by CallieO on Wed May 12, 2021 3:34 am
New CVC
June 4, 2018
Callie and Amethine
Amethine was panting, the glass bottles and vials clinking together violently as she ran across the rooftops. She had been running for 10 minutes now, having walked into town to quickly drop off some alchemical ingredients to the Apothecary lest they go off; but was now very much regretting her actions when a Moriel she didn't know spotted her and lunged for her! Amethine had evaded his grasping hands and had tried her level best to lose him, even quickly clambering up a drain gutter to reach the roofs but nothing was deterring the Moriel's pursuit, he seemed to be enjoying the chase! "Sweet Gaea I didn't think it'd be THIS bad..! Leave me alone!!" She leaps to land on a pole sticking out of the sidewalk and slides down it to reach the ground again, then continues through an alleyway, taking a number of sharp turns before recognizing where she was. There was only one place in all of Nanthalion that Amethine felt she could reach before collapsing from exhaustion, Callie's restaurant. She inwardly prayed it was open.
It's about eight-thirty at night, and the sun has set, leaving the illumination of the Blood Swan Moon as the brightest thing in the sky. Many of the inhabitants of the town of Nanthalion have sealed their doors to prevent the bloodthirsty dark elves from causing injury to them. In situations like these, they can't even trust that their friends among that race won't try to hurt them. CVC had closed for the evening half an hour ago, and the doors are all locked. Callie is nearby, though, sitting behind the bar counter and going through her evening paperwork. She's dressed for battle and armed for bear, however-- she has on her old VEGA uniform, consisting of a black hooded robe with silver trim, though her hood is down. The uniform has captain's insignia on it. She also wears brown pants and brown boots, and has her mithril spear strapped to her back. Additionally, she wears her Tears of The Lady necklace and has a pouch attached to her right shoulder. There's an Elemental Servant dutifully keeping watch just inside the doors.
Amethine was pulling out all the stops to elude her pursuer, she was sprinting as fast as she could, and a couple of turns before heading for Callies she had grabbed a stone and threw it in the opposite direction, holding the bottles with her hands to stop them making so much noise and she ran as quietly as she could, trying to buy herself as much time as possible. The blood-red moon would normally be quite fascinating to her, and she was watching it curiously the entire trip to town but right now all she could do was unceremoniously stop at the resturaunt door, desperately trying to open it. The sudden noise was sure to bring her pursuer to her location shortly, and Amethine's voice almost cracked in fear. "Oh no..! NO!". Then she spots something behind the doors and recognises the silhouette with a gasp "...! Callie! Callie please! Let me in I'm being chased!". The catgirl is panicked, and rightly so since she can hear his quickening footsteps growing louder now.
Callie looks up when she hears someone trying to open the door, and gasps when she hears Amethine's urgent plea. "Shit," Callie says, and while the Elemental Servant rapidly unlocks and opens the door, Callie comes out from behind the bar, unsheathing her mithril spear, which had been the instrument of the first killing she'd ever committed-- in combat, helping to save the city of Nanthalion from invasion. "Come in quick, Ammey!" she says.
Amethine looks mightily relieved when she sees that Callie is unlocking the door. As the door is being unlocked she quickly frees one of her empty vials and looks back to shout "Damn! Please let the INN be safe!". She put some emphasis on the word 'Inn', then when the door opened she threw the vial down the street as hard as she could and quickly dashed inside, rushing for the bar counter where she wouldn't be seen from the front, hiding on the floor with her back to the little shelves under the counter and peeking around the side. The vial could be heard smashing a ways down the street and Amethine hoped against hope that it, along with her words, would be enough to convince her pursuer that she wasn't inside the resturaunt.
While Amethine ducks inside the restaurant, Callie locks it back up and keeps her Elemental Servant nearby. Callie herself moves back behind the bar counter and out of sight of the person who'd been chasing Amethine. Callie can see through the Elemental Servant that the moriel chaser is headed north up Meridian Street. "Clever girl," Callie says to Ammey, referring to the catperson herself. She pulls the shades down and changes the Elemental Servant's form into that of a tiny little grasshopper. "Ammey... sweetheart, are you hurt?" she asks.
Amethine shakily gets to her feet after the Moriel passes, feeling quite a bit safer now that the door was locked and the shades were down. The catgirl remains silent for a few seconds, not answering the question until suddenly she turns and just throws herself forward with a bit too much enthusiasm, hugging Callie's waist tightly! "By all the celestial graces Callie thank you! Thank you so much! I was starting to think I was done for! I was trying to evade him for so long!" She had felt she was running for a lot longer than just 10 minutes, but now that she was safe she really didn't want to let go of her saviour any time soon, at least until Callie decided enough was enough and try to seperate herself from the vulnerable catgirl.
Callie doesn't appear to be in any hurry to free herself, as she wraps her arms and side tails around her dear friend whom she's only known for a relatively short time. "It's okay," Callie says, and she kisses Ammey in the middle of her forehead. "You're safe now. You made it here, and everything's okay..." This is hardly the first time Callie has used her restaurant as a sanctuary for a friend, or even just a casual acquaintance, to escape danger. One time her friend Chandaria had come here to flee a rape gang.
Amethine didn't think she would need to hear those comforting words and actions, but somehow they helped. Maybe she was more distressed than she thought? Realizing this, she almost reluctantly pulls away from Callie, brushing herself off with an embarrased little "uh.. sorry...". She takes a deep breath in, getting over her near-death experience, it was hardly her first but still not something she could get used to. "Thanks.... I, I didn't know how dangerous it would be out there... Abby did try to warn me. Oh.. uh.. don't tell her I was here? She'll never let me hear the end of it...!". She glances around at the empty tables "I.. I'm sorry for being such a sudden imposition Callie, I didn't mean to barge in on you like this.. you were probably just getting ready for bed and... and...". She just spotted Callie's clothes and robe now, and they looked nothing like what someone would wear to bed. "What uh...? That's an interesting outfit?". Amethine was used to seeing Callie wearing much more casual clothing, so seeing the Vulpine in something so starkly different was quite a change.
"Your secret is safe with me, Amethine," Callie promises, and she reaches into the cooler to get her friend a bottle of "Darn Good" lemonade, opening it up and handing it to her. "And you're my dear friend. You're never an imposition, I promise." When Ammey comments about Callie's mode of dress, the vixen says, "Yes, this is what I wore when I used to work in the military. The Valencian Enforcement and Guidance Authority, to be precise-- VEGA, for short. I rose to third-in-command of the entire operation."
Amethine smiled at Callie, and accepted the lemonade gratefully and she takes a seat at the bar, taking a small sip of the drink and listening to Callie explain her uniform, looking quite surprised at her implied military experience. As Callie talked, Amethine would almost subconciously be hugging her tail, wrapping it around one arm, grasping it with the other and having the tip resting at her cheek where she was leaning into it ever so slightly. Having Callie's tails wrapped around her during the hug reminded the catgirl of home, of how she held her mother's tail like this and it made her feel safe. She didn't even know she was doing it, she didn't want to admit just how much she needed to be near someone protective. "Wow, you're just full of surprises, huh? An ex-military commander would have no fear for a night like this then, huh?". Amethine tried her best to remain cool and casual, but she was definitely still shaken from her recent experience. She still had her nagging, lingering doubts about Callie owning slaves in the back of her mind but right now, she wouldn't choose to be anywhere else.
Callie smiles gently, and takes hold of Amethine's free hand, rubbing her thumb against the younger woman's knuckles in a vulpine gesture of support and comfort called smalza. "No fear," she says. "And I was prepared to take in refugees. The minion by the window, and me downstairs doing the paperwork instead of up in my room." Callie has lied about one thing, though-- of course she's afraid. She's afraid not only for her friends and her business, but for herself. She knows that even as powerful as she is, she's not indestructible.
Amethine gripped Callie's hand securely, she didn't know what the Vulpine was doing but it felt nice so let her continue. She smiles a sad little smile. "Refugee's huh...? Well, guess that's twice then. I... I was going to ask if it would be okay to stay, but I think that kinda answers that questions.. heh.". Amethine tries to giggle, but it just doesn't seem to want to come out. She really wants to try and be brave and strong, but she was just too shaken for it right now, but can be sure of one thing. "Well, if anybody else does come in, I'm prepared to tend to their wounds. As... as a novice healer. But it's better than nothing!"
"Yes, it is," Callie says. "If it makes you feel any better... moriels under the Blood Swan Moon *usually* go for soft targets, and won't try to break down a locked door when they don't know if anyone will be there. In other words, you're much safer here inside than out on the streets tonight. And you're welcome to stay here just as long as you want."
Amethine nods. "That's good to know...! I had no idea just how... volatile they get. All I did was just walk past! Still.. it's over now. How can I ever repay you for your kindness?". She senses that Callie would be too kind to accept any kind of repayment and preemptively insists. "No no, really. One wrong move on my part and I'd probably be dead by morning, so in a very literal sense you could say you saved my life. Surely there's something I can do for you to help repay your kindness? I doubt you need money considering how amazing your Resturaunt is so, maybe a chat or, we could discuss each other's pasts or hug again or I could help you with your papers? I just don't want to feel like a leech to your generosity is all!". Admitedly, most of the options she gave were things a friend would probably do for her anyway, but her companionship was the only thing she felt she had that would be of value to the Vulpine.
Callie opens her mouth to decline any offer of repayment, only to shut it again when Amethine immediately insists and suggests some options. "A chat sounds good," she says. "Gimme a few minutes to complete my paperwork and file it upstairs in my room, and I'm all yours for the night." If Callie had made a deliberate double entrende, she gives no indication of knowing it. She's getting a bit better with her poker face.
Amethine nods with a smile, the adrenaline in her system was slowly starting to thin out, though her ears would be on full alert, listening for any noises to gauge potential danger. She does raise second, overthinking the phrase "all yours", but once she thinks Callie was out of earshot she softly moans, muttering quietly to herself "My literal savior, and I offer a chat in return... not that I could offer more anyway. 'All mine..' naah, doubt she even sees me that way. Dunno if that's a good thing or not actually... okay, see when you start talking to yourself like this, you're too nervous and wound up. Should probably stop.". And she does, continuing her train of thought internally instead. She takes another sip of the lemonade, which tasted quite exquisite and moved to near the locked door. She was keeping herself completely hidden, but was listening to any sounds outside until Callie returned.
Callie goes back upstairs to her paperwork and quickly becomes so wrapped up in what she's doing that she doesn't hear the sotto voce conversation that Amethine is having with herself. She likes Amethine a great deal, but similar to the way Amethine thinks of Callie's motivations, Callie doesn't think that Ammey feels 'that way' about her. Which is okay; Callie has several friends that she doesn't have sex with.
Amethine was listening intently at the window but she couldn't hear anything. She could even hear Callie shuffling about the papers upstairs, or maybe she was imagining it? The dead quiet was playing havok on her imagination, and with nothing to focus on her head was in overdrive, were any of them plotting to get in? Did that one moriel sneak back? Was Callie safe upstairs? Was she safe down here? Wait where was that elemental? Was she alone? Amethine was a bit lost in her own little world from the quiet. Wait, she heard a voice wondering where an elemental was! No.. that was her own voice, was she talking to herself again? "... I really need to stop doing that. Yup I definitely don't want to be alone tonight." With that strange train of thought having concluded itself, she moves back to grab the lemonade to give her hands something to do while she waits for Callie to come back.
After a short time, Callie finishes her daily ledger and files it properly in her desk. Then she comes back down the stairs, seeing Amethine drinking her lemonade. It doesn't take the fox long to realize that her friend is still very rattled by the events of the evening; it's written in her tail-language especially. "Would you like to sit on the couch with me?" Callie asks.
Amethine spins back to face Callie as she returns, her ears were perked right up, her tail curled up behind her back and twitching every now and then. She looked quite tense, but seeing Callie, especially in an outfit of power like her old military uniform was at least a little comforting for the catgirl. "Uh.. yeah, yeah that'd be nice actually. I can't hear anything out there anyway...". She moves to the aforementioned couch, standing beside the many-tailed Vulpine to walk in together.
"I've got an Elemental Servant listening and waiting," Callie says. "It has probably better hearing than either you or me. Relax, hon. I'm right here." Callie lights the two candles on either side of The Lady's statuette on the mantle of the fireplace, and then she slides down onto the left side of the couch, smiling at her dear friend.
Amethine would probably have challenged that claim but she didn't quite have the heart and just nods. She wanted to be relaxed and calm like she usually is but that moriel really shook her, she really feared for her life and it was going to be a good few hours until she had calmed down from that. Amethine looks in interest to The Lady's statuette as Callie lights the candles, holding her arms nervously and once Callie chooses her side of the couch, Ammey sits right beside her friend, almost deliberately letting one or two of Callie's tails rest on her back, pulling her own tail to the side to avoid sitting on it, wriggling a little to get more comfy. She had brought up her feet so that she was entirely on the couch. "Thanks again, Callie..." Amethine breaths a sigh of comfort, though it was a little shaky.
Callie smiles softly at the light contact that her right and lower tails are making with Amethine's body, and for a little while, the vixen closes her eyes, allowing herself to relax for probably the first time since she'd opened the restaurant at ten o'clock that morning. It's hard to be at peace when she know that at any moment, a bloodthirsty moriel could come smashing through her door. The danger probably has not passed, either, but she can order her minions into a higher state of vigilance than she herself is expressing. Right now, Ammey needs comfort. And Callie helps supply it by stretching her right arm out across the catperson's shoulders.
Amethine leans right over to rest her head on Callie when she feels the arm wrap around her, it was an almost automatic reaction, snuggling right into Callie's side. She didn't particularly enjoy being so vulnderable and defenseless like this, but there was no denying how comforting the Vulpine was. "I kinda feel bad about the Inn... I just sent that guy straight for it, I hope there's nobody there tonight who'll attract his attention like I did...". It was a split-second decision to shout the diversion when she rushed in, she wasn't even sure it would work but the Inn felt like the only reasonable place that she would go to hide. If she couldn't get in here then it would have been her only hope anyway. The catgirl was quite still against Callie, her eyes wide open and her ears on full alert, though her tail does move to entangle itself around one of Callie's.
As Callie and Amethine get ever closer, Callie's tails begin to lightly sway behind her back in a show of arousal; she knows that it would be wrong to take advantage of someone who feels so vulnerable right now, but she can't help the way she feels. The vixen says, "The inn's far enough away that maybe he'll tire himself out before he gets there. Anyway, you did the only thing you could think of, hon. You'd have never made it there. You were panting and gasping for air upon arrival here."
Amethine caught the mild tail swishes out of the corner of her eye but thought little of it, not realizing what it implied, she was quite new to Vulpines in general. "Maybe... but I can't allow myself to think that, if I believe even a little bit that I wouldn't be able to make it then I'd have had no chance. My ability to run from danger is all I really have, if I can't rely on that then I'm efffectively doomed.". She snuggles in a little deeper, her head inadvertently resting into the border between Callie's side, and sideboob. "But you were there so I don't have to think about what might have happened..." Amethine smiles a little now, thankful that she had a friend to rely on.
Callie nods. "You're right. So just relax, and let's talk about other things. Have you made many friends since arriving in the empire? Do you think you might stay, or are you just passing through?" Callie feels very relaxed now, snuggling so closely to Amethine.
Amethine wiggles in place, adjusting her posture a little to prevent aching joints after a while. She was quite glad for the change of conversation topic and leaps on it. "Humm... well, I met that mercenary arena-champion lady Abby and her very excitable fae, Airy! They're quite interesting. Oh and I met another couple of Vulpines too! Though I've not seen them again, but I'm sure we'll meet again at some point since I've decided that, since Abby has offered me a place at her keep and I have my job at the Apothecary, I'm more financially secure than I've ever been and.. well I can't just jeep wandering the wilderness forever. This place has so much knowledge that I could tap into, so yeah it's dangerous, but so was me being alone in the forests and fields so, at least here I have a bed to sleep in at night.". She felt quite comfortable talking to Callie, she actually had plans for her life here but had another train of thought that was derailing the previous one. "Hey uh, this is a restaurant, do you get your ingredients and stuff delivered like bread or wheat and stuff? I'm just wondering if... I know any of the little border villages that do deliveries here.". Amethine knew it was a long shot, but thought it would be pretty cool if Callie or other shops were ordering from people that she had apprenticed for.
Callie smiles happily when Amethine tells her that she'll probably be staying in the empire for awhile. She's grown very fond of the catperson. "I get deliveries from several different places," she says. "I get much of my fruit from the village of Pungo, including their legendary strawberries. I grow my own blueberries and zucchini in the greenhouse. The Tianopo honey comes straight from Liranja. And there are other ingredients that I buy in the market square."
Amethine hums in thought, Pungo ringed a bell. She hadn't really heard of Liranja, or hadn't been there. Was she a farmhand for a torian in Pungo? "Those strawberries.. they don't come from a plantation owned by a white feathered Torian do they..? Kinda big guy that likes to smile?" Describing the Torian reminded her of why she remembered Pungo. She may have destroyed an entire years supply of peaches when she may have burned the warehouse they were being magically preserved in by over-fueling the fireplace. The catgirl's eyes would be quite wide if they weren't already and she awaits Callie's response with almost bated breath.
"Yeah, Jayson Tate is his name," Callie says. "Darn tallest torian I've ever seen before. Well over seven feet tall. And built like a brick shithouse, as my uncle is so fond of saying. Come to think of it, I don't think I've ever seen him fly before. I'd be surprised if wings so delicate could lift a man so large." Callie chuckles. "But he's a sweet guy, really he is."
Amethine gulps in embarrassment when Callie confirms the name. "Y~yeah.. I know him! I was assigned to be one of his farmhands back in my youth, uh.. hey...". She spoke a little quickly and hurriedly so she can get to the questions she wanted to ask. "There wasn't a time when he couldn't supply... peaches for a while, was there? The big old juicy ones?". Amethine's face was getting a little flushed now, looking like a sheepish schoolchild who got caught breaking the rules.
"Yes, he told me that the warehouse had caught fire. It took him about three months before he could supply me with any more." Callie looks inward as she remembers the conversation she'd had with Jayson. "He didn't seem angry about it, though, he seemed... saddened, and disappointed, because all that hard work had gone up in smoke."
Amethine nervously giggles a "...o~oops?" mostly because she still didn't know how to properly react. "I didn't mean for it to happen... nobody told me those logs were specially treated to burn hotter and longer!". She sounded quite guilty as she spoke, she still felt really bad about it. "I hope he's still doing okay... at least it wasn't as bad as the blacksmith in Ashstone... Oh! Sorry..!". Amethine suddenly wriggles a little bit, she had been sitting on one of her bottles and it just shifted, poking at Callie's leg, so the catgirl spends a few seconds to detatch it and a few more from herself to rest them on the floor in front of the couch, away from where she or Callie might stand.
Callie blinks. "That was you?" There's a brief, awkward pause before Callie says anything else, and then finally she chuckles. "Small world, isn't it? Yeah, if I were you, I wouldn't be in a hurry to go back there. Might still be a little lingering resentment. So, what's this about a blacksmith in Ashstone?" If Amethine burning down a year's worth of a harvest had been the *second-* worst accident she'd gotten involved in, she could only imagine what the worst one was. Did that one actually involve fatalities?
Amethine feels a little relieved that Callie wasn't berating her for her past follies, though she holds off on the fact that the peaches was probably the 6th worst thing she's caused during her series of unfortunate events, and the sad thing was only a few of them were actually probably preventable. "Oh... nothing... y'know, except for the forge cracking and molten metal spilling everywhere, causing the entire 2-story building to collapse into it's foundations and effectively ruining the livelihoods of 3 businesses in the process... but one of them was a front for slave capturing so.. it's not, it wasn't all bad?". She looked very sheepish now, she's not been back to Ashstone since either. "I uh... mentioned I apprenticed to a lot of professions right? Now you.. might be able to guess why..."
"Wow," Callie says. She'd probably do best not to hire Amethine to work at CVC. But she's too polite to actually say so. Slightly too polite. But she can't help but tease Ammey a little bit: "So, how are you gonna destroy the Apothecary?" she asks. She takes Amethine's left hand in her own right hand, and does smalza with it again, rubbing her thumb against her catperson friend's knuckles.
Amethine giggles at the teasing "Aw come on, that's no fair... though, step one would be getting trusted enough to actually get to man the store.". She kinda resented the fact that she had came to be known as a bit of a klutz, she was actually quite graceful! The difference was that most people's little slip-ups include tripping, or knocking over a glass whereas she caused molten metal to spill everywhere. Amethine was going to continue about how she could bring about the Apothecary's collapse but then her hand was taken and she notices that Callie is making the same motions as last time, indicating that it had some meaning behind it. "Uh, why're you doing that?". She sounded quite curious.
"Mmm?" Callie doesn't seem to quite realize that she'd even been doing it. Then she looks down at Amethine's hand and sees that she, Callie, is stroking the knuckles again. "Sorry," she says, and lets go of Ammey's hand. "It's a vulpine thing. Smalza, it's called. It's very relaxing for vulpines, even very young ones. Parents use it to calm down fussy babies; friends do it to comfort each other."
Amethine 's ears droop a little when Callie drops her hand, she was rather enjoying the experience and with her fast reflexes, grasped the gentle hand with her own to attempt to reciprocate the Smalza that she had been given. Ammey didn't see much comfort in the knuckle-rubbing more than just the act of holding her hand, but did her best to replicate the same pressure and movements that she had felt. "No no.. it's fine, I kinda...". A blush, and a quick change of topic. " 'Smalza' you said? Like this...?". By repeating the act on her friend, Ammey hoped to imply that she was fine with it.
Callie smiles and murrs into the contact, leaning a little more into Amethine's body. Her upper tail moves to join her lower and right tails in touching the catperson's back. "Mmm, just like that," she says. "Especially *between* the knuckles. It's very relaxing. At least... it is for vulpines."
Amethine raises her eyebrows at the immediate effect this had on Callie. She rests more into Callie as she gently grips the Vupine's hand as her thumb slowly rolls over the knuckles, applying just the lightest extra bit of pressure between the ridges and wondering if that will increase the effect. She continues like this for a while, it was nice to just rest into each other like this, she definitely had to remember this Smalza thing for the future. The moment is broken slightly when Amethine's head suddenly jerks upright, thinking she heard a noise outside but quickly determines it was nothing and returns to her previous position. Her ears are still on full alert, as they have been all night and while her tail is currently resting among Callie's it's not quite as relaxed as it could be.
Callie can't help but notice the fact that Amethine had made a brief, sudden move with her head. Understanding what was happening, Callie speaks a word of Ancient Vulpani, wiggles her fingers just so, and creates four more Elemental Servants. They take up various positions downstairs and upstairs, and some of them transform into smaller forms when they reach their destinations. With five minions guarding them now, Callie and Amethine would be well-informed if something were about to happen tonight. "Try not to worry," Callie suggests.
Amethine watches the minions move off looking a little guilty. She knew that Callie only did that because she reacted to a phantom noise. "Sorry... I can't help it sometimes, if I'm spooked or attacked it takes a long time for me to let my guard down, I can't help it... I know we're safe here, and you've helped me relax a lot... really! It's just... I'll try and not react...". She sounded a little regretful, and she had let go of Callie's hand when she summoned more elementals, and now was trying to grasp it again as though to continue like nothing happened.
"You've been through a very frightening experience," Callie says, allowing Amethine to retake her hand, and kissing the back of Ammey's hand tenderly. "You've been traumatized by the events of the night. That's nothing to be sorry about."
Amethine was relaxing back into Callie, smiling at the kiss and too focused on trying to perform Smalza again to think about what she was saying and was almost lazily responding. "No that was just scary... traumatized is what happened on the fishing ship Brass Owl near Thallis..." It takes a second, then she makes a small gasp and covers her mouth with her free right hand. She hadn't meant to say that. The Brass Owl was a fishing vessel that famously disappeared, there were reports of a lone survivor but authorities never knew what happened since the survivor refused to talk. Amethine wasn't sure if she was ready to talk about that, she hadn't told a soul what happened.
Callie hmms, scratching her chin with her left hand as she smiles. "I can't say I'm familiar with the Brass Owl," she admits, though she sounds interested in hearing the story. Anything to keep talking to Amethine and help the both of them relax on this first night of the Blood Swan Moon.
Amethine looks up in slight disbelief, she thought that story had been everywhere. Thallis IS pretty far though. "You... you haven't heard about it? I, well... it was a fishing ship that... disappeared.". She chose her words carefully, she really was unsure about her confidence in retelling the entire story, and so far was opting to repeat what the authorities told everybody. The catgirl was definitely not comfortable in remembering the events that transpired, but had a sneaking suspicion that Callie would probably be a good candidate for extracting the information from her, would it be possible that talking of a much deeper trauma would alleviate her nerves on the current one? Amethine had her doubts.
"You say it traumatized you? You don't have to talk about it, if you don't want to," Callie says, as Amethine continues stroking her knuckles. The fox is very relaxed now, and she even cedes direct control over her Elemental Servants, allowing them a modicum of sapience. They'll alert Callie about any unexpected noises or sights, and Callie can still look through them whenever she wants to, but she doesn't need to concentrate on them-- giving her a bit of peace of mind.
Amethine merely nods in response. She continues her Smalza action, but now she's trying to not focus on the very vivid memories of churning waters, screaming, blood and splintered wood everywhere. After several seconds of silence Amethine suddenly pipes up "It's been... brought back into memory recently, Airy's got a pet that looks just like one of...". She can't finish her thought and merely shudders, falling silent again, focusing on her thumb's movements, though her overall grip is a little tighter now.
Callie feels Ammey's grip getting a little tighter, but it's not tight enough yet to cause the vixen pain. Callie lifts their hands up so that she can kiss Ammey's hand again, and then she gently tries to pry her hand free. "You were on that ship?" she asks.
Amethine does nothing for a few seconds, then merely nods slowly. It would be hard to deny that, and any form of investigation would probably reveal her to be the survivor. She let's Callie extract her hand quite easily, and just lets her hand flop wherever Callie lets it go, seemingly either lost in her own world, or focusing extremely hard to not get lost in her own world.
Callie lets Amethine sit there for a few seconds, and then, to try and comfort her, she gives the catperson a gentle kiss on the cheek. "I'm sorry, Ammey," she says. She's met several people who were the lone survivors of some great catastrophe. The annihilation of a tribe or village by other people; an unexpected volcanic eruption; shipwrecks; house fires. Callie realizes every day just how incredibly lucky she is.
Amethine remains silent until Callie pecks her cheek and she can't help but smile at the gesture, muttering ".. it's fine. I'll need to talk about it someday, just... I don't think I'm ready yet. At least I can talk about the bandit raid, though that wasn't as bad..." The boat was certainly the most traumatic experience Ammey had gone through, but she's had a number of tough experiences before she arrived to Nanthalion, it was so easy to hide it all behind her cheery personality, she's not really properly dealt with the issues before.
"Perhaps... another time?" Callie suggests. "When we can both *fully* let our guard down?" It's probably not a good idea, right now, to be telling ghost stories and tales of some of the horrors and traumas the women have experienced in their lives, when at any moment a bloodthirsty, insane moriel could come and try to beat down their doors.
Amethine mulls this over for a few seconds before responding with "... maybe.". It would be quite a while until she would consider herself back to normal, but at least she felt quite secure beside the vulpine which was a great help, she would otherwise be quite jittery. Amethine then wraps her arms around Callie's waist and squeezes a hug in, then relaxes, the only sounds she could hear were their own breathing, the soft rustle of movement of the couch and the gentle scraping of her various bottles and vials as they brush against each other occasionally, enjoying the silence mostly because she didn't quite know what to say now.
Callie smiles warmly and returns the embrace, her ears perking up a little at the sound of those containers touching each other. Idly, she wonders if any of them is breakable, and whether or not one would shatter if it hit the floor. She doesn't ask that question, however. Instead, as she falls into a deep state of relaxed intimacy, she begins to move her head ever-so-slightly upward towards Amethine's, as if leaning in for a kiss.
Amethine was enjoying the intimacy of the moment just as deeply, her eyes half-shut with a smile of content on her face. Granted, her ears and tail were still signaling that she was not totally relaxed, but other than that she was quite happy. Her half-open eyes do note Callie's strange head movement, was she about to fall asleep? No her head would be moving downwards if that was the case. Amethine kept quite still, her curiosity preventing her from doing or anything that might disrupt the Vulpine.
Callie leans in a little more, with her eyes closed, and at about the point where she thought Amethine would meet her in the middle, the fox opens her eyes when she realizes that the catperson hadn't moved. Callie smiles shyly and, figuring she'd misread the situation, pulls her head back away, as if to deny that she'd ever leaned in for a kiss in the first place, and retain a little bit of her dignity.
Amethine was watching quite curiously, and only realized what Callie was attempting when she stopped and moved back. In a split-second decision to not want to deny her friend she hatches a silly little plan and, barely a second after Callie had looked away Amethine gives a short, worried gasp and twists her torso as though turning to her end of the couch. "...! What was that?". It was a ruse however. and as soon as Callie would look around to see what she was talking about, Amethine would be ready and suddenly lean right in and not-so-subtly attempt to give Callie that kiss.
Callie's eyes widen in alarm, because neither she herself, nor her five Elemental Servants scattered around the house, had heard *anything* coming from outside. But apparently Amethine had, and it's up to Callie to protect her. Callie jerks her head up again, and this time Ammey *is* there to meet her, and their foreheads collide, instead of their lips. "Ow," the fox says, moving a hand up to rub that spot on her head where she'd bumped it against Amethine's skull.
Amethine lets out a short gasp of pain, leaning back a little to rub her own head and then just lets her head rest against Callie, giggling uncontrollably. "Dahahahammit... that didn't go to plan at all...". She quickly gets over her giggles and looks to Callie with a genuinely warm smile, the first sign of genuine happiness all night. "Sorry Callie... you okay?", she moves up her hand to gently caress the spot Callie was rubbing, moving her thumb in a similar way to how she was performing Smalza on her hand before.
When Amethine starts giggling, Callie can't help it-- she starts with a case of the giggles, too. After catching her breath, she sees that look on Ammey's face and takes heart from it-- the awkwardness, like onto that of schoolchildren kissing for the first time, is just so awfully cute that it's made Ammey grin, even though about an hour ago, she'd literally been running for her life. "Yeah," Callie says. "Everything's great." She leans in again, this time a little more steadily, and she tilts her head slightly to give Ammey a gentle kiss on the lips.
Amethine leans in to give her friend what she wanted, still smiling from the silly impact from earlier. She knew that she was lonely and had had a massive scare, so probably wasn't thinking straight; but she reasoned that Callie would hardly be feeling too calm and comfortable herself, considering the amount of elementals she sent out to keep watch over every concievable entrance of the resturaunt and a kiss between them would probably be a good way to ease their worries a little. With these justifications, Amethine's warm, soft lips pressed to Callie's own, the catgirl gently pursing her lips to apply just a little pressure, enough to convey willingness but not using her tongue, she would let Callie decide how much she wanted it, this was her idea afterall. Amethine wasn't entirely sure she was ready for more, but she wasn't scared of such an outcome.
Callie smiles happily when the kiss is broken, and she gently places her forehead against that of Amethine in a friendly gesture. The vixen's head still hurts a little bit from the impact a few seconds ago, but the pain is already starting to lessen. "Tell me, Ammey," Callie asks her. "Do you like to read? I've got many good books here on the shelf. Stories about vulpine heroes and legends; cookbooks; a sex education book; a book about water mage spells... lots of things."
Amethine softly sighs as they share a moment with their heads resting together, smiling contentedly, then she looks quite curious at the options supplied to her. Her cheeks noticibly start to blush at the mention of the sex-ed book, but Amethine pushes that one to the back of her mind for now. She doesn't need to make herself horny at a nice moment like this, though that kiss... "Uh..*ahem*, yeah..I do enjoy reading, though mostly for expanding my knowledge... the only book I really own is a kind of primer on various plants and their properties, which is woefully ill-informed, though I kinda prefer it that way since I get to go through it and test it all, and correct it. But uh, a cookbook you said? I apprenticed as a baker's assistant once... and a butcher's, so I learned a little bit of cooking? I've never managed to properly learn anything, but watching the masters work kinda reminds me of me and my potioncraft. It's all about measuring ingredients, combining them in a certain way and stuff...". Amethine felt quite comfortable rambling on, it wasn't often she got to talk about these thoughts of hers. Wandering alone for years on end gives you a lot of time to think, so she had strange connections and opinions about all sorts of things, and comparing cooking to alchemy was one of them. Using magic to complete some more advanced sexual positions was another... and there was that other book sneaking into her thoughts again.
Callie smiles at Amethine's rambling, glad to see that her friend is starting to grow more comfortable in her presence. She'd gotten the impression, not too long ago, that Ammey was beginning to see Callie in a more negative light, when Callie had admitted to her that she owns slaves. There's absolutely no reason at all, in the fox's mind, why that should impact their friendship, but it surely hadn't been Callie's imagination that Amethine had disagreed with her on that topic. Using her Telekinesis power, she floats down the book "Things Wobaki Taught Me to Make", written by the vixen herself, and hands it to Amethine. Then she TKs "When Pretense Falls", a novel by Milana Serafin, for herself.
Amethine accepts the book with a little bit of surprise, not actually expecting Callie to give it to her. Then again she DID mention it out of all the others, but only because she was trying not to imagine the debaucherous delights that could be find in that one certain book she absolutely wasn't picturing, and she'd probably get lost reading about magic or Vulpine history. Still, the cookery book might give her some inspiration for her potioncraft, or maybe learn a few tricks next time she has to eat alone in the wilderness again. Amethine spots the book Callie had chosen for herself however "Mm? "When Pretense Falls"? What's that about?". Then she glances down at her own book and before her friend can respond she realizes "Oh! You wrote this? Hehe, you're not trying to show off are you?". Amethine still was leaning into Callie's side, very much enjoying the intimacy of the moment. There was always that naggling worry there about her owning slaves, and of Sakiko's reaction, but she couldn't even begin to think about brining herself to talk about it. Not now. Not when she needed a friend by her side, and Callie had been nothing but a dear, valued friend. There would be time in the future to discuss such things, and Amethine didn't doubt for a second that Callie had told the thruth about them all willingly accepting Callie as their owner, so she had no reason to feel ill-at-ease. For tonight, and maybe a few after, Amethine needed the comfort of those she trusted.
Callie laughs softly. "Don't get too excited about the literary merits of the cookbook, hon," she says to Amethine. "It's very much a Step 1, Step 2, Step 3 cookbook. 'When Pretense Falls', though, is the third novel by my favorite contemporary vulpine author, Milana Serafin. It's a gripping tale of adventure, passion, and betrayal that takes place during the civil war that broke the Otala vulpine tribe off from the Fire Tribe. Based on a true story."
Amethine smiles at Callie "I'm sure I could learn a lot from it. If only because I'm starting with almost zero knowledge to begin with! So adventure, passion and betrayal...? I could probably relate to that. Maybe not so much on the 'passion' side, at least probably not the way it is in there!" Which was true, while Amethine did have the occasional lover, she wasn't in any one place long enough to develop any kind of romantic attachment to anybody, which thankfully limited the amount of betrayal she had. Though adventure, she could write her own novel series on. "I take it you enjoy a nice read from time to time? I've never really had the time before." Amethine wiggles, ready to leaf through the book she was given, her tail curling up more into one of Callie's own as she relaxes into a comfortable position.
"I'm very much an avid reader," Callie says, "and Milana Serafin is amazing. She's a little frustrating, though, even for vulpines: She releases only one novel every hundred years, on each of her centenary birthdays. The most recent one came out seven years ago, and I got it the day it came out." She smiles wistfully. "I savored that book; I read only one chapter every day. When it was over, I was happy with the book, but there's nothing quite like doing something the first time. You know?" Is she referring to just the book, or to the first kiss that she and Ammey had shared a few minutes ago? Was that a twinkle in Callie's eyes?
Amethine seems almost stunned "Every hundred years...? Wow....". She was going to say more about her surprise, that at least the books were almost guaranteed to be good if they're being penned over such a long time, but even so that is quite the wait! Amethine herself would die of old age by the time the next book comes out, and Callie would still be there... suddenly a huge wave of emotion surges through Amethine, she thought she had a lonely life but only just now appreciated that Vulpines likely outlive most of their friends. Amethine suddenly looks to Callie with strong feelings of empathy, just imagining this brought sorrow to the catgirl. There was nothing she could do about this either, other than be there for her friend when she can. "... yes, I agree. You can repeat and relive things many times over, but the first, that can be so... magical.". Amethine had many fond memories of her first time of something, like the first time she created a fully working Healing potion, or the first time she made a loaf of bread. The first time she kissed Callie. Amethine wasn't going to feel sorrow tonight, tonight was about happiness for her. She was adamant about that now.
Callie nods, and as if picking up a little bit of what Amethine is thinking, she says, "It was my mother who introduced me to Milana's work; she's had a couple of those books released during her lifetime. I'm likely to live long enough to read her very last novel." Callie opens up the book and shows one of the pages to Amethine. "You see that the left column of every page is in Vulpani, and the right column is in Common. As a result, this is a great way to teach someone how to read Vulpani. And I've done so, with my fiancee Kayleigh and my pet Gareth."
Amethine looks at the page shown to her and while she can read the Common side quite well, involving somebody trying to sneak about avoiding guards, the Vulpani side was just comlete nonsensical gibberish to her. She grew up learning both Catfolk and Common, and she didn't doubt that with training she COULD learn another language, but as for right now it was all just lines and squiggles. Amethine's face then visibly winces at the word 'pet', she didn't mean for it and wanted to hide it, but it just brought into focus the fact that Callie owned many slaves, and called one of them 'pet'. Amethine knew that Callie loved her slaves, and they her, she knew that there was nothing but mutual respect for both sides, but it was just something Amethine couldn't wrap her head around. It'd go against everything she grew up believing, everything she fought and lived for. The catgirl had spent her life avoiding slavery because slavery hunted her down mercilessly, and even while meeting Erin, the concubine to owner of the bakery, she just didn't quite feel right. Amethine didn't particularly want to talk about it, not while she needed her friend close, but that wince probably did it anyway.
Callie notices the expression Amethine gave when she'd mentioned her pet Gareth, and she sets the book down gently on the coffee table for a moment, replacing the bookmark. "You still don't approve," Callie notes. It wasn't a question. "I understand. Not everyone does. Not everyone understands. In fact, even Kayleigh would prefer that I not have slaves."
Amethine leans up from Callie now to look at her with a very apologetic look. The catgirl had gone and done it now. "... I'm sorry Callie" It wasn't so much an apology about how she felt, but an apology of agreement that she didn't fully approve. "I... I don't mean to offend you, or those you love...! I just..." Amethine didn't really know what to say now, she didn't know if she SHOULD say anything, she didn't know how Callie was feeling right now, so kept silent for now leaving her sentence hanging to see how her friend reacted, her heart lodged in her throat as she waited.
Callie smiles softly. "Would it make a difference, do you think, if I introduced you to Kura or Gareth? I think you should know how much we care about each other. I couldn't do all the things I can do, without them taking care of Foxden for me. And when we're together, it's a joyous, happy time."
Amethine leans back into Callie's side with a sigh of thought, and is silent for several seconds. ". . . I don't know. I, I can understand reasons why, I can appreciate specific circumstances... protection, safety, undying affection... I've thought about it a long time Callie, far too long. I just...", Amethine pauses. She was about to ramble on about her whole life there, but she stopped herself. "I'm sorry, I don't mean to ramble on about it, tonight shouldn't be about me, it should be the two of us being safe together." She hugs Callie's side tight in a show of friendship, of needing to be close.
Callie nods, wrapping her nearest tail against Amethine's waist, and she says to her, "Okay. We'll just agree to disagree for the time being, and talk about something else. Anyway... if you're interested, I could totally set you up with Milana Serafin's complete Vulpani/Common Novel Collection. It's very easy to learn Vulpani through them. It's a beautiful language."
Amethine quickly nods and moves an arm to hug and stroke the tail wrapping around her, it felt nice and comforting. "Maybe we can discuss it more and fully express our sides another day... debate's a good way to enhance both person's knowledge afterall...?". Amethine didn't want to seem like she was just shutting down Callie outright, and she was a sucker for a good, intellectual argument. Then she makes a point to lean her head to look at the closed book Callie had set aside. "Oh I wouldn't want to impose... they're probably really expensive...! But yeah with a book like that, and a friend guiding me, I could probably learn quite a bit of the language...". At the word friend she hugs Callie again, she really didn't want to seem like she hated Callie for owning slaves. It was hard for her to accept, sure, but she was willing to look past it until they could talk about it properly in the future.
"They're not as expensive as you might think," Callie says. "Besides which, I've got copies here and at Foxden. So no matter where we relax together, you'll be able to pick up and read the books." Callie smiles and leans into the hug, placing her right hand against Amethine's left knee.
Amethine gently strokes Callie's right thigh in response to her knee being touched, the catgirl's graze is delicately soft and lives up to any stereotypes about catgirls being sensual creatures, softly petting through the brown pants of Callie's uniform. They had already shared a kiss, that still brought a smile to Amethine's lips, so this seemed like a natural move to Amethine after that and thought little of it. "I guess I'll have to visit a whole lot more often then, teach!". A small joke to show her willingness to learn the Vulpine language.
Callie grins at that, her large triangular ears fully up on her head, and her five tails swaying lightly behind her in a friendly manner. Leaning a little closer to the catperson, she moves in for a kiss, and this time, same as last time, she's successful in reaching Ammey's lips with it. She takes one of Amethine's hands in her own, and closes her eyes as she enjoys the sensuous, sweet melding of those lips together for just a brief moment. Then she pulls away.
Amethine squeezes her taken hand as she returns the kiss, it wasn't entirely unexpected but still a pleasant surprise considering the gravity of their earlier conversation. She felt quite a fluttering in her chest during the kiss, she wasn't used to someone being so, gentle, and gently squeezed at the vulpine's lips with her own, enjoying the soft embrace until it's broken wherupon Amethine blinks a few times, coming back to reality and her ears flicker cutely on her head, tail wriggling a little from excitement. "Uhm... hi!".
Vulpines can have as many as eight tails, and those appendages, plus their eyes, face, and the rest of their bodies, are very expressive. As a result, vulpines are very good at reading *other* species' body language as well. And Callie can tell that she'd just taken Amethine's breath away, practically, with that kiss, as if it's water in the desert. "Hi," Callie replies, and she presses her nose against Amethine's, giggling softly.
Amethine didn't know how to respond at first, she definitely enjoyed the kiss and the resulting nose wiggles very much, they were so passionately sensual and the catgirl's body was responding in the way any catgirl would, excitement and arousal. though Amethine was still a bit shy about it. The gentle wiggles and movements of her body, from her ears to her tail and everything inbetween was of a catgirl who was passionately excited. During the nose press Amethine smiles and lets out a few breaths of laughter, but doesn't let the vulpine pull away, instead reaching up to the back of her head to pull her into a kiss that she wanted to start now, her hands running down Callie's neck and shoulders as she presses herself into those lips again, feeling every inch of the her friend's soft luscious lips with her own, her jaw was open and would accept any tongueplay, but she wasn't instigating that herself.
Callie lets out a soft 'mmmmmmm' as Amethine strengthens the kiss, and the fox has to make a quick decision as to how far she's willing to let this go. She's noticed that Amethine has opened her mouth, and Callie is very tempted to delve into it with her tongue, pull off their clothing, engage in foreplay, make love. But no... this isn't right. This isn't the right time, with Amethine feeling so vulnerable, with her having so recently run for her life. Callie breaks the kiss, and is content right now to just look into her friend's eyes.
Amethine almost reluctantly lets Callie pull away and looks back into Callie's gentle eyes with her own, there was clearly longing there, a desire. She doesn't say anything, wondering if she had pushed too far or if Callie was having second thoughts, the catgirl's face is flush, her ears were perked up but now flush with her head, though her tail still twitches about, knocking into Callie's own tails. In this moment, she definitely wanted to continue, she was a bit worked up now and Callie was the only one who treated her with respect so far about this sort of thing; but she already pushed for it and Callie backed off, so now Amethine just sits there staring back at Callie with such longing. She was preparing herself for Callie to say no, not tonight, and she'd have arguments for almost any point the vulpine could bring up, but she wouldn't, now if Callie didn't want to.
Callie smiles gently at her friend, and kisses her on the forehead, before standing up and stroking the back of Amethine's head. "Let's get something to eat," she says, her voice carrying an uncharacteristic waiver. It's never easy for a vulpine to turn down the possibility of sex. But Callie really believes that doing it right now would ultimately do Ammey more harm than good. "How about we share a bowl of strawberries?"
Amethine looks almost heartbroken when Callie stands up, but quickly tries to hide how badly she wanted Callie and tries to look just disappointed. The kisses and caresses had been wonderful, and now that the Catgirl was in the mood she really wanted more, especially with such a close friend, but casts her eyes to the floor as she nods. "Strawberries... sure, I could go for some strawberries. They're really good in honey.". Amethine wasn't aware of Callie's special variety of honey, or if she was she wasn't remembering it as she meant just regular sweet honey, but given the situation, the vagueness on the type of 'honey' suggested could be taken either way. The catgirl sounded quite resigned though, catgirls were so easily worked up and now that she was she had little else on her mind, but didn't have the heart to fight for it. She didn't want to anger or upset her friend any.
"Okay," Callie says, and with skill and speed, she caps and slices about 20 strawberries, giving them a light coating of sugar, and brings them out in two bowls, along with a jar of regular honey. Callie wouldn't spring Tianopo honey on anybody without warning, and besides... orgasms were the last thing Callie wanted to do to Ammey right now. Not that it isn't tempting. And goddess, Amethine had looked a little hurt when Callie had stopped, hadn't she? Had that just been Callie's imagination? Callie hmms, and sets the tray down on the pile of four blankets near the unlit fireplace. "C'mere," Callie says, and she kicks off her boots and socks, placing them on the other side of the coffee table.
Amethine stayed put with her own thoughts while Callie prepared the strawberries, and at her beckoning Amethine nods, taking off her own hiking boots and socks to follow Callie's example and moves over to sit cross-legged on the blankets next to the fire. She couldn't help but feel just a little rejected at Callie's reluctance to continue after their kisses, and her tail hung behind her limply with her ears, well the ears were still on alert, though not nearly as perked and active as they were earlier. Still, it was nice to spend time with her friend, she could deal with her arousal herself later, she was just a bit disappointed that it wouldn't be shared with one of the people she liked most. "Thanks, Callie. They look wonderful.". While her voice didn't quite have that same cheerful tone it usually did, she tried to pretend. They truly did look delicious, and the sugar dusting was a nice touch that she wouldn't have thought of, though she goes for what she knows she likes and dribbles the honey all over the her bowl, then pops one in her mouth and chews on in uncharacteristically slowly with a false smile on her lips. She'd feel better soon, it was just going to take a number of minutes first.
Callie closes her eyes, silently says a prayer to The Lady as she eats her first strawberry, and listens carefully with her spirit for a reply. She doesn't expect the actual words to come into her mind, but she *is* seeking some sense of... reassurance. She needs to know that this is going to turn out okay. When she opens her eyes again, it's with a warm, even teasing smile. She takes hold of one of Amethine's strawberries, and holds it up to her friend's lips, waiting for her to take a bite of it.
Amethine felt at least a bit more peaceful now, the fire was cozy, the blankets soft, the strawberries sweet and her friend comforting. As she finishes her first strawberry, she's pretty much ready to enjoy a nice evening between two friends. She's about to reach for another strawberry when her eyes widen as she spots Callie had already lifted one out to her. With a moment's confusion she relaxes into a much more genuine smile and slowly takes a bite, letting her teeth sink through the fruit while almost breathing a laugh or giggle. There was no way she could be mad at Callie, she didn't understand Vulpine culture, for all Amethine knew this was way more intimate and meaningful to Callie than sex would have been for her. She chews her deliciously sweet and juicy treat with a soft smile, staring back at her friend.
Callie grins and gives a soft laugh when Amethine takes the bite of strawberry, and then she pushes the rest of it a little further so that Ammey could eat the other half. When she did, Callie would be able to feel the catperson's lips with her index and middle fingers. Callie traces those lips gently with the bottoms of her fingers, and leans in, giving her a tender kiss, tasting the honey on Ammey.
Amethine fealt lifted seeing Callie laugh like that, and happily accepts the rest of the strawberry, smiling quite a bit as Callie gently ran her fingers around her lips, but mostly because it was rather ticklish. Then Callie leans in again, and again their lips lock in a kiss and Amethine can't help it, a small, desperate whine escapes her during it. Her eyes open wide when she realizes she made the noise, she was being teased so much with these kisses and it was only the respect for her friend that prevented her from asking, almost begging for more.
As Callie kisses Amethine, she feels an incredible sense of peace, and she realizes that she had made a mistake by not accepting Amethine's advances a few minutes earlier. Yes, Callie has the restaurant as locked down as one can get on a night like this, but she had failed to trust The Lady. Surely, making love with a dear friend, partially for The Lady's glory, would ensure that Shuka Triesta would watch over the both of them and give them protection. And besides, if Callie dies while having sex, then that's just the way she goes, and she can think of far worse ways. Callie continues kissing her dear friend, and she moves the two bowls of strawberries out of the way, breaking the kiss just long enough to cast Elemental Craft and create a cover for both bowls so that the strawberries won't attract ants. Then she delves back in for another kiss, and this time, gives Ammey the tongue.
Amethine was almost ready to pull back, bracing herself for when the kiss was broken again, but Callie keeps going. Somewhere far and distance Amethine can feel that the bowls were being pushed aside, and after just the shortest moments to catch her breath, to try and make sense of it, but then Callie starts kissing her again, and harder, she can finally now feel her vixen friend's tongue slipping in and it's met with Amethine's own, the catgirl finally getting to taste and play with their tongues, a sign of more to follow and she eagerly joins in. Amethine makes the same desperate whine as before, but of confused happiness, as though questioning if this is actually happening now. Amethine felt elated, happy, if there was anybody she wanted to do this with, it was Callie.
Callie spends a good couple of minutes with her tongue in Amethine's mouth, wrestling with that of her catperson's, and after a moment, she takes the lead, claiming victory over Amethine's tongue, and she begins to explore inside her friend's mouth. As she does this, she traces her hands against Amethine's back-- one against the back of the woman's neck, the other against the small of her back. Strong fingers delve into those points.
Amethine moans softly as Callie assaults her tongue so greedily, and after some blissful minutes Amethine feels the vulpine start to become more assertive, they still kiss each other ravenously but now her tongue is more docile, acquiescing her mouth to Callie. When the vulpine leans in that little bit to take charge, Amethine almost instinctively slides herself forward a little so that she's more underneath Callie, propping herself up on her hands but allowing some of her weight to rest on Callie's fingers at her neck and back, moaning softly again. Callie was clearly showing herself to be the more experienced here and Amethine was definitely more than willing to let her take control, they may disagree on slavery, but sexual submission? Amethine wouldn't dare admit it out loud, but there was no denying that there were certain fantasies in her imagination that were more than just a little exciting to her, and most of them involved being submissive in some way; which would have been mostly innocent until a chance encounter with a bard brought the desire for bondage and other such extremes into her mind. These lingering thoughts were pushed to the side though, for now, Amethine focused on the moment, and in this moment, her foot was grazing along Callie's thigh slowly and sensually.
Callie finds herself sliding atop of Amethine, and within a few minutes, in an orderly fashion, the fox has slid off both women's clothing. Breaking the kiss, Callie stands up and takes Amethine into a bridal carry, bringing her into the customer bedroom and using her own bare foot to close the door behind them. She sets Ammey down on her back on the bed, and gazes at the woman's body for really the first time.
Amethine marveled at the skill used in disrobing them both so effortlessly, she even managed to keep her straps and belts wound about her dress like the way she took off her dress, which usually involves a lot more wiggling. Amethine's feet dangle cutely during the lift, her head resting against Callie's warm, soft breast. When lain on the bed the catgirl doesn't move to much, save for getting slightly more comfortable, her feet flat so that her knees are raised slightly, legs parted and her arms up by her head, showing Callie everything. Aside from maybe a few cuts or scrapes along her limbs from wandering about in the woods, her skin was smooth and unblemished with no scars or marks to speak of. She was quite lithe and her soft breasts lay semi-flat on her chest, nipples quite stiff. There was not a hair to be found save for a small groomed patch of pubis, and Amethine's face was flush with arousal as she was being treated to Callie in all her vulpine glory. Amethine's tail was flicking about on the bed between her legs quite excitedly. "You... are quite beautiful...!"
Callie murrs softly at Amethine's comment and says to her, "You're very lovely yourself, Ammey." She does a slow 360-degree turn for Ammey's amusement, and after completing it, Callie says, "Mmm... I thank The Lady for having met you, Amethine. You're already such a dear friend. Bless us, shuka triesta; look down upon us with love."
Amethine can't help but giggle softly when Callie turns for her, and just has to lift herself up on her helbows and raise a foot to let the vulpine's many tails brush past it as she spins. She looks a little confused at hearing 'shuka triesta' but still smiles warmly as she responds "And I you Callie, I'm so happy to meet someone as wonderful as you!". For the first time tonight, her ears are relaxed and still, though her tail is still quite swishy.
Callie smiles warmly at Amethine, and climbs into bed with her, lying alongside the catperson. And then she begins to kiss her lips, very gently at first, but with increasing passion as she feels the heat building up in her. Callie takes the flats of her fingernails and strokes them against Ammey's breasts, but even as the two of them begin their foreplay, Callie is attentive, through the Elemental Servants well-placed around CVC, to make sure that the two of them are safe tonight.
Amethine turned onto her side to properly look at Callie as she crawls up beside her and leans into the kiss, smiling all the while. The catgirl's hand reaches up to brush through Callie's hair and gently slides down her cheek, neck and arm as she feels a tingling feeling on her breasts from the cool fingernails sliding along them. Amethine lifts a leg to let her foot and lower shin slide along Callie's leg, doing what she can to be as sensual as possible. She didn't have a lot of experience at this so was trying her best to be as stimulating as she could, which was difficult because she was really quite getting into the kiss, still tasting a hint of strawberry from earlier.
Callie lets out a soft murr into the kiss when she feels the younger woman's toes stroking her leg, and she wraps one of her arms around Amethine, stroking at about the middle of her back. Breaking the kiss finally, Callie smiles warmly at her dear friend, and touches her forehead to that of the catperson in an affectionate gesture.
Amethine feels quite encouraged by the noise Callie made at her foot stroking, and keeps it going even as one of Callie's arms wraps around her, stopping only when the kiss is broken. Amethine smiles back and when Callie touches her forehead to the catgirl's own, she gives a soft, happy little sigh of contentment, moving her arm around to her friend's back to in a gentle hug as she rests the weight of her head against Callie's. Amethine was quite peacefully happy, there may be evil raging outside but here in this bed, both of them could enjoy a sweet moment of bliss.
Callie smiles at the way Amethine sighs, and she takes the hand that had been stroking her breast, and puts it atop the catperson's head, lightly stroking the woman's dark-brown hair. She kisses the bridge of Ammey's nose, and then licks it, just to be silly. Then she kisses Amethine's forehead. "I like the little noises you're making," she says.
Amethine has quite the little smile of her own on her lips, being just so happy at this moment. Amethine was about to run her own hand along Callie's side to smoothly slide down and around a breast when her nose is kisses, which elicits a small "Hm.." of enjoyment, then a surprised "mngh?" followed by many blinks at the lick, rounded off with another little sigh, "Well, I like the way you lick!". She sounded quite silly, as though she were arguing in the silliest argument ever. With that said, her hand does indeed move around to Callie's breast, tracing the soft line between red and white fur to softly feel and caress the breast, her fingertips gently pressing into the flesh underneath her friend's soft fur.
Callie lets out a soft murr of delight as she feels her breast played with, and she says to her, "Mmm... loving it. Use your other hand to stroke one of my tailbases. Just like with catpeople, stroking vulpine tailbases feels really good." The vixen grins and kisses Ammey again on the lips, parting them with her tongue and teasing the inside of Amethine's mouth.
Amethine lets out a soft "..oh!" at Callie's suggestion, she didn't even think about that! She usually avoids her own tailbase because of just how debilitatingly pleasant it feels when massaged, but maybe that's the point? The catgirl shifts a little closer so that her other hand can continue the soft fingertip presses and strokes while her other hand makes its way down Callie's side and back. Amethine opens her mouth willingly, letting her own tongue feel Callie's as her hand reaches the many tail-bases; it felt a little strange that there was more than one tail there, but it didn't stop Amethine picking 3 of them with her fingers and, gently at first, start to press into them and massage them, softly digging and moving her fingers in just the same way the catgirl knows would drive herself crazy with pleasure and hoped a similar effect could be achieved in her friend.
Callie gasps into the kiss when Ammey starts working those fingers into three of her tailbases; she hadn't anticipated that the catperson would do more than one tailbase at a time, and it feels... wonderful. The fox curls her bare toes and strokes them against Ammey's ankles as she closes her eyes and again silently prays blessings to The Lady while kissing Amethine.
Amethine opens her eyes at the gasp, fearing she did something wrong, but then she feels Callie stroking her ankle in a similar way to how she had stroked Callie's leg earlier and feels encouraged to continue. The catgirl is, if anything, eager to please, and closes her eyes again as she starts to strongly massage the tail-bases with her fingers, deliberately using small circular movements that work so very well on her own tailbase, Amethine's tongue sliding past Callie's to feel and explore the vulpine's mouth now.
Callie isn't surprised by the fact that Amethine knows how to stroke her tails so well; Ammey has a tail of her own, of course. Callie withdraws her tongue from the catperson's mouth and allows her friend to go roaming inside the fox's mouth, while letting out soft little moans and moving a hand to gently caress the midsection of Ammey's tail, which, if she's like most catpeople, isn't quite as sensitive as her tailbase.
Amethine moans softly herself when her own tail is played with, it was twitching occasionally in Callie's grasp but not enough to break free. It's true that her tail itself isn't nearly as sensitive as her tailbase, but it was still quite pleasant to have it stroked and caressed with knowing fingers. The catgirl's tongue was eagerly roaming in Callie's mouth, tasting and exploring as her hands continued to stimulate both breast and tailbases, the hand on Callie's breast now rolling a thumb around and over the nipple, teasing it.
After another couple minutes of the kiss, with the two women exchanging strokes of tails, Callie breaks the kiss and pulls her head back a little bit. Then, speaking a word of Ancient Vulpani, she wiggles her fingers just so and presses her palms together, before pulling her hands apart. A double-ended dildo, 14 total inches long, forms in Callie's hands. It's made of opaque hard water surrounded by a thick membrane. One side of it is blue, and is pockmarked and ridged. The other side is pink, and is very smooth, almost like glass.
Amethine was quite into the kiss and almost let her head fall forwards when Callie broke it, then she blinks a few times and regains her composure somewhat, some of their mixed saliva clinging to her lips. She responds with a small "Wha...?" at the strange sound of Ancient Vulpani, but then she recognizes the object forming in Callie's hands and makes a rather interested "...oh!", she had seen a similar spell before but not one based on water, and she just can't help herself, her curiosity is truly her downfall as she has to reach up with a hand and slide a finger down the length from one side to the other.
Callie grins. "Yeah, you know what this is, but you don't yet know what I can do with it. You'll find out, though." Callie laughs lightly, and takes hold of the pink end of the dildo, giving it a small lick on the tip before slipping it between her lips and giving it a thorough once-over with her mouth. Then she slips it out, and begins to trace that pink end down Ammey's body. When she reaches the area just above her crotch, Callie looks into Ammey's eyes as if asking permission. And she is.
Amethine raises her eyebrows a little a this, a small smile of excited wonder on her lips. From most others that statement could be considered almost theatening, but Amethine just smiles, watching Callie teasing stroke it all the way down her body, and then when she stops Amethine looks back up to see Callie staring quite intently back, and offers a reassuring smile before looking back down. She was absolutely far too curious, and aroused, to even consider not letting Callie continue!
Callie slips the pink end of the dildo inside Ammey's sex, and begins to push it back and forth. Every now and then, Callie twists it, and the marvel of what she has done slowly begins to reveal itself. As Callie uses the pink end of the dildo on her friend, it gradually changes form, becoming just as pockmarked, ridged, and tight as the blue end is. It's adapting itself to match the inner topography of Amethine's vagina, causing her even more pleasure. It's practically a mold of Ammey's sex, but it produces its own lubrication.
Amethine had lifted a leg to allow Callie easier access, and when she feels the glass-like object glide in she sighs expectedly, so happy to finally get the stimulation she so desperately craved earlier, humming a soft moan to herself as the object is slid in and out with a couple of twists for good... "...ooh? Oooohh..! Oohhh what? Oh! Oohh my!" Amethine could feel it changing, shifting shape, filling her up much more fully than she could have though possible! She shifts onto her back, legs open wide to stare down through her breasts at Callie's hand moving around down there, her soft moaning sounding a lot more excited now. "By all that's...! It's... changing to fit me?". She looks to Callie with a look of curious wonder on her face, as though wondering if the much better sensations that she's feeling is actually intended.
Callie grins lasciviously and replies, "Mmm-hmm. It's not doing it automatically, either-- I'm feeling the feedback from it and making a series of tiny adjustments myself. And once I've got it fully set, I'll be able to create it from scratch in its final form. Mmm, what do you think? Is making love to a water mage every bit as wonderful as you hoped it would be?" Before Ammey can answer, Callie kisses her gently on the lips, and then pulls back, resting the side of her right head against a pillow as she awaits Amethine's reply.
Amethine emits a small "Mmmh.." at the kiss, then looks between Callie and her hand a few times. Then is about to respond when the dildo shifts slightly "Aaahh..! Ooohhohoo..!" the catgirl's face is bright red, looking very flushed with passion, then she gulps and looks into Callie's strikingly green eyes with her own mismatched ones, and says in a voice loaded with lustful passion "Can... I sleep over more often...?"
Callie giggles at Ammey's question, and kisses her on the forehead. Then she places the catperson on her back, climbs atop of her, and inserts the blue end of the dildo into her own snatch. As one might expect, her side of the dildo has already been well-fitted to the fox's vagina; that's why it looked so different from the original pink side. "Mmmm, okay," she says with a chuckle, finally responding verbally to Ammey's question. "But I can't promise I'll *always* be in a sexy mood, you know."
Amethine blinks as Callie moves her into position, and smiles a sultry smile as she watches Callie slide onto her own end, vaguely wondering just how much that end's seen use but looks into Callie's eyes before wrapping her hands around Callie's neck to lift herself into another little kiss on the lips, then flops back down on the pillow. "Maybe not.. but I'll be happy to help if you want to be...!". She still held on with her arms, but it was a loose grasp, more like an affectionate, loose embrace rather than any kind of hold.
Callie grins at that and gives Amethine another kiss on the lips before breaking it and saying, "You've got a great sense of humor. Making love to you is so fun." Taking more of the dildo into herself, Callie begins to thrust her hips back and forth, and she wraps her arms around the back of Ammey's neck, keeping her a little pinned.
Amethine smiles as she gives a soft giggle at the rather unique compliment. But then Callie starts to move in earnest and Ammey leans back into Callie's arms with her eyes closed in a passionate moan, willing herself to be pinned to encourage Callie to continue, her own hips buck into Callie's a little at first, giving small gasps and moans of pleasure at the amazing toy inside her, but quickly finds Callie's pace and tries to match, moving the dildo in Callie as much as in her. The grip on Callie's neck is a bit tighter now, not wanting it to stop anytime soon.
Callie slowly increases the pace of their lovemaking over the course of the next seven or eight minutes, the fox showing not only tremendous restraint but also wonderful stamina. Vulpines are well-known for their prowess in bed, and for good reason. The Lady has blessed them with amazing bodies that possess a superior metabolism and cardiovascular endurance. In addition, Callie works hard to keep herself in great shape, because sex is not only one of her favorite activities, but it's an act of worship, and all acts of worship, be they sexual or non-sexual, deserve the best that Callie can give to The Lady.
Amethine was keeping up with Callie's pace quite well, and as the minutes passed she began to realize that Callie wasn't slowing, but wasn't speeding up either, she was keeping a nice steady rhythm. She had one night stands that had finished by now, but not her, this promised to be a long night to remember. "Ooohhh fuck yes..!" is all Amethine can muster to say as she hooks her legs up and around Callie, resting her heels at her tail-bases, giving them a nice little rubbing as the vulpine relentlessly pumped that dildo into them both, urging her onwards. Amethine was quite glad to be at the bottom, she doubted she could give her friend the performance she so clearly deserved.
When Callie feels Amethine's bare feet touching her tails, the vixen grins; she's always been quite the foot-fetishist, and feeling Ammey's feet touching such an erogenous zone of her body is really turning Callie on. "Mmmm, I'm gonna speed up a little," she warns her friend, just a few seconds before doing so. The vixen kisses Ammey a little more roughly than usual, and then she breaks the kiss and begins licking and kissing at her friend's neck.
Amethine opens her eyes, she got quite the reaction out of Callie! Whether it was lifting her legs, or pressing her feet and heels at Callie's tail bases she wasn't quite sure, but decides there's nothing wrong with grabbing one of those tails between her feet and gentle pulling down, sliding the soles of her feet along a tail before starting again with another. "Hhh...! Don't.. restrain yourself or, hold back... not for my benefit...!" is her response to Callie's warning, she wasn't really against rougher play, but like most things in life, Ammey was curious, this time curious to see just how far Callie could go! When she does speed up, the catgirl lets out a long moan, nuzzling her chin toward's Callie's head as she licks and kisses her neck.
Callie doesn't reply to that comment, at least not verbally, but her hands are put into action, her right hand stroking Ammey's left breast and tweaking at the nipple, while her left hand moves down to the woman's tailbase. She smiles, knowing exactly what this is doing to Amethine, and she feels heat building up inside her, along with the understanding that she won't be able to go much longer without experiencing her first orgasm of the night.
Amethine responds quite vigorously to Callie's hands, more than would be expected. Amethine had been keeping her hands away from herself to try and last longer, but with Callie going for her sweet spots, her willpower breaks down and, with her feet still trying to awkwardly play with those tails, she lets go of her friend's neck she was holding onto and moves her hands down to her crotch, all semblance of self-control gone as she mashes her joy-button desperately, her left hand grabbing and squeezing at the nearest possible Callie breast dangling over her. "CalliiIEEEEEEEEEEHHH!!!!" is the only warning as the catgirl very quickly cums, hard! Her whole body convulsing from such a long pent-up need. She locks her legs tight around Callie's waist, preventing them from seperating until Amethine relaxes.
Callie groans excitedly as she hears Ammey's cry of delight, screaming the fox's name so loudly that she could be heard all the way in the Celestial Realm, probably, even if The Lady wasn't actively listening in. The fox's orgasm isn't far behind, but given the fact that Ammey has gripped her waist so tightly with her legs, she has to do something else other than thrusting. Fortunately, Callie has another trick in her back pocket. She reaches down to the dildo and modifies it again, and two tendrils appear, with their bases in the middle of the dildo, going in opposite directions. Each tendril comes to a rest on one of the women's clitorises, and begins to massage it in a slow but tight circle, as if the tendril were an actual living thing. It's just enough to push Callie over the top. "Ahhh, goddess... mmmmm, shuka triesta... AMETHINE!" She cries out, and looks passionately down at her friend's face as she comes hard.
Amethine immediately straightens her legs as soon as feels her clit played with without her touching it this time with a shocked gasp of passion, allowing Callie to get a last few thrusts in before the catgirl feels the vulpine also orgasm. Amethine looks at her friend with a dreamy smile, eyes half-open from her own orgasmic high and lays limp beneath Callie, legs flopping onto the bed. She can't think of words, she just lies there, quickly recovering from her blissful state. Being quite amorous creatures, catgirls like Amethine can be easy to arouse again rather quickly, especially with one they like unless it's clear in their mind that the festivities have concluded; and Amethine looks quite blissfully happy right now.
Callie pulls the dildo out of the both of them, and as she slides upward so that she can be alongside Ammey, she keeps hold of the magnificent toy that she's created. Both sides of the dildo are still quite slick with the lovers' sex juices, and Callie smiles lasciviously as she presents the dildo for Amethine's inspection. The tendrils are still attached, allowing Ammey to see them for the first time-- and she's also seeing the topographical map of the pink side of the dildo for the first time. Then, with a wink, Callie licks the tip of the pink side, tasting her friend's essence.
Amethine gasps and sighs as she feels the wonderfully wet fullness slide out of her, seemingly quite out of energy, though this does little to stop her curiosity as she leans on an elbow to get a proper look at the device that was just inside her, marvelling at the different shapes and textures of the two sides, and those tendrils which causes her eyes to widen at first, reaching up to gently feel one of the tendrils coming from the middle of the dildo. Then Callie licks her end, and with a smile mimicking her friend's, Amethine scoots closer to reach up and lick the blue end. With the way she's reaching with her head, and her back arched just so, she's inadvertently looking very submissive in this pose, and whether deliberate or not, she gives one long lick along the blue end, smacking her lips a little before murmuring "Mmmh... you know, I think I might prefer the source...?". A small suggestion to continue to please her friend, all semblence of fatigue gone, as one of her hands grazes along Callie's stomach, heading lower, though giving her friend plenty of time to refuse.
Callie grins at that, but says, "Let's take a short break. We need to eat those strawberries, still." She hesitates to add these next few sentences, but it's a dangerous night and she needs to say it: "Everyone's been steering clear of CVC this evening. I've got an Elemental Servant bird flying throughout the town, and she's seen neither hide nor hair of a single person since your arrival."
Amethine leans over to rest her head on Callie's stomach, staring up at her friend through those white-furred breasts with a big soft smile on her face, the previous tiredness suddenly back. Amethine does look a little concerned though at the extra sentences "Well that's, surely a good thing, if all of the Moriel's are nearer the more populated areas? ...". She was about to say something else, about her she must have been distracted even during their passionate lovemaking, but Amethine says nothing and instead silently resolved to return on a night when Callie can devote all of her attention on either pleasing Amethine, or letting the catgirl please her! She doesn't get up immediately, and when Callie speaks up or motions to move, the catgirl would moan cutely and nuzzle into her friend's stomach fur a little, but otherwise not move. "Mmnnn...! Five more minutes...!"
Callie giggles and pushes off slowly, saying, "You're... not... making this easy!" But she does free herself from Amethine's embrace. "Mmm, I wanna change locations, anyway. The customer bedroom is nice, but it lacks some of the homey touches that make my bedroom, my bedroom."
Amethine is, in true cat-like fashion, very surprisingly difficult to shift from the warm fuzzyness of that tummy, but with enough effort does eventually move, where she rolls onto her front and kick her legs and tail in the air playfully. ".. 'homey touches'..? Like what? Ooh.. do you have more toys or gadgets?". Amethine sounded quite excited by the prospect.
"Hm maybe," Callie says. "You'll have to come with me to find out." Callie hands the double-ended dildo to Ammey, and then departs the room, quite deliberately shashaying her hips and swaying her five tails behind her. As she passes the living room, she uses her Telekinesis spell to float the two bowls of strawberries, which have elementally-crafted covers on them, up into her hands. She climbs the stairs, giving Ammey a nice view of her soles.
Amethine takes the dildo and runs it through her fingers a few times, feeling the unique-ness of both sides that's still wet from them both, then shakes her head and quickly follows. Her refractory period is pretty short and is already quite eager to continue, watching the strawberries fly into Callie's hand, she really has to learn that spell sometime soon, and dutifully follows Callie closely. The movement of her tails could be quite hypnotizing but she spots something, her friend's feet are moving a bit strangely, as though showing the soles off deliberately. Amethine gets quite a number of ideas, only some of which are quite wicked and, with a smirk, follows Callie into her own private room.
Callie's bedroom is about half again as big as the customer bedroom, and comes with a king-sized bed with blue sheets; a circular table with two chairs and an unlit lantern; a desk with a chair, filing cabinet, and unlit lantern; a walk-in closet; a chest of drawers; an altar with a statuette of The Lady flanked by two long candlesticks; and an end table with drawers and an unlit lantern. Callie casts her Dawn's Early Light spell to provide enough light to see by, sets the strawberry bowls on the table, and goes around the room lighting all the lanterns and candles in the room with flint and tinder. Then she cancels her Dawn's Early Light spell.
Amethine looks around at the furnishings, it's certainly more than what she purchased from Abby at The Works. The catgirl "Oooohh..."'s at the spell that illuminates the room exactly as though an early morning sunshine had just suddenly arisen, but then when the spell fades the room becomes a bit darker, but still well illuminated from the lanterns and candles; though the soft flickering flames causing the shadows to dance does set a better ambience. The catgirl stands naked in the middle of the room, watching Callie and not really knowing where she should sit, her own tail swishing away behind her.
Callie sits down at the circular table, at the chair facing the door, and gestures for Ammey to sit across from her. She uncovers the strawberry bowls, and takes hold of one of Amethine's strawberries, which is drizzled in honey. "Now, where were we?" she asks. Callie pushes the berry forward towards the catperson's mouth.
Amethine takes the offered seat and giggles, accepting the strawberry by running her tongue all around it to lick the dripping honey before sinking her teeth into it, being just far enough to be able to also give Callie's fingertips the smallest of kisses.
Callie giggles softly when she feels Ammey's lips lightly kissing her fingers, and then she places her own fingers into her mouth, tasting the strawberry, honey, and yes, the erotic aftermath of their first time having sex. "Mmmm," Callie says. "Now feed me one of mine. I think we're gonna need all the energy we can get tonight."
Amethine 's eyes light up a little as she chews on her strawberry, finally swallowing it. "We are...?" is said in an almost seductive tone, which feels a little strange to Ammey since she's not used to using such a tone. She takes a couple of Callie's strawberries that are dusted in sugar and holds them up to Callie between her fingers, the double ended dildo resting on the table as she leans over to reach Callie.
Callie nods in reply to that question, and opens her mouth, deftly sucking the strawberries inside and giving Ammey's fingers a light lick before slowly masticating the sweetened fruits. "Something to consider for later," Callie says after swallowing the strawberries. "Have you ever had yatava tea before?"
Amethine almost giggles from the tickling sensation of Callie's tongue licking her fingers, but lifts up another strawberry for Callie, and at the comment to consider, she pops one of her own honeyed strawberries into her mouth. Though her expression shifts to curiosity as her head tilts to the side slightly. "Yatava...? No, no I don't think so... why? What is it?"
"Yatava is an odorless, tasteless herb that imparts energy to many different races, including yours and mine, when consumed in certain ways," Callie says. "It's not an aphrodisiac, though, and it's non-addictive. A lot of vulpines put it in flavored tea, and consume it as part of our worship rituals-- or for a quick pick-me-up in the middle of a long day."
Amethine turns her head to the side somewhat, still keeping both eyes on Callie, an almost knowing smile dawning on her lips. "Or... for long nights...?". She hadn't come across such a herb before, perhaps it wasn't native to the areas that she's explored? Amethine was certainly most intrigued now!
"Now you've got it," Callie says with a grin. "I'm not surprised you haven't heard of yatava; it's native to swamps, of all places. There are a couple species of small swamp lizard that like to consume it. Fortunately, a little yatava goes a long way, so we can leave them plenty of yatava to eat while still having enough for ourselves and other sapient species."
Amethine nods in understanding "Swaaaamps... yeah I avoided them mostly. Though... shouldn't be too difficult to cultivate in a greenhouse or something... I should look into that!". She was easily distracted by the prospect of new plants to play with, and forgot why she was even in Callie's bedroom to begin with. Then a look of quick shock as she remembers. "Uh... but maybe not right now...? Hehe.."
"Oh, yeah, of course not now," Callie says with a grin. She raises another honey-glazed strawberry up to Ammey's lips. "You know... I should give ya a little bit of yatava herb to play around with, see what you can mix out of it. Might make some fascinating results. I do *not* recommend giving it to most animals, though. It'll just make them hyper."
Amethine eagerly takes the strawberry, but not without giving Callie's fingers a quick lick as they pull away, nodding in agreement, coming up with all kinds of ideas. But then she stops dead, and stares at Callie when she says the word 'hyper'. Then smiles quite mischevously. "You realize, the first thing I want to do now is see what happens when Airy tries some?"
Callie laughs. "Oh, goddess. I see one of two possibilities. Either she'll flit so fast across the room that she'll break the sound barrier... or nothing will happen at all, because Hyper Airy doesn't look any different than Regular Airy." Callie leans in and kisses Amethine on the nose, and then pulls back.
Amethine giggles a little, then her ears wiggle happily at the kiss and she smiles back to Callie, holding up one of her friend's strawberries. "I'd certainly be hoping for the former!", her mischievous little mind is already concocting ways on administering the herb to Airy surreptitiously. The catgirl probably won't act on any of them, but it's still fun to think about.
Callie chuckles again, and takes a bite out of the offered strawberry, splitting it neatly in half. "If you feel you *must* feed her some yatava tea, do it well away from CVC or any imperial property, okay?" She grins and takes a bite out of the other half of the strawberry, her ears fully perked up, enjoying the flirting.
Amethine giggles a lot more. "What about the musical instrument place for Bards? You know how perfect that sounds!". She looks at the strawberry half she's holding and pulls it back and holds it as though she's about to gently toss it like a basketball, implying she wants to see if she can't land it right in Callie's mouth; Amethine is having the best time right now.
Callie opens her mouth as wide as she can, wanting to see if Ammey can score a goal between her lips. Her five tails are swaying happily behind her in a very friendly manner, and her eyes seem to be glowing in the light of the room.
Amethine takes a couple of seconds to aim and, trusting her natural dexterity, gives the strawberry a nice high and dramatic arc through the air, and it clips the upper lip of Callie's mouth, then hits her bottom row of teeth and rolls in. Amethine looks quite pleased with the result and her ears and tail both wiggle about playfully as a result! "Heehee!"
As the strawberry is thrown through the air, Callie keeps her mouth open wide and doesn't move, but her eyes catch the trajectory of the berry the entire way until it falls from sight. She's quite surprised when it lands in her mouth, and the fox bites through the strawberry and swallows it. "I'm beginning to think there's no limit to the wonders you can perform," she says.
Amethine gets all shy and blushes from the compliment. "Aw don't say that... I just have good hand-eye coordination! It's one of the perks of being cat-like, I mean, I can follow Airy's flitting movements no problem, no matter how dizzy she tries to make me!". She offers a shy little smile and pops one of her own strawberries in her mouth.
"I can *generally* follow her around too," Callie says, taking a bite of one of her strawberries. "At the very least, I can hear her coming into the restaurant, because the fae door's bell is slightly higher-pitched than the double doors. I originally designed that for a dear friend of mine, Fayetta, who came in all the time and was briefly one of my employees. She left the empire awhile back, but I have fond memories of her."
Amethine tilts her head to the side a little, ears folding back a bit in sympathy "Aw... well I hope she's doing okay." She had popped another of her honeyed strawberries in her mouth, and didn't want to touch Callie's arm consolingly with her sticky fingertips, so instead chose to gently rub her foot up and down Callie's leg, unaware if her actions could have a rather different meaning.
"I'm sure she is," Callie says. After a moment, Callie's eyes grow serious, and she says, "Can I be honest with you for a moment, Ammey? At the risk of ruining the afterglow?" She doesn't know if Amethine is really ready to hear what she has to say, but the catperson deserves an explanation.
Amethine leans back a bit in surprise, her foot moving back to under her chair. "Oh...! Uh, of course Callie. You can tell me anything.". She felt that things had gotten serious now, and was almost afraid she had done something wrong, but was giving her friend her full attention, staring at her green eyes with her own mismatched ones.
Callie takes a few breaths before speaking, and doesn't grab another strawberry. "There were a few brief minutes here tonight during which I'd decided not to make love to you this evening. Just as I decided to grab some food for us. I felt it would be... taking advantage of your vulnerability. I mean, you literally got here because you were running for your life. You came to the only place you could where you knew you'd be protected, and... I didn't want that protection to seemingly come with a price, you know?"
Amethine felt a twinge in her heart at that. That could not have been easy for her to say, but Callie really seemed to have the catgirl's best intentions at heart. Amethine pushes her chair back and stands up as though to leave, and suddenly with great speed and dexterity, moves around the table in one sudden fluid motion to grab Callie into a big tight naked hug. "Aw you silly vulpine...! You're so great! If I didn't really and truly want to do it I wouldn't have agreed to it so far! You're one of my best friends Callie, I wouldn't have done anything to hurt that friendship!". She plants a big silly kiss on Callie's cheek before continuing. "You'd be surprised how often I'm running for my life, honestly a night of debauchery is a great way for a catgirl like me to feel better after it!". She was hugging so tight, lying in Callie's lap, so very thankful for such a friend.
Callie's heart sinks for a moment, but just a moment, as Amethine stands up. She thinks this is it, she's just driven that catgirl away. And then before she knows it, Ammey is in her lap and hugging her. The vixen smiles, and wipes aaway a couple tears of joy when she hears what her friend has to say. "Ah, I'm so relieved," she says after a moment. "Another part of it was that I didn't know how well I could protect you with my minions while my real self was... you know, otherwise occupied. But I decided that I'd prepared as best I could, and I'd leave the rest up to The Lady. I know how much She cares for me; my status as a Musha Villa is evidence enough. Would She allow us to be hurt on a night like this, knowing that sex is a form of worship for me? I think not."
Amethine giggles when Callie mentions her relief and she continues to huggle the vulpine, nuzzling into her soft fur. "Well I mean the door's locked tight and shop-type places are usually harder to bust into than other places so it really is unlikely for anybody to...", then something clicks, and she pulls away a bit to look at Callie's face properly. "..sex is a form of worship for you? Really?". She sounded genuinely surprised, Amethine knew little about The Lady and had no idea about any of this.
Callie gently breaks the embrace and gives a non-verbal cue that she wishes to stand up; when she's free to do so, she walks over to the shrine she has here in her bedroom. Tall white, lit, candlesticks flank a statuette of The Lady, which is painted gold and has ten tails. On the front of the altar is a ten-tailed starburst pattern, the insignia of triestan, the mainstream vulpine religion. She looks at The Lady's statuette for a moment and says, "The Lady has Three Tenets that She wants us to follow. Seek pleasure in all its forms, strive for self-improvement, and practice hospitality." She turns to face Amethine. "I fulfill all Three Tenets just in the running of the restaurant. Cooking food for people gives me pleasure; I work to improve the menu and recipes constantly; and obviously I provide hospitality. Worship through sex is a key part of the First Tenet."
Amethine gently slides off of Callie to let her stand up, and follows her to the shrine, peering at the detail in the statuette. She turns to Callie when she notices that the vulpine had turned to face her, and nods slowly in interest. "And self improvement of your water abilities too! So if.." Amethine turns back to the shrine. ".. you worship The Lady a lot... and sex is.." she turns back to Callie with a small smile, almost knowing smile on her face. "You must have quite a lot of experience then!"
"Oh, yes," Callie says with a warm smile. "I've been having sex fairly regularly since I was 18. In fact, the Verlosi Tribe provides sex education when one turns 18, and we mean that in a very literal sense. I was assigned a partner for classes, got a textbook, and everything." Callie chuckles. "Hikasha and I were nervous about our first time being in front of people, so we went out somewhere private and did it there first."
Amethine looked very surprised at this "Oh wow...! You had to do it in front of a class..? I.. I'm almost afraid to ask what you had learned in this education!". The catgirl was blushing just imagining the scenario, then looks around the room, almost mockingly. "Though I do wonder what you... preferred to learn about!", the catgirl's curiosity truly knew no bounds.
"Well, I had sex with guys, sex with girls, with a couple different species, and in groups," Callie says. "Did well on them, but I got stuck with a rather nasty partner for BDSM stuff, and I grew to hate being tied up. Still do. It used to give me panic attacks."
Amethine looked quite surprised at the casual description of her experience at this sex education, but her ears fold back sympathetically at her admitting her distaste for BDSM. The letters forcefully drew up recent memories for the catgirl, but she shoved them to the side for now with a slight shake of her head then focused her attention on Callie. "Aw that's terrible, does being restrained still cause panic attacks? Was it just that you couldn't move or.... or, would you rather not talk about it?", She sounded like she wanted to help Callie with it, but then remembered as she spoke that she didn't really have much right to pry like that. Callie had been alive for a long time, and Amethine figured that she could hardly have been the first person to offer help in that regard. There was also that part of her that was curiously fantasizing about it, but she shook that thought out again, silently cursing that Bard that she had met in the woods.
"I haven't done it for a long time, so... I couldn't say, and I'm not eager to find out," Callie says. She shrugs. "But anyway... I truly believe The Lady is looking down on us tonight, enjoying what She sees, and giving us Her protection. That doesn't mean I'll recall the Elemental Servants, of course, but I feel... relaxed. Confident. Wanted, and loved." Callie walks over to Amethine, and gives her a soft kiss on the lips.
Amethine 's eyes flutter a bit after the kiss that felt laden with love, all she can do for a couple of seconds is just blankly smile back at Callie; then thinks of something to say. "Well, if that's something you don't enjoy, then what DO you enjoy? The First Tenet's pleasure in all forms right? What can I do for you that would bring you the most pleasure?", Amethine continues to smile as her eyes adopt a more relaxed, welcoming look, with her tail swishing happily behind her.
"I think," Callie says with a grin, "that you mentioned earlier you might prefer the source. I believe we ought to test that theory. Mmmm, but first... we should pray to The Lady. Ask Her for Her continued protection. Rest assured, I'm remaining vigilant, but... I *know* in my heart that She's looking out for us, tonight of all nights."
Amethine blushes a little, she had forgotten she said that, not that she was complaining about Callie's impeccable memory. Though her request to pray to a goddess she didn't follow took her by surprise, though not as much as her suggestion at what they should do! "Oh..! Uh.. well, sure I guess! But uh... I wouldn't know the first thing to do... or say... I'm not even a vulpine like you or anything."
"It's okay," Callie says, smiling warmly. "I can do the praying for the both of us. The Lady loves all the races of the world, not just the one that She brought into existence." Callie takes Amethine by the hand and stands with her in front of The Lady's shrine. "Shuka triesta, Mother of All Vulpines, I love you and praise Your name. Please continue to provide Your Holy Protection on this dangerous night. Bless this time that I share together with my dear friend Amethine. Thank You for bringing her into my life. Keeshan."
Amethine hurriedly follows Callie back to the shrine and looks between Callie and the shrine repeatedly while Callie talks, then suddenly thinks that maybe she should bow her head in respect, so that's what she does. She starts blushing a bit more at the specific thanks of her meeting Callie, she certainly felt no divine presence when she first walked into the Inn, thogh her compass DID break randomly which caused her to... during this train of thought Amethine realizes Callie had stopped talking and quickly tries to make up for her wandering mind. "Oh..! Uhm Keeshan!", then she looks up at Callie to see what was to happen next.
Callie smiles at Ammey repeating the Vulpani benediction word, and she turns her head to the right and plants a gentle smooch on Amethine's left cheek. "You are... so amazing, my friend," she says, and she strokes Ammey's tail with her right tail. Then she leads her to the bed, and sits down upon it. "Come here, you."
Amethine 's ears flicker at the praise and the kiss, and follows Callie to the bed. At the request to 'come here' she at first doesn't know what to do, come where? She could kneel down or sit in her lap if she chose but decided on the safer option and sat down on the Vulpine's left, sitting quite close and looking up with a smile.
Callie leans in, places one of her hands on Amethine's cheek, and kisses her sweetly on the lips. After a moment, she gets onto her knees on the mattress and kisses her again, the vixen starting to really get into this, feeling the spirit moving her. Then she breaks the kiss, and laughs. "You know... it's a bit too bright in here, wouldn't you say?"
Amethine gently rubs one of Callie's tails as her cheek is carressed, returning the kiss tenderly, the catgirl then turns on the spot as Callie moves onto her knees, the movement makes Amethine almost stand off the bed now, using her hands to prop herself on it. She smiles warmly at her friend. "Mmmh... maybe a little, but I can see in the dark anyway it won't make that much difference to me."
"Hm, all the same..." Callie rises from the bed and blows out two of the three lanterns. The mood is much more romantic and sensual now. She doesn't waste time, and soon returns to the bed. "There," she says. She takes hold of Ammey and lies her down on the bed. The vixen lay down next to her, and begins to trail soft kisses around her face.
Amethine hums in approval as the light drops, but the room isn't plunged in total darkness, Amethine approves of the mood the light brings now. Amethine obediently lets Callie move her onto the bed properly, and moans softly as her face is peppered with kisses, Ammey taking the opportunity to rub her hand and foot up and down Callie's side, her hand rubbing quite close to, but not quite reaching the soft white fur of her chest just yet.
Callie lets out soft little "mmms" of pleasure at feeling Amethine's extremities touching her body, and in between kisses she speaks in Vulpani, words from one of Milana Serafin's romance adventure novels. Amethine wouldn't be able to understand it, except that every now and then, Callie speaks Amethine's name. It's as if she's replacing the character from the novel with Amethine herself.
Amethine raises an eyebrow slightly, wondering what Callie was yammering on about. She's saying the catgirl's name but isn't actually talking to her? It soon clicks that she might be fantasizing about that book she was reading earlier. Amethine couldn't remember any details from the book, but tried to make an educated guess; if Callie was fantasizing about it, perhaps she was putting herself in the role of the main character? If that was the case, what kind of person would the character romance, bearing in mind the novel is set against a civil war? If the heroine was an assertive and strong character, it would stand to reason that the chosen partner was more submissive, so how would this submissive character react to getting their face peppered with kisses? Eventually, with a moan, Amethine decides to hug Callie closer to her, pressing their bodies much closer together in a tight embrace, but with her slight movements makes it clear that it's up to Callie to either stay like thiss or roll them both over or do something else. It's around this time that Amethine thinks if she isn't overthinking things...
Callie places her side tails against Amethine's legs and continues to slowly, deeply kiss her friend, this time without pausing. She breathes in the scent of Amethine, and silently praises The Lady for bringing her into her life. Goddess, the warmth she's feeling is incredible. Lying next to Amethine is like lying in the sun on the first day of spring.
Amethine lifts her legs slightly, rubbing her feet and toes along Callie's legs while also letting those side-tails fully curl around her legs. Amethine wriggles a little to get comfy, not daring to break their kiss or embrace, yet subconsciously ensuring that the catgirl was slightly under Callie's slightly larger frame. Amethine was reveling in the deepness of their kiss, tongues dancing with each other as her hands slowly rubbed up and down Callie's back, keeping them tight. She couldn't remember when her breasts felt this warm, being so squished against Callie's own, but the feeling was exquisite to her.
After several long minutes of deep kissing, Callie begins to turn on top of Amethine's body, until they're in perfect 69 position. With one hand lightly stroking the toes of Amethine's left foot, and two of her tails caressing her stomach area, Callie finds the catgirl's sex and starts to work on it with her tongue. Ere long, a soft "mmm!" of happiness emerges from Callie's mouth.
Amethine looked a little confused when Callie broke off and made to move away, but then quickly understood what was happening, though a light giggle could be heard at first when her toes are stroked at, causing both of her feet to curl and move about cutely, though she didn't move her feet away from Callie's hands, allowing her to continue. The catgirl was practically dripping wet with all the foreplay, but she barely notices at first, being too enraptured by Callie's sex right in front of her. She had eagerly leaned in to rub her nose and tongue over it, breathing in the scent of Callie's arousal, but then a tongue is introduced to the catgirl's folds and this illicits a sudden strong moan of delight from Amethine, her warm breath washing all over Callie's sex, but the catgirl wastes little time and proceeds to lick and tease at the area at first, before attacking the clit and parting those lips to taste the vulpine directly. With the catgirl's hands free, she knows what to do with them, and soon Callie would feel massaged and scritches at all of her tail-bases, at once. The catgirl was quite relentless at this!
Callie pulls up from Amethine's pussy just long enough to murmur, "Ohhhh, goddess!" and then she redoubles her efforts, her tails swaying very slowly atop the women's nude forms, indicating Callie's deep arousal. The vixen's feet are on either side of Ammey's head, and every now and then she strokes her with the side of a toe. Callie raises her head long enough to look over at The Lady's altar, and the statuette flanked by the two lit candles. Whenever she has sex, she never forgets that it's a form of worship of her goddess, The Mother of All Vulpines.
Amethine doesn't have the self restraint to be able to pull away from Callie's folds, all she can do is hum a deep moan as she buries her tongue deep into Callie's hole, curling and moving her tongue to cause as much pleasure as she can. Amethine's legs open more on their own as Callie deepens her actions, which causes her own tail to pull free after being trapped under a leg, it now swishes to and fro in obvious arousal, or just happiness. Amethine switches occasionally from tongueing Callie to nibbling and suckling at her clitoris, the fact that the vulpine's juices were leaking all over her only heightened the catgirl's arousal, and she moaned deeply again.
Callie can feel herself dribbling onto Amethine and she's unashamed by it; this is exactly what she'd had in mind when assuming this position. It was a position requested earlier in the evening by Amethine, that the catgirl had had to wait for for a little while. And she's also getting her mouth and nose wet with Ammey's juices, to say nothing of the inside of her mouth and her tongue. Ahhhhh, fuuuuck, she's so excited, and getting close already to another orgasm. There's nothing quite like the feeling of another person's tongue on you, especially when it's someone you've come to care so deeply about.
Amethine was flying high in her own world of pleasure, she had had sex before, but to do so like this, with somebody she cared for was leauges more enjoyable! She was drinking as much of Callie's essence as she could, hungrily pressing herself as far as she could go. Amethine's hips were starting to buck gently into Callie's face, indicating that she was getting close to orgasm, and then Amethine gets an idea. Despite all of the wonderful sensations, and the glorious tongue of Callie's, the catgirl couldn't help but try and think of a way to make this even more enjoyable. she remembered the way Callie had lifted her feet as they walked upstairs, and she could definitely feel her toes gently rubbing against her head. So, with a smile, Amethine at last pulls free of her friend's sex and, with one hand poised to strike with the other still attacking what tail bases it could reach, the catgirl slides her fingers into Callie's pussy, fingering her feverishly as her thumb rubs the clit. At the same time, Ammey turns her head to the left, and nibbles at Callie's toes, running her very wet tongue all over and between them!
Callie's eyebrows raise when Ammey slips her mouth out of her sex, and then... then she feels the catperson's teeth on her toes! The unexpected movement almost causes Callie to kick Amethine right in the teeth; instead she recoils to prevent it. Pulling up, she says, "No... use a hand; I don't want to hurt you by mistake." Her feet can handle being stroked by those lovely, skilled digits, but they're far too ticklish to withstand being licked and nibbled at.
Amethine giggles a little at the reaction, her head quickly bobbed out of the way as soon as Callie's foot twitched, but only gives another lick or two before relenting and swaps her tongue for the fingers inside Callie's pussy. She lets out another giggle this time, but this giggle was of intent, a challenge was now offered and Ammey would at some point like to take that challenge, so see how long she can lick and suckle at Callie's toes before finally getting hit. The catgirl's curiosity will one day be her undoing, but for now at least, her much more agile fingers sroke and play with Callie's toes and soles of her feet as her tongue resumes draining all of the juice it can find within Callie's hole, now moaning softly again as her hips resume their gently bucking.
"Mmmmm, better," Callie says as she feels the switch, and then she goes right back to delving inside Amethine's pussy. Goddess, Ammey is so wet for her, and that fills Callie with pride. And Callie is happy with how she herself is so aroused for Ammey. Her toes and tails begin to curl and uncurl, and she closes her eyes, feeling herself trembling wildly.
Amethine did enjoy the taste of Callie's juices more certainly, but she wasn't deterred from attacking Callie's toes with nibbles. but that would have to wait as amethine then felt Callie's whole body treimbling a little. Was Callie about to hit orgasm? Anething didn't hesitate, and immediately tripled her efforts, thrustigng her own hips up and leaving herself propped up so that Callie could get into her better. She was so close now, and was quietly hoping they could hit orgasm together this time.
Callie's body vibrates with terrific excitement and she moves one of her hands down to rub vigorously onto Amethine's clit, her index and middle fingers pushing and moving in a circle, as she feels herself coming, and coming hard. She buries her tongue deep inside Ammey's sopping cunt, breathing in deeply the sweet scent, as her toes curl tightly.
Amethine was far too close to handle such a sudden surge of pleasure, she desperately moans into Callie's pussy, her voice muffled, within seconds the catgirl hits the point of no return and starts cumming hard as she cries out, rather muffles "ooohhcaaallIIIIEEEEE!!", gushing out her juices is a display of her extreme arousal for Callie. Though this was not before Amethine managed to mirror Callie's actions somewhat and use her fingers and numb to powerful effect, rubbing Callie's clit hard!
Hearing her name cried out to the heavens causes Callie to lift her head up and scream, "Ohhhh... AMMEEEEEEEEEEEY!" Her tails flump down towards the rest of her body, and she bumps her curled toes a few times against the soft mattress. Then, as she comes down off her orgasm, she flips onto her back and moves alongside Ammey, head-to-head.
Amethine had held her face there, a front row seat for Callie's orgasm and just before the strength in the vulpines arms gives out, the catgirl gives one last dutiful little lick before flopping back herself. Then she just lies there panting, mumbling deleriously from the orgasm, that was WAY more intense than earlier for her! Ammey just lazily rests her head into Callie's enjoying another small moment of silent intimacy, completely forgetting just how soaked her body was from Callie being above her.
Callie uses her Telekinesis to float the topsheet above them, puts her left arm over Amethine, and presses her forehead against that of her friend, smiling in gentle contentment. What a day this has been; what a rare mood she's in. Ammey had started this evening by running for her life into Callie's restaurant, and was going to end it in Callie's arms.
Amethine nuzzled close into Callie, hugging her tight as the blanket is drawn over them. The blanket kicks off a placebo effect for Ammey who, thanks to the post-orgasm exhaustion, had no trouble falling asleep quite quickly, but not before she leans up to kiss Callie on the lips again, tiredly, but very happily muttering "Thank you Callie...for everything...", she remembered how scared she was but that seemed so very long ago to her now. She was safe and warm, and only the slightest, tiniest bit guilty that Abby and Airy wouldn't actually know she wouldn't be returning to the cabin that night. Amethine displayed her total trust for Callie by falling asleep right there, half-hugging half-lying on top of the vulpine, with a very genuine smile on her face.
"Good night... Ammey," Callie murmurs, as she begins to doze off as well. But before she does, she casts Sleep Watch on herself and Ammey, just in case someone or something *does* manage to get past the formidable defenses she'd put up in the restaurant this evening. Thankfully, Callie doesn't have to be awake for her Elemental Servants to be working. And then she falls asleep, Ammey's contented face being the last thing she sees that night.
"If there's nothing wrong with me, maybe there's something wrong with the universe."
--Dr. Beverly Crusher
Player of Callie Volopa, Viaa, Auric Lightwing, Brian Perano, Erin Tarcata and Aimee Sarasiné