baby,” she said. “Remember that we all love you and we all believe you’re good.”
She gave me a kiss on the cheek, and then gave me a look with more longing and desperation than I would have believed any nymph was capable of.
Then she wrenched herself away, hiding her eyes from me. I could still see them in my head though… so big and bright behind those weird, thick glasses of hers. I wished I could run to her… yeah, she’d told me that she loved me… she’d tell anybody that much, though… where her love really showed through was when she was afraid of losing me.
Then Steff was leaning in, her lips brushing my ear. Her voice was full of elven magic which would have allowed her to whisper to me from across the room, regardless of intervening noises. I knew the reason she was close was… well… to be close. I shivered–internally, anyway–before she even said anything.
“If Dee wasn’t here,” she whispered, “I would be carving my name into your fuckable little butt right now, slut.”
I couldn’t help it… I tried to hold still, but my body rebelled and I writhed inside the restraining field, paying for it in pain.
“You have a wonderfully calming effect,” Dee noted. “Shall I release her before she settles down any further?”
“Wait, let me get the blood,” Ian said.
“Very well,” Dee said.
He came over, stepping between the coffee table and the couch in order to get to the cup. This put him right next to me. He turned and whispered, “Be okay.”
Just that.
So quiet it was almost a prayer.
He stepped back, almost tripping over the coffee table. The blood sloshed in the cup and a little bit fell on the ground. I watched it with ravenous interest.
“Perhaps it would be best to set that down and stand clear,” Dee said.
“No,” Ian said, shaking his head. “I believe she’ll keep her head. If she doesn’t… I mean, the blood’s already here.”
“Very well,” Dee said. “If there are no other objections?”
“Wait,” Two said. “I would like to say something to Mack.”
“Go ahead, Twoey,” Amaranth said.
Two came up, approaching me straight-faced and stiff-backed, with all the gravitas she could squeeze into her tiny frame. She leaned into me and whispered, “I don’t know what I’m supposed to say,” she said. “But everybody else said something.”
I laughed convulsively without being able to move… and fuck, it probably would have hurt without the field of divinity around me.
“Is everybody done ‘calming her down’?” Dee asked, when I’d got myself under control.
“Yes,” Two said, stepping back.
“Very well,” Dee said. She lifted her hands up over her head and then brought them down and to the sides. Just like that, the spell was gone and I stumbled forward, off-balance… I’d been getting ready to lunge at Maliko when Dee’s spell had first grabbed me.
“Baby!” Amaranth said, lunging between me and Ian. Steff grabbed her arm and jerked her back.
“Let the girl have a drink, hon,” Steff said.
“Oh, right,” Amaranth said, blushing and tugging at the corner of her lip. “Are you okay, baby?”
“I’m fine… ish,” I said. “But I think I probably really should feed before anything else.”
“Oh, of course,” Amaranth said. “Go ahead.”
“Here,” Ian said, holding out the cup. “I hope it’s enough.”
“It’s probably too much,” I said, taking it from him, consciously trying not to touch his hand. The sight of a cup full of blood was stirring my hunger, but it was also digging up older feelings, too. Somebody had bled for me again. I didn’t feel particularly worthy of human contact at the moment. “My grandmother never gave me this much, and I’ve already had a bit today. Maybe I shouldn‘t…”
“Well, you just go ahead and drink the whole thing,” Amaranth said. “We’re not taking any chances.”
“Also, I don’t think Leeza’s going to want any of it back,” Steff said.
The blood was warm and filling, satisfying… but there was a noticeable difference even between it and the freshly spilled blood I’d licked off the floor. I didn’t know if it was a matter of the time that passed or the fact that it had been “decanted” into another container.
When you got right down to it, what did I really know about my own needs? I’d been woefully unprepared for life on my own… but really, the only person who would’ve known was also the last person I would–or could–have asked for help.
“Is it okay?” Steff asked when I finally lowered the cup. “I mean, Leeza said…”
“It’s good,” I said. “I… I’m good.”
Ian took the cup and put it on the table, then turned and looked at me. There was a moment of hesitation, and then his arms were around me.
“Oh, baby, I’m so glad you’re okay,” Amaranth cooed, hugging me from behind, her arms encircling the both of us. Ian’s dick practically stabbed me in response.
“Ah, shit!” Steff said. “I just remembered I was supposed to have sent a healer back to Leeza’s dorm on my way here.”
“I would love to help, but I’m afraid I’m kind of tapped out in that department,” Amaranth said.
“I believe I’d be up to the task,” Dee said. “Where is this Warwick Hall located?”
“I’ll take you there,” Steff said. “No offense, but depending on the state she’s in, the whole ‘wraith chic’ look you’ve got going with that cloak might not make the best statement.”
“Thanks, Steff,” I said from within the clench.
“No problem,” she said, with a warm smile and hungry eyes. “You can pay me back any time.”
“Thank you so much, Steff,” Amaranth added, squeezing extra tight. Ian groaned. I’m not sure it was a bad groan. Something seemed to groan within me in response. I’d drank more than my fill of blood and it still felt like I wanted to fuck him, for some reason.
“Is the emergency over?” Two asked after Dee and Steff had departed.
“Yes, Twoey,” Amaranth said. “I think it is.”
“Okay,” Two said. “Because boys aren’t supposed to be in the girls’ dorm after dark.”
I laughed and just like that, my legs were gone. Ian caught me up and kept me from falling as I laughed like an idiot at what was possibly the least funny thing Two had said. He and Amaranth held me until I finished laughing, and then until I finished crying, and then until I finished shaking.
What a fucking day it had been. I just wanted to crawl into bed with… with… now, how exactly did that sentence end? It sounded so simple when Steff talked about the poly thing… well, actually, it had never sounded remotely simple. The reality still managed to seem more complex.
“Suzi said there are cookies in here?” Sooni asked from the doorway. I jumped and turned, breaking our embrace. Nobody had noticed her barefooted approach up the hall, Kai in tow… although she was worth noticing, as much as I hated to admit it.
She was wearing a purple two-piece bathing suit with barely enough material for half a piece and a swimming cap that must have been enchanted for extra capacity, the way it neatly covered her acres of hair as if they weren’t there. There were even triangular projections where it covered her ears… either swimming was a popular pastime for ridiculously long-haired Yokanese fox girls, or it had been custom made just for her.
Kai, on the other hand, was wearing a pink one-piece suit with a white ruffled skirt and pictures of ornamental gold fish painted on it. She also had ear plugs, a clip on her nose, and goggles over her eyes. The cap on her head had to be the most absurd touch, given the fur which covered her entire body. It was too much… and almost enough to draw attention away from Sooni.
Almost.
The sight of that gorgeous skin laid nearly bare, her breasts supported by a pair of crossed-over sling straps, momentarily distracted me from what we’d been doing. Then I had the opportunity to reflect on how I must have looked, standing there with my mouth all bloody…
I watched the irritation on her face turn to horror as she took in what she was seeing.
“Aiee!” she shrieked, before I had a chance to tell her that it wasn’t what she thought. “Lesbians!”
Okay, so it wasn’t what I thought, either.
With some sort of ridiculously misplaced sense of maternal instinct, she shoved Kai back and stepped in front of her, shielding the little neko’s ludicrously covered body with her own nearly naked one.
My dreaming mind had been more or less on the mark about the size of her breasts, but it was easy to underestimate the effect she could have when she arched her back and stuck out her chest.
“Yes, there are cookies,” Two said. “Would you like one?”
“What’s wrong with them?” Sooni asked, her shiny black eyes narrowing.
“They have no frosting,” Two said. “And also they have vanilla, which wasn’t in the recipe.”
“Did you put something in them?” Sooni asked.
“Yes… va-nil-la,” Two said, overpronouncing the word in case Sooni hadn’t understood her.
“Very well,” Sooni said. “You may give me one.”
I watched the confusion on Two’s face. If Sooni had ordered Two to give her a cookie, she probably would’ve done it unless she could find an equally compelling reason not to. If she had asked, Two would have insisted on politeness. “You may” wasn’t quite an order, and it sounded polite, but it really wasn’t.
“Say please,” I said. Sooni glared at me, and I wiped at my mouth self-consciously but didn’t back down.
“Excuse me, girlkisser?” she asked.
“Two, don’t let Sooni have any cookies unless she asks and says please,” I said.
“Okay,” Two said, nodding in approval.
“What are you doing?” Sooni asked.
“I just want to know if your parents bothered to buy you any manners,” I said.
Sooni rocked back, stung… actually stung by my words.
“Baby, no,” Amaranth said. “You don’t…”
“Shh,” Ian said. “Let her do this.”
“Well certainly I have manners, stupid,” she said with an airy affectation. “Miss… ah… Two, may I please have a cookie for myself and my friend?”
“You may,” Two said.
“Thank you,” Sooni said, taking two cookies and shoving them both into Kai’s hands. She whipped her head around towards me. “And don’t you dare forget tomorrow,” she said, before sweeping out of the room, followed by her retainer.
“What’s tomorrow?” Ian asked.
“I have no idea,” I said.
To reiterate. If no situation is so desperate that it cannot get worse. Then it holds, that there is no situation so ridiculous that it cannot get even more humiliating for Our Mack.
Shit! She’s going to miss Mechnights again! Noooooo!