A Drow's Dilemma Ep. 24: Bonding

When the group had finished eating, they rapidly packed up, Althaia summoned her impractical armor, and the group was off once more, Althaia bouncing off ahead. For her part, Ashyr seemed especially eager to split from the rest of the group for the day. This was the last day for a while she would get to roam these woods that she had grown to love. It had little to do with the exhausting energy of the nymph. Mostly. Caleldir decided to stick closer to Selene, who followed Althaia at a calm pace. At least the taller Drow was usually less draining to be around. "So..." He decided to spark up a conversation. "You were reading that tome by Maziyallian. He had published a few minor works during my time, but I think that the one you have dates after the beginning of my curse. Any thoughts on it?"

A truly wicked smile appeared on the drow's features. "Some of it I figured out on my own, as you know." She inhaled deeply and stared into the middle distance, reminiscing. It was apparently a good memory. "I think I might be able to do the opposite of what you experienced now that I've seen it explained in the book. Then there's the more mundane magical bindings to keep the subject from moving without hurting them or the caster. I don't know, though, I think I might prefer things the way I did it. All-in-all, I think the book can teach me a lot." She kept her eyes on the path and the nymph in front of her as she spoke, but that evil smile on her face never quite faded.

By the time that grin appeared on Selene's face, Caleldir was already regretting bringing up the topic. Really, what had he been thinking? "I did notice some of your abilities. I suppose I should be pleased to be of assistance." He drew his arms about himself a little closer. While it had been his idea, and the sex had been amazing, he had not enjoyed the experience quite as much as Selene had. He did not look forward to a repeat. At least, he was pretending not to.

"Going to have to find something to practice on, of course. I wonder if..." She trailed off, still looking at Althaia and her ridiculously skimpy armor. Her expression turned thoughtful. Wouldn't that be fitting... "Eh, probably not."

When Selene's gaze became fixed on Althaia, Caleldir guessed at what she was thinking. He had an amused smile at her expense. "Heh. I do not think that you will get all that far with that one. If my theories about her are correct, she should be able to effortlessly shrug off pretty much anything magical you throw at her. Add to that her ridiculous strength, and you will likely find yourself the bottom in that coupling." His grin faded and disappeared when Selene's gaze turned to him as the obvious second choice. "Ah, hells. I am not volunteering. Try on..." He thought. There were four of them, and Ashyr was not a better option than Althaia. "... someone else." He finished lamely.

"Oh, don't worry, boy." Selene told him grumpily when he informed her that he was not volunteering. "I'm not going to try to practice on you right this minute." The drow shrugged. "Even if you asked me to. I'd have to ask Ashyr first." Selene had no reason to believe that the situation was any different, especially after the events the morning they left the town. As far as the younger drow knew, Ashyr had claimed ownership of him.

Althaia looked back at the two. She affected a scandalized expression. "Ooh!" She said. "I did not know that you two got along so well... Perhaps I should give you two some alone time. I am going fishing. I will find you later." With that, the nymph stepