Chapter 264: Tub Thumping
Alexandra Erin on November 11, 2014 in Volume 2 Book 8: Elven Holiday, Volume 2: Sophomore EffortIn Which Mackenzie Has Got To Hand It To Nicki
The hot tub had felt so very hot the first time we slipped into it, back at the start of the journey. Of course, I’d been newly naked at the time.
Now I was more used to it, but also heated, flushed. Maybe that was why the water only felt lukewarm. I didn’t mind, though. It wasn’t anything like the shock of slipping into cold water. Anyway, I was hot enough, and getting hotter.
The water made it easier, better. Cleaner. My hand was on Nicki’s leg, her knee, her thigh… I brushed my fingers up her inner thigh, brushing against her pussy with the back of two fingers.
It was the clumsiest kind of glancing grope, but she murmured into my mouth like she wanted to moan but didn’t want to break off our latest kiss. I felt like she really wanted more, but I wasn’t fully committed to anything yet. My hand was between her legs, but not… between her legs. I was still tip-toeing around. Tip-fingering? More meandering metaphorical digressions.
Nicki pulled back.
“Do you want me to stop?” I said, concerned.
“I want you to fuck me,” Nicki said.
There was something adorably wrong about it. Nicki swore as much as anyone our age might have, but fuck was barely an invective when tossed off casually. To hear it put to its original, sexual use by her, it wasn’t even crude, just … actually, that was part of what was weird about it. It was like being handed a box labeled “dirty filthy things” and then you opened it and there was nothing in it.
I giggled.
“What?” Nicki said. “Did I somehow manage to tickle you?”
“No,” I said. “I just… I think it would be hard to explain.”
“I guess I had to be there?” she said.
“Something like that.”
“Well, I wish to Khersis you were here, because I’m here and Mack, I am so ready for this,” she said.
“I’m… getting there,” I said. Deciding it would be a little easier if she wasn’t looking me in the face, I slid over towards her while looping an arm around her and pulling her close. The water lent a quality of weightlessness, making the whole thing a lot more fluid than it might have been. She was sort of on my lap, sort of between my legs. It probably would have a lot less comfortable out of the water.
I cupped her crotch with my hand. It was… I was very aware I wasn’t just resting my hand on her knee, or even her breast, or anything. But it was very… not exactly comfortable, but not uncomfortable as I would have thought.
I squeezed softly, and bent my index finger in a bit, so that the tip parted her lips a little as it flicked slowly upwards. She bit her lip, a soft gasp escaping anyway.
“Is this okay?” I said.
She nodded.
“It’s a start,” Grace said. A glance told me that about half of our audience had drifted away or looked elsewhere now that we were doing crotch stuff. That was okay, I wasn’t doing this for them. Grace was watching avidly. Glory was, too, though her eyes seemed to be more on my face. “Keep going!”
I had to relax and not think so much about what I was doing to really get started, but I tried to keep myself aware of what was happening. I had hooked two fingers inside of Nicki’s pussy lips and was moving them around, exploring the entrance of her vagina. It felt warm even against my skin, and was slick with more than water. I could smell her through the water, could taste her hot desire on the air.
A soft growl sounded in the back of my throat. Nicki moaned as I moved in. My fingers curled upwards, brushing the back of her inside space and finding the roof. When I hit it, so did she.
“Oh fuck!” she said.
So I did.
Thinking of Amaranth and the way she worked my ass in a spanking, I found my rhythm easily. I started slow, so slow. In, out, in, out… fingers straight on the in-stroke for as much depth as I could get at that angle… which wasn’t much… then crooking into claws on the way out to hit that sweet spot that made her buck and twist, the walls closing in around my hand like her whole body would collapse into that one spot. I sped up gradually, but even the speeding up got faster as I went.
I hadn’t even touched her clit yet. I realized I’d have to either stop what I was doing or rotate my hand to do that, but then I remembered that I had two hands. I almost laughed out loud at this “this changes everything” moment, though maybe it was also just general giddy nerves.
Finding her clitoris by feel while reaching around took more than one attempt, but it’s like they say: it’s not the journey, it’s the destination. I could feel it there, enveloped under the protective shroud of her lips. I didn’t know they could get as hard as it had. My fingers flicking across it, even on top of the hood, made her jerk. I slipped a finger down and then in, rubbing it from beneath.
