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World of Darkness: The Academy - Chapter 10: Heart to HeartStone


Dawn OOC

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Frida considered it for a moment long moment, looking thoughtful, as she went through a mental list of preservation methods in her mind and ticked them off as unlikely options. Finally, held out her hand for the pad, and began pulling the pictures out gently when they handed it to her.

"The sketchbook paper is acid-free, which will help reduce the amount of yellowing over time. I lack a proper sealant, but it is possible one of the other girls from Dalton brought hair spray. It will help prevent the drawings from smudging, though it may cause some yellowing itself. However, it is probably our best alternative. Have your people developed the art of glass-making?"

The one-eyed elder nodded, her eyes fixed on Frida's actions intently.

"Yes.. though it is quite rare. There is very little here at Heartstone, and that we do possess has been crafted into the shape of ritual items that I shall not speak of to a non-Chideran."

"Of course, I understand. Would you be able to obtain some? You will need two panes of glass for each picture, each a bit larger than the paper itself. Then you will take wood and form it into strips, here.. like this."

She pulled out her pencil from where it was tucked into her backpack, and quickly sketched out a blueprint of a picture frame, including the groove that would hold the glass in place.

"In my world, we would glue this, or perhaps staple it. You shall have to find a way to bind the wood together at the corners - whether by some sort of adhesive, or perhaps by simply tying it together. The tighter you can seal it, the better. The less the picture is exposed to air, the longer it will last."

The three-fingered Elder took the drawing, examining it carefully for several moments before nodding.

"Yes.. I think our craftsmen should be able to make this, if we can acquire the glass. Our sisters of Seahold may be able to provide it, though it will take time."

"Then you'll want to store it somewhere with a stable temperature and low humidity." She paused at the woman's confused expression, and shook her head slightly, looking abashed. "I'm sorry - where it fluctuates the least amount between hot and cold, and where the air is the least damp. Perhaps a box of some sort, until you get the glass to make the frame."

She pulled out the last drawing, and handed them to the elders carefully, affording them (if possible) more respect than she would a normal drawing, making sure not to bend or smudge them. They took them from her carefully, and sat them down on the table.

"Elders, do you - is there anything you can tell me in exchange? About this.. ability? Why I have it, or how to control it?"

The old women exchanged looks, and as they spoke, Frida had to struggle to suppress the frustration on her face, and ignore the leaden feeling of disappointment that settled into her stomach.

"I am sorry, Daltonite - but we know very little of the ghost-touched."

The least-scarred of the three placed her hand firmly on Frida's shoulder, squeezing it with a strength that was surprising in an old woman, and caught Frida's gaze with a rare look of sympathy.

"We will ask around, Frida of Dalton. I am sorry for our lack of knowledge. If there are any of my sisters or daughters here at Heartstone that have heard of your gift, we will find out for you, and tell you of it before your departure."

Frida nodded, forcing a bit of a smile for politeness' sake, and the old woman clasped her forearm with the grip of a former warrior. Frida returned the gesture uncertainly, but nodded again a bit more firmly.

"Thank you. If you will excuse me, I will go ask amongst the other visitors of Dalton, see if one of the other girls has any hairspray. That will help to preserve the drawings for a time, until they can be properly framed."

______________________________

She spent several minutes searching Heartstone for her fellow "Daltonites". Though it seemed unlikely, she kept an open mind, but encounters were slim. She caught Ryan jumping between houses - leave it to Frida to be one of the few people who looked up, but a weird look and a "You kidding?" was the only response she got from him before he moved on. She couldn't find Mari or Renata to ask, though neither girl necessarily struck Frida as the hairspray type. She ran into Autumn, who - once she found out what Frida needed it for - apologetically denied having brought any. Sean had disappeared, off to his initiation or whatever. But eventually she stumbled on a couple Chiderans, who informed her that some of her people had gone to seek out the bath house. After obtaining directions from them, she made her way there, hoping to encounter Lucia or Rosa.. Lucia was always so well-manicured, Frida was holding out hope that she might possess something that the young artist could use.

She made her way to the bathhouse, and stepped inside with a soft sigh. It was warm - so warm, and the air was thick with moisture. She was glad she had left the drawings with the Elders. She could hear the low murmur of voices, reminding her of a Japanese women's bathhouse she had visited once with her mother on vacation. She stepped quietly forward, towards the voices, making out figures through the steamy haze.. and then froze.

"Oh good, Lucia, I-- Ravi."

Her gaze took in the scene, even in the second or two before they registered they were no longer alone, or who had joined them. How the two of them were gazing at each other, the way he held her hand with his, and rested the other on her shoulder. To Lucia it was, perhaps, a bit embarrassing - getting caught in a moment that looked more intimate than it had been. But Ravi could see the emotion flicker, ever so subtly, across Frida's hauntingly pretty face. From any other woman, he would have expected fury, anger, jealousy. He knew he shouldn't be getting that from Frida.. she had, after all, offered to be his lover, even as he was seeing Mari. So why did she look so hurt, and confus--

Oh, dammit.. I turned her down in order to be faithful to Mari.. and here I am with Lucia. Naked, in a bath. God, what this must look like.

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"Frida." Ravi smiled over at her, his manner as relaxed as if he'd been sitting taking tea rather than naked and up to his chest in hot water next to an equally naked girl. He felt the cold, firm grip of Lucia's shadowy darkness as a tendril plucked his hand from her shoulder, and glanced at the blushing class president as she moved away from him, his own expression amiably quizzical before returning to Frida. He smiled slightly, shaking his head. "Regardless of appearances, we were simply talking. Lucia is having the same trouble adjusting to all this strangeness as most of us, and I was giving her my perspective."

"Naked in a bath?" Frida asked with a faintly taut smile. Ravi grinned back, shaking his head again.

"The result of a mistake on her part and mischief on mine, and nothing more." he said sincerely. "However, seeing as this can easily be taken the wrong way, and to avoid further red faces, I'll get out." Before either girl could process that, the lithely-muscled young man rose up and stepped smoothly out of the pool, water flowing over his smooth skin in ways that seemed positively indecent, and both Frida and Lucia felt that the steam-clouded room had gotten a little hotter. Lucia glanced away swiftly, but Frida's gaze lingered for a moment on the smooth lines of his body as Ravi bent down to scoop up his towel. The gleaming green eyes flicked her way, and as he straightened Ravi gave Frida a smile that was one part deviltry and one part warmth, with two-parts knee-melting seduction added for good measure, before he sauntered to the next alcove in line and dropped with a faint splash into the dark, warm water there.

"So," Ravi sighed as he relaxed once more. "How were the Elders, Frida?" he asked with curiousity alight in his gaze.

Fear mah smexiness! ;)

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Becor wasn’t with him anymore. Ryan had left him behind at the red path; the man had just stopped and left him to continue. The spire was still far away when Ryan stopped. For a moment, he wasn’t sure why he had stopped; then he realized it was because his legs weren’t moving. He felt suddenly hot and feverish, as if he were sick.

And then he heard the voices, harsh and female. They made no sense to him, whispers that echoed in his mind. But his Ryan-dar was telling him that there was no one else there. The fire in him was building, and Ryan staggered as it burned painfully in him. He wasn’t sure what was happening, but it was not something particularly good.

Then the voices changed; they were male and female. He caught only a few of the words, here and there; they spoke like Becor, telling him about space and Doors and making things from nothing. They made about as much sense as Becor, too.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

The party revved up with startling speed. Sean quickly figured out the revelry in the bar, which had been very raucous, was nothing compared to a true Chideran party. Food was heaped on the table; barrels were rolled out of the back of the lodge. Drums, flutes and some kind of stringed guitar-like instrument were brought out and played; women began to sing and dance, their feet stomping in a tribal rhythm. The noise levels rose to insane; talking was possible only when shouted.

Swan and Sean hung back a moment; then Savannah grabbed his hands and pulled Sean into the dance. He caught glimpses of Swan, watching him, through the milling dancers. On his next circuit, he reached out and caught her, drawing her into the revelry. The food flowed, the drink disappeared down pretty throats and the music played on. Then music slowed and one of the Midnight Ices caught him by the arm. “May your fires Quicken,” she whispered in his ear. One by one his relatives repeated that, catching him to whisper well-wishes or advice in his ear.

Then Swan was there, and she rose on her tiptoes to, he thought, whisper in his ear. Instead, she kissed him, her lips soft and supple against his. Cheers and hoots rose along with catcalls and gentle jibes.

The rest of you don’t need me to mess with you – you’re doing just fine on your own.

Ray – just as a note, Lianja doesn’t cuddle after. ;)

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"Ah!" he yelled in shock and surprise. Ryan clamped his hands over his mouth, his eyes wide as the sudden intense burning suffused his body. "Hot, hot hot hot hothothot...." He felt like he was going to burst into flames and some unlucky Cimmerian would find a plie of ash and two sneakers the next time she did roof maintenance. He turned to go back, but moving was like trying to run through water, boiling hot water. "hothothothothothothot ... owowowowowow ..."

When the voices started he nearly lost his balance and went tumbling off the roof. The bright side of moving so slowly was that he didn't go tumbling to his death or crippling on the stone streets below. The voices were far away and close, loud and quiet, maddeningly indistinct and intensely clear, like a haze that fogged his senses and yet made them sharper. Make the void around yourself. Unmake the void. Move what is away and bring it close. The void ... The void ... The void ... The void ... The void ... The void is everything and nothing. Ryan's head swam in a dizzying haze, he wasn't sure what was happening but he understood it implicitly. Darkness enveloped him, but it was a darkness full of light. "Makes ... no ... sense..." He tottered along the crest of a tiled roof, the baked clay tiles threatening at every step to send him to the ground, but it seemed as wide as a street.

He wasn't moving fast enough. He was barely moving at all. He realized that he had yet to even turn around fully. His mind was racing but his body was like a numb limb, it refused to respond and offered only the agony of pins and needles. And fire. The voices called to him, yelled at him, taunted him, tutored him. Ryan reached out to the stuff of reality and shoved it away from him with a feral cry of pain and frustration and rage and joy.

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Hey eyes followed his body with a gaze that was half-professional, and three-fourths lust. Most guys would have been half-and-half, but there was an extra fourth of a gaze reserved for creatures as stunningly perfect as Ravi Fitzcoventry. She did her best to suppress a little wistful sigh as he disappeared in the other pool, trying not to picture herself slipping in there with him, running her hands over his -

Stop it this moment.

Her cheeks colored a little at his knowing gaze, and she cleared her throat slightly and she unfastened the cloak - even aside from Ravi's sensual influence, the steam of the room was far too warm for the heavy layering of their travels.

"It was fine, I suppose. Not terribly productive on my part. I gave them the pictures I drew - the ones of their fallen. It was the least I could do, considering their assistance in getting us this far, and the meaning the drawings held for them. They could have just left us back at Doorhold, after all, and brought Sean to this place. But they say they know little of anyone with my... abilities. They will ask, but they could make no promises."

"So your business with them is finished?"

"Well, not precisely. I actually came looking for you, Lucia..."

She turned her attention to the other young woman, perhaps the only one there with a gift as dark and mysterious as her own. There was something about shadows and spirits that went together, and it made Frida, at least, less intimidated by Lucia's emerging darkness as some of the other students might be.

"I was hoping perhaps you might have some hairspray."

Lucia arched a brow at Frida, more surprised by the requestor than by the request itself. If anyone were going to be concerned about the state of their hair, the ever-distracted Frida seemed least likely of them all, save perhaps Renata, or Sean, their newly-minted female Chideran.

"Hairspray?"

"Yes, I taught the elders how to make a picture frame, but they will have to send from far away for the glass, and in the meantime a bit of hairspray can help protect the drawings from smuggling, you see. It's not ideal, but it will be better than nothing. I never considered the possibility that I would need a fixative during our travels, or I would have brought one."

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Lucia didn't miss the look Frida gave Ravi, but lacking the history she didn't know it for anything other than just a moment of eye candy. Lucia nodded, "Not me, actually. Rosa brought some, though. We tried to go camping once.....we couldn't start a fire without running back into town for lighter fluid. She figured hairspray might work in a pinch."

She gave her quick directions to to the hut Lucia's miniature entourage was currently sleeping in. "Just tell her what you need it for if she wakes up, but I doubt she will."

She slipped a little farther into the water, debating in she should just get out now and walk back with Frida. The contest between steaming water and the snowy, bone-chilling walk waiting for her, water won without much of a fight. "It'll be in the saddle-bags with the rest of the toiletries and the power bars."

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One of the pretty throats the drink disappeared down was his own. Whether it was the alcohol or the fact that not only righteous rage rode just below the surface of a Chideran, but all their passions - which he was just beginning to find out, completely thrown by his mother's previously cold demeanor - Sean found himself kissing Swan back just as ardently, tongues dancing, one hand on her firm ass, the other at the nape of her neck, not caring what he was now, what Swan once was, or who was watching or what they were saying.

Well... not much. He was also finding out that women - Chiderans at least, but he suspected it was a multiversal rule - would speak about anything. The jokes and anecdotes his kin had shared during the party were as crude and raucous as anything he had heard in the locker room, many rougher - this was harder world than his own in many ways. And modesty among a people that were all women and didn't feel the cold as most others did was also a different thing. The comments and suggestions put forth as he kissed Swan made him blush faintly even as dwelling in the moment made them sound intriguing.

The party was a like a family gathering from a time he could barely remember, certainly before Vena and Dean got divorced, and more so. There had always been a distance between him and his mother and older sister, and the distance between him and Cassandra had been growing ever since the divorce. And though his father always swore to be there, there had been more than a few broken promises, events important to Sean that he hadn't shown up to, though he always had a good excuse, so Sean told himself. But he had never had an extended family.

Now it seemed, he did. They were loud, opinionated, judgmental - there was at least one argument that was decided by roughhousing - and his, or maybe it was more accurate to say he was theirs. Their well-wishes and advice for his quickening, all heart-felt and honest, actually had him considering he might have gained more than he had lost, walking through the door. The girl in his arms seemed to think so, and was making a good case for it.

"Wow..." Sean gasped as the kiss was ended.

Swan settled back onto her heels, leaning against Sean and looking up at him with a playful smirk on her lips. "Mmm, and I was going to suggest something.... more." She arched a dark brow over a solid, obsidian eye and nodded suggestively towards the door to the room Sean had been given. "But if just a kiss is stealing all your breath..."

Sean growled and picked Swan up by the waist with ease, who hooked her thighs over his flaring hips. He knew she was teasing, but it still sounded like she was saying he wasn't man enough to treat her right. "I'll show you I've plenty a' breath left t'last the night and then some, Swan," Sean promised. He glanced over shoulder at the rest of his 'family'. "It was nice to meet you all - and somethin' I've never expected, but if you'll excuse me..."

"Make the Caramine squeal, sister," one Midnight Ice roared cheerfully, and that was one of the less explicit suggestions offered. Even Vena had an amused smile on her lips and Savannah was torn between being shocked and supportive. For once, Sean caught Swan blushing, though he would have enjoyed the turnaround if he hadn't known his face was just as red.

Still, it didn't stop him from heading into his room with Swan in his arms and a fierce and eager grin on his face. "Oh, I plan to."

But after he had tossed Swan onto the fur-covered bed and straddled her chuckling form, he hesitated. He was incredibly aroused - again, that seething Chideran passion he assumed, but it felt really different. Instead of one central focal point, there was a... warm moistness, and a glance down showed two mini-erections poking stiffly through his thin shirt.

Modesty was different among a people comprised solely of women who barely felt the cold - several had unlaced their tops all the way, and a pair had gone completely topless. He had stripped down to his original shirt to try on some Chideran clothing he had been offered after the Midnight Ices had learned he only had his ill-fitting clothing and the leather armor with its undergarments.

It wasn't that he was shy. Sean had had a girl-friend back in Whistler for a year, and they had been each other's firsts, and he had been with two girls since coming to Dalton. No, the main thing was, beyond making out a bit, at the moment, Sean felt like he was missing one very important piece of anatomy to continue with their amorous activities and he wasn't sure how to proceed.

"Swan, I, I'm not sure - I don't-"

"Shhh, Sean," Swan said, leaning up and stilling his protests with a pair of fingers across his lips, realizing why Sean was hesitating. She would cure him of that. "What is between a man and a woman, that is merely duty." Her lips spread into a wicked grin. "What there is between a woman and a woman, that is pure delight and pleasure. I will show you."

And with strong swordwoman's hands, she proceeded to do just that, sensually stripping him of his clothes, then herself. She started a great deal like she had when giving him a message, but her mouth and tongue got involved, and as she moved lower and lower, Sean's hand gripped the mattress tighter and tighter, his breath coming in sexually charged pants under Swan's more experienced touch.

There did end up being some exuberant squealing involved - Sean found out he was a screamer. At another time, he might have died of terminal embarrassment, but there was no place for that when he was wracked with pleasure from Swan showing him the joys that could be had as a woman. And while he didn't have as much experience as Swan in the Sapphic arts, nor Ravi with women in general, he was able to return the favour - if he didn't manage to get as much volume out of Swan as she had him, it was only because she too breathless to manage it.

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Ryan was struggling with the overwhelming pain and fire inside his body. He was only dimly aware when he was grabbed and picked up by strong feminine arms. He wasn’t really cognizant of being carried off of the roof and down into other waiting arms. Sadly, he missed being put in some very interesting positions in relation to Chideran women carrying him.

Sylvia hadn’t had a chance to settle before there was a knock at her door. “You are called Sylvia?” the Chideran woman asked. The Emerald Fire’s green eyes were intense as she stared at Sylvia. Even with the darling freckles dotting her face, the woman appeared to be anything but cute.

“I am,” the teacher replied, worry knotting her gut.

“Your Daltonite named Ryan is hurt.” The Emerald Fire’s remark was said without cushioning or hesitation. “He is being cared for but he crossed the Line of Stone, and he may die. Do you want to see him?”

Ahvia and Rosa are resting

Mari and Renata are heading toward the bathhouse

Sean is getting laid, as is Ray

Ryan and Sylvia are in the post

Frida, Lucia and Ravi are in the bathhouse

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Sylvia's eyes flared wide, as did her nostrils. An angry growl came unbidden from somewhere deep within, and she grabbed the Chideran by the arm.

You brought him here.

"Take me to him, now!" the teacher all but shouted, and was quickly led away from her temporary lodging.

You allowed this to happen.

The two marched at a brisk pace - though not brisk enough for Sylvia's comfort - through the ancient town, as the darkness built within her heart.

This is your fault.

A battle between the animal within and the woman who barely contained it was being fought by the time they reached their goal.

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Ryan was more out of it than usual. He was pretty certain he was hallucinating since there world was zipping by at super speed while hot women came and went and all he could do was slog through a thick soup of nothingness, or maybe somethingness, that seemed to slow him right past a crawl and into the comical slo-mo before a gag. He tried to pluck at things that passed him by but he always missed, his spatial senses were haywire, and he realized now how quickly he'd become accustomed to them. Knowing what was around him, even behind him, it's exactly location and movement relative to him, it had once seemed so foreign and frightening, and now he felt like he was going blind. Things that were there weren't, others seemed far away, impossibly so, or so close as to be on top of him. Becor was there, talking to him, or trying; one moment he was yelling from a mile off, and another he was whispering into Ryan's ear, and then they reversed and he was yelling in his face or silently speaking from afar.

The alien, Ryan couldn't even recall what Becor had called his species, even memories seemed far away,

his synapses felt like they were light years wide,

his brain

was

so

slow ...

Andthenitwasn't,andhissynapseshadnodistanceatall.Perfectrecallwashisforthepurestfractionofasecondandheremembered...

“I am a Walker.”

“The Walkers have chosen no sides in the wars that have sprung up. We have no interest in the conflicts of others.”

“If you can see without seeing, if you can sense where Here becomes There… The walkers track such things and thus far, we are the only ones who can do these things. Can you move There to Here?”

“You can feel where Here becomes There with the Door, but not how to connect There to Here?”

"Ho-lee she-ite!" Ryan said as he realized what he'd been missing all this time. The surly lesbian amazons were back, and Sylvia was there. She was saying somethings, but he couldn't hear her she was so far away. He remembered, even if only for a moment, and it was enough to provide clarity.

He reached out to touch nothing and found it behind everything.

He gathered it around him.

And he vanished.

The roof was cold. And slippery. Ryan sat up and looked around. He knew that below him his teacher and the Cimmereans were gaping in astonishment at the table he had so recently occupied and even more recently vacated. He started to laugh, and then he fell off the roof.

The flagstones were rushing at him when he vanished again with nought but a pop of air, and reappeared inside the building with the same and crashed into the table. "Ow."

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The Emerald Fire’s eyes were wide as she stared at Ryan. His first thought was that she was cute but the hard look on her face was anything but cute. Instead, her expression was set in hard lines as she offered him a hand. “You live,” she remarked, sounding something between disgruntled and surprised. “The Daltonites are truly the strongest of the strong. I will not forget.” There was something grave in her statement that gave it more meaning than normal.

“How do you feel?” The green eyes that were focused on him were somber. “Do you need something?”

Ahvia and Rosa are resting

Mari and Renata are heading toward the bathhouse

Sean is getting laid, as is Ray

Ryan and Sylvia are in the post

Frida, Lucia and Ravi are in the bathhouse

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Renata trotted ahead of Mari a few paces as they went into the bath-house. It wasn't that she was eager...well, not ENTIRELY...she just wanted to scope it out. Would there be several tubs or (gulp) just one? Were there a LOT of naked hot amazons who were all into girls, or would they have (gulp) privacy?

So into the awkward scene popped an unusually bright-eyed, bushy-tailed Renata...who visibly wilted on seeing the baths full of people from Dalton.

"Oh come on," she muttered. "Really?" Then she spied Ravi and paused, flabbergasted. "Jesus, Ravi what the hell are you doing here?! These are the girl's baths!"

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There weren't many things that could really shock Sylvia after the past several days. As it turned out, watching Ryan disappear, only to come crashing back as though he'd fallen through a rip in space/time, was one of them. Only after a moment did she realize that she'd reflexively extended some rather wicked claws without bothering to shift the rest of her form; a bit of focused effort, and the feline intrusion on her human form was once more gone... or at least hidden beneath the surface.

"Ryan," she tried, somewhat pleasantly surprised to have words come out of her mouth instead of a growl or roar, "where exactly did you go, just now? When you vanished from here?"

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Ryan twisted over onto his back and sat up. "Popped up to tha roof fer some air," he replied rather casually, as though it were the most normal thing. He looked around, the room was small and close, it felt crowded even with the few people within. He eyed the Chiderean woman's hand, but said nothing, as he swung his gaze around to Sylvia. Seeing the claws he scooted back on the table, already grabbing at the fabric of what is and what isn't before he even realized it. I am human damnit! He, didn't need to turn his head to see Becor standing in a corner, unobtrusively waiting for the others to go, silent and invisible like some kind of imaginary friend. What if I'm crazy? The thought startled him, he had no real way of confirming the truth without risking something. On the one hand proving Becor and Joram were figments of his mind was not really good for his mental health; on the other exposing them to the others meant that Becor would likely leave and stop teaching him. Damned if you do, damned if you don't.

His vacant stare was something Ms. Dorn had seen before; Ryan had worn it for an entire quarter of class, though somehow his grades had managed to stay in a cloudy region centered on a "C". He looked healthy, for Ryan anyway, the boy looked like he needed to eat an extra meal a day for a year, but then what was healthy now? Of all the students Ryan seemed the least changed in some ways, and the idea that he had been playacting prior to this wasn't a foreign one. He blinked, "Umm, can I go?"

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Lucia glanced up at Renata and gave her a look. "This is a Chideran bathhouse. They only have girls. These are the only baths." She motioned to the pools farthest away from the offending male. "Try over there. If you've got extra towels you could just wear one in, I suppose."

She frowned at her hand, which was noticeably starting to prune. Dammit, I don't want to get out. It's warm here. I haven't been really warm since we got to this frozen Amazonia.

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Laying on the furs on his back, one hand behind his neck, Swan curled up under his other arm, Sean panted, still shuddering pleasantly in the afterglow. He watched his breasts rise and fall with each trembling breath, still full and proud despite his supine position, one of Swan's strong, calloused fingers circling a stiff, pink tip.

Now, he wants you do know, he missed his dick. A lot. Ever since he walked through the Door, and never more so than now, spending the night in bed, with a girl, alien or no. Its lack was obvious, to him at any rate, almost painful, with the need to use it. And yet, it had felt so good, he couldn't bring himself to begrudge spending a night - this night at least - without it.

Girls have it fuckin' good... It had been different, certainly. No central focal point with one intense release. No, it had been an encompassing wave, which broke again and again and again. One you're used to it one way, when you experience it in another, it makes it feel that much more potent... or maybe it simple was.

He'd caught some talk shows on TV and the radio talking about sex. He'd heard stuff about girls and orgasms, or lack thereof. He wasn't sure what their problem was. He didn't know if it was a Chideran thing or just him, but Swan had been able to make him orgasm just by using her fingers and tongue on his tits. And when she had gone down on him... He blushed just thinking about it - he had been... vocal... And wanted her to do it again... Fuck it! If likin' it makes me a chick, then I'm a chick. For now...

He turned on his side, brushing inky, disheveled hair from Swan's face and kissed her, long and deep, feeling more than hearing the pleasant moan working up her throat. Deftly, Sean rolled her onto her back and straddled her, his kisses trailing down her neck, across her pert breasts, then lower...

If nothing else - and there had been far more than just nothing - this experience had really taught him some tricks to please the girls; he could say that from first-hand experience.

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Renata's cheeks reddened and she looked around to the indicated pools largely as an excuse to break eye contact.

The 'towels' were just fluffy fur things too...probably crawling with fleas or ticks or whatnot. Right? Maybe this hadn't been such a good idea after all.

"Yeah...towels...you know, I can just come back..."

Mari came in at that point and her cautiously curious expression brightened to one of welcome. "Hey, everyone's here!" She waved...faltering only for an instant on seeing Ravi and even that little hitch was more from surprise than embarrassment. She bit her bottom lip uncertainly and looked around.

"Is there a dressing room or...?" she asked.

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"No dressing room at all." Ravi murmured - no, purred - the positively wicked gleam in his eyes making an utter liar out of his nonchalant shrug. "It seems the Chiderans don't have the same taboos as are common in 80% of Earth's societies. They have some taboos of their own, of course, but that's to be expected." He grinned his gleaming white grin at the girls, the feline slits of his iridiscent eyes above the smile bringing to mind Carroll's Cheshire Cat... if the Cheshire Cat was capable of causing sexual harassment simply by lounging insouciantly in a steaming hot bath, that is.

"I actually think it's a good idea, a communal bathing room. Separate baths, but people can chat back and forth... if they don't feel like sharing a bath. However, I don't wish my presence to cause discomfort." he added with a chivalrous air. "If the ladies wish to bathe privately, I can leave." He made as if to rise, causing Mari to grab a towel and hurry over to him, which in turn caused a combination of relief and disappointment from the other ladies present.

"Here, cover up." she told him with a smile, her tone somewhere between scolding and laughing at his antics.

"Thank you." he grinned, giving the blushing freshman a kiss on the cheek as he wrapped the fur around his waist - which didn't help much from the eye-candy perspective, but at least some decency was preserved. "I was going to shift, but wet fur would have been uncomfortable." He walked across to the towels and grabbed another, drying himself as best he could before glancing over one shoulder at the others.

"No peeking." he said suggestively - or was he simply being humorous? It was hard to tell - Ravi's every movement, every quirk of his lips or narrowing of his gleaming eyes, even the way stray beads of moisture rolled over his skin, made a simple exchange with him feel as though he was inviting one into his bed. It didn't even seem calculated or deliberate most of the time - it was simply his nature. The girls averted their eyes, hearing the whisper of cloth and buckskin as he dressed quickly.

"All done." he announced after a minute or two. "You all enjoy your bath." He gave them a dazzling smile and a bow, then headed lazily for the door.

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Frida watched Ravi leave, and in Mari's presence she managed to keep her expression neutral, though her dark gaze was as intense as always. It was only after he left that she turned back to the others briefly.

"I must see to the drawings I left with the Elders first. Thank you Lucia, I will seek out your rooms, and do my best not to wake Rosa."

And without any further comment, she excused herself from the bath house, in order to finish her business with the Elders. There would be time to return for a bath - perhaps later, when she could be alone, and fantasize about Ravi's -

STOP IT, already.

- and relax in private.

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A predatory pair of eyes followed the slender figure of Frida as she left the bathhouse and turned to head towards the lodgings, their owner surefootedly padding silently along the edge of the building's roof above the girl's head. The beast felt the keen anticipation of the stalk, the thrill of being so close to another living creature without their knowledge. He made little more than a whisper of noise as he dropped down a few feet behind the artist.

She felt a presence behind her in that indefinable way, the prickling of hair on her neck, the sense of electricity one experiences from the nearness of someone - or something - in the dark. She stopped and turned, heart quickening slightly with the thrill of the unknown - then quickening further as she saw Ravi standing behind her.

"I was thinking that a gentleman would offer to escort a lady, should they find themselves going the same way." The werepanther said smoothly, his eyes gleaming as they caught distant torchlight. His lips curled in a devilish smile. "So I wondered: are you going my way?"

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The corner of the young woman's lips turned up in a faint smile, and she tilted her head slightly as she gazed at him.

"Well, I suppose that depends on which way is your way. I am heading towards the rooms offered to us by our hosts. First I plan to stop by the room Rosa and Lucia were assigned to, in order to borrow the hairspray Lucia mentioned. Then I suppose I'm heading back to the room they assigned me. It seems late to disturb the Elders again, for something I can do tomorrow during daylight hours."

"And with whom has Sylvia graced with the pleasure of your company during our stay here in the heart of the Amazons?"

"Well, she assigned me a room with Ahvia, but she advised me that since we were not well acquainted, she preferred to share accommodations with Lucia and Rosa. I told her that would probably be best, since I tend to keep late nights."

"I see. And what do you plan to do with the rest of your evening then, all by yourself in your accommodations?"

"Well..."

They had fallen into step together as they spoke, heading towards the lodge that had been provided to them. But she hesitated a moment before responding, and in the interim, the only sounds that filled the air were their muffled footfalls on the damp, snow-melted path, and the distant sounds of Chideran revelry.

"I'm not sure, actually. I hesitate to draw, now.. it seems that in this land of women warriors, the only thing that speaks to me, as I touch pencil to paper, is the spirits of the dead. And not only do I tire of such morbidity, but it seems somewhat of an affront to our hosts to continue drawing them, now that I know their feelings on the matter. It has been a long journey.. perhaps if I lay down, my mind will be content to let me sleep right away for once. And you? Now that you know where I am going, am I indeed headed your way? Or have you merely altered the path towards your destination now, so that we might enjoy the pleasure of each other's company for awhile?"

She stopped to glance up at him, and though she made her best effort towards concealment, Ravi's heightened senses could still sense her pleasure at his presence, detect the note of flirtatiousness in her normally cool voice. She'd managed to smooth the smile from her lips, but he could still see her pupils dilate slightly at his closeness, and hear her breath catch slightly as her gaze met his.

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  • 11 months later...

"I think..." drawled Ravi softly as the two of them ambled across the snow, Frida with her usual ethereal grace and he with a grace that was inhuman, but definitely real, definitely alive. "I think we are heading to the same place." Green-gold eyes drifted sideways to meet Frida's dark gaze, and Ravi's lips curved upwards invitingly. "For now, at least."

,,

"For now at least." Frida echoed, her own smile peeking through the calm facade as she felt her heart speed further. Ravi offered her an arm and the slender young woman slid her arm through it, feeling the warmth and vibration of his life and vitality under her touch. They talked idly as they made their way to Frida's cabin, but once there, there was little speaking until a while later.

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