There were no words in the shriek that rose from mouth, but there was a lot of feeling. I kept it up, but then she started to wrench from my grasp.
“I’m sorry… too much?” I said?
“Not enough!” she said.
She didn’t go far, just turned herself around to face me and then pulled down off the ledge I sat on so I was sitting on the next step down in the sunken pool, my head just out of the water. I reached for her, but she wasn’t waiting… she all but jumped onto my hand, holding tight tmy wrist and forearm with both of her hands.
I don’t think it would have worked without my supernatural strength, and I doubt it would have worked without the water supporting the rest of her body, but she was fucking herself on my hand, mostly suspended in the water. Three of my fingers were inside of her, the pinky not for lack of trying. My thumb was lined up with her clit and might have hit it all on its own just from her motion, but I was far from passive. Every time I touched her, she writhed.
“It’s like watching a speared fish flopping around,” someone said, but they were shushed by two near-identical voices.
I couldn’t have counted how many times she came, as it was hard to tell one full-body spasm from another under the circumstances. I knew the first time it happened, though. Her smell changed. The feeling changed, the mix of fluids changed. She just kept going… and going… and coming… until finally she let go and fell backwards into a sprawling back float that only lasted a few seconds before she slipped under.
She came up sputtering right away, but Grace and two other elves were already at her shoulders. They tried to help her, but quickly figured out it would be better to just glide her back to one of the sides, where Grace curled up against her. Nicki kind of looked like she was still riding me.
“I… guess you liked that?” I said.
“I knew you were strong,” Nicki said. “I didn’t think… ah, twitches! Fuuuuuuck!”
“Yeah… she’ll be quivering for a while,” Grace said.
“You’ve done that before?” I said.
“Not like that,” Grace said. “She just sort of has a self-sustaining pussy when she really gets going. It’s like… aftershocks. Some of them are big enough to set her off again.”
Almost on cue, Nicki bit her lip and lolled her head back.
“I didn’t know vaginal sex could do that,” I said.
“I didn’t know either!” Grace said.
“Sorry,” Nicki said. “You’re… oh… you’re… probably going… to… have to… wait… for your turn.”
“…my turn?” I said.
“Don’t you think you deserve the same treatment Nicki gets?” Glory said, sliding in next to me and putting her arm around me. “Well, maybe not the same treatment, but you did for her… don’t you want her to for you?”
“That wasn’t just for her,” I said. “I enjoyed doing it.”
“Then don’t you think she’ll enjoy doing something for you, dearling?” Glory said. “At the end of the day, an orgasm is an orgasm… oh, maybe it’s more special if it’s from someone you have an appreciation for, and there might be some novelty in the execution, but it’s like a fruit that grows on every tree. She could have had as many as she wanted sitting in her own room, alone. The one thing she can only do with you is please you. Would you deny her what you’ve enjoyed?”
“I… if she really wants to…”
“…does it have to be tonight?” Nicki said, panting. “I’m… wiped.”
“It doesn’t have to be anything,” Glory said. “If you don’t want to do it at all, it doesn’t have to happen. But if you don’t want it because you think you don’t deserve it… well, not wanting is not wanting. Whatever the reason. But if you know what the reason is and you can see for yourself that it’s sort of silly, maybe you’ll find you want it after all?”
“It’s… it’s not just about what I deserve,” I said. “Though I guess it’s all kind of wrapped up in that.”
“It’s because you have demon in you,” Glory said. “ISn’t it?”
“That’s the short version,” I said. “I was… partly raised… by a woman who didn’t think much better of women than she did demons.”
“Martha,” Glory said. “Brimstone Blaise. From what I know of her, her way of thinking was old-fashioned when she was born, and old before that.”
“You don’t have to convince me of that, I said. “I knew it was crazy when I was growing up in it, most of it. I mean, I bought the demons are evil thing because… demons are evil. But I tried not to let the rest of it change the way I look at the world, or other people.”
“Just yourself,” Glory said.
“It’s hard to hear something every day and not take it in,” I said. “Even when you’re telling yourself all the reasons you know it’s wrong. It still finds a way in. The words still find a way in.”
“I know, lovely,” Glory said. “Just think about your grandmother herself. The way she acts does not perfectly mesh with what she professes to believe, I am sure.”
“No, there’s definitely some hypocrisy there,” I said. “The same as any religious extremist, I’m sure.”
“The same as anyone, Mackenzie Blaise,” she said. “We all have the things that we value in our thoughts, and the things we value in our hearts, and the things we value down in the base of our spines. They are rarely the same things. We all soak up poisonous ideas, and even if they go against everything we believe and know to be true, they’re still there. The hardest thing about breaking away from Treehome wasn’t even the intrigue. It was separating myself mentally from the things I’d absorbed. I’m not even sure how successful I’ve been.”
“Do you think everything’s okay back at Oberrad House?” I said.
“Im sure it is,” she said. “We just spoke to them. not too long ago. Anyway, I doubt anyone would make a move now, not when it would be as easy for me to come back as it is to go ahead. No, if there’s going to be any action, it’s going to happen after we’re on the cruise.”
“That’s… a really good idea,” Nicki said, her voice slurring and her head dropping.
“Oh, shit,” Grace said. “Could somebody help me get her to a couch, or bed? I think Nicki’s done hot tubbing for tonight.”
“That’s a really good idea,” Glory said. “Mackenzie, help my sister with her girlfriend, and then we’ll curl up by the fire until it’s time to get dressed.”
I really want Mack to do something at her own pace and not have someone cut in and move things along.
If it were anyone else I’d agree, but in Mackenzie’s case I’d say she needs to be shoved into everything until she gains her own momentum.
Not to put too fine a point on it, but Mack is one of the brattiest, most childish characters in the story and while she’s gotten better she’s still pretty bratty and childish. I mean she may have beat Acantha but the elves consider her to be the same so it’s a moot point.
And I don’t see that changing untill she gets use to doing things like this under her own initiative. With Mack so prone to over analyzing things she needs to do things at her own pace before she can increase that pace and expand her comfort zone.
I’d say a vacation is a bad place to start, mainly because there’s only so much Mackenzie can do with baby steps at this point. Her whole life has been baby steps. Her biggest gains and most impressive use of brainpower were in the labyrinth, when she was thrown in the deep end alone. I think she’s pass due for another dip in the deep end.
Mack’s own pace would mean she’d never, ever do anything.
Or it would at the very least take 10 chapters of internal monolog for her to get to it.
Brings “contemplating ones navel” to a whole different meaning.
In the case of Mackenzie, though, … that is not a navel she is gazing. Even if it superficially resembles a depression in the skin.
The speared fish comment makes me wonder why has Mack never learned how to throw a fireball at a target. Nothing says STFU like second degree burns.
Given her clumsiness and general lack of spatial comprehension, I don’t think that would end well. She needs to learn to live in her own skin a bit better first, anyway.
She did. . . Well it wasn’t a ball of fire, but it was a directed flame hitting a target.
Which is probably more effective, honestly. A fireball can be replaced by one alchemical flask, but any flamethrower is realistically run out in thirty seconds or less. With Mackenzie’s power reserves and skill she can probably keep the fire going for much longer.
Sustained flame isn’t the important thing though, it’s heat. Blasting something with fire that isn’t all that hot isn’t very effective – but a short burst of truly intense heat will catch the target on fire, which is going to cause much more damage.
I think this was mentioned in the story at one point, catching a person on fire isn’t really easy. Clothing sure, but burns from that aren’t a big deal (especially with MU level health care) – if she wanted to use fire as a direct weapon neither the lance of flame or a ball of fire is the way to go. Better would be to invoke fire form the target directly. It’s probably not easy, but the effort would pay off.
It depends on the enemy though. A human enemy is best off with a concentrated blast of heat but then you deal with ghouls and other “construct” type enemies where you just need to have a damage threshold crossed before it lies down, and weak points aren’t a viable tactic. At that point you’re probably best off blasting as much as possible. Unless of course you’re like Dan who can snap through enchanted steel in one hit and just bisect them.
But as for invoking heat directly, given the complexity and range associated that’s not much payoff for a whole lot of effort. Remember a humanoid body is a complex thing full of systems, all of which are squishy and wet. Mackenzie can only really do magic on stuff that’s either touch range or approaching such in addition to that.
One way or another, fire as a weapon is pretty terrible against most opponents. Unless it’s hot enough to melt weapons, you’re probably better off stabbing them. Or, use a form of magic that does more direct damage.
Of course “hot enough to melt weapons” is literally Mackenzie’s description of what properly wielded demon fire does, and in demonstration by people who aren’t her it’s more or less exactly what it does pretty consistently(if we presume enchanted steel locks and defenses are roughly equal in strength, since that’s something Dan, Brutus, and Cassius have all managed, and they’re not even full demons).
If she were a regular human then it wouldn’t really be viable, but in this case it’d barely put her up to par with the others.
Myself, I metaphor that Mackenzie is like a large boulder. Firmly embedded into the side of a mountain.
Slowly, excruciatingly slowly at first, erosion is removing the underlying soil holding it in place.
The boulder starts to slip, then hang with deceptive calm. Then suddenly shift and then stop and hold in place.
To suddenly lurch forward and downward in a building avalanche that brings down the entire mountainside with it.
A thunderous geological ravaging with unpredictable consequences to all caught before it.
‘thunderous geological ravaging’ – sounds like divine sex
Mack can render a girl catatonic with one of her hands… damn.
Amazing how everyone is so willing to talk and discuss about Mackenzie’s insecurity issues and she never talks about any of other people’s problems.
Her obliviousness to the world around her isn’t exactly a stunning personality trait.
True, but what is stunning is how everyone else is not when the subject is her.
I disagree with that assessment. She doesn’t always discuss other people’s problems at length, but she does at times. More often, though, she ACTS when she sees a problem, in an attempt to solve it.
*Getting TWO to eat.
*Asking TWO to move in with her, when TWO is sorrowful and Dee can’t sleep.
*Getting Nicki to hang out.
*Figuring out Twyla’s fire.
*Mostly backfiring, but she’s been trying to find ways to help Steff see that she’s actually good enough, at anything.
*Utterly impossible to solve, but she felt for and wanted to help the nekos.
*Ego boosting Ian, a LOT. (Backfiring sometimes but not always)
*She did it out of necessity, but she identified Emily’s loneliness.
Those are just the ones I can think of on the fly when I should be asleep. She’s oblivious to her surroundings, but not to people.
Eh, I’m going to dispute most of those.
Ian and Steff don’t need kind words, they need someone to help them get their asses in gear(someone who can’t graduate on time and someone else pulling shit grades in no major are very quantifiably not good enough and not deserving of egos).
Bohd did all of the actual work with Twyla’s fire and Mackenzie basically just talked about it while neither of them were around. Even in that context Amaranth did all of the actual reading, and Mackenzie basically just took messages and books from points A to B.
She never actually cared all that much for the Neko’s, and only talked to them basically when forced to. She was so obsessed with wanting to fuck Sooni that they kind of took a backseat.
She identified Emily’s loneliness, but they still aren’t friends and still haven’t communicated beyond that one time. Mackenzie got what she wanted then promptly abandoned her.
We don’t KNOW how much she’s talked to Emily. The writing style has changed. We no longer get informed every time someone gets a cup of coffee. We can no longer assume that what we haven’t heard didn’t happen. I would think it would be reasonable that the coolest thing she’s ever made would get used more than once, and to do more than get in the door.
My point is not how successful Mackenzie is with other people’s problems, the point is that she is aware of them and TRIES to help. How successful are most nineteen year old sheltered fundamentalists at dealing with other people?
And her dislike of the nekos was plain, but you can dislike someone and still see that they’re in an awful situation. She was actively looking for a solution until Amaranth nudged her away from it. Another example- the harpy being left to fall in skirmish when feather charms are a thing. Mackenzie thought of that, and only didn’t bring it up because (Scilla?) was actively an asshole, and the right moment passed.
So anyway, Mack cares. I wouldn’t call her oblivious, and I don’t think it’s fair to imply that she does less regarding other people’s problems than they do for her.
I get knocked down but
I get up again and you’ll
Never get me down
Dammit, Zathras…just…dammit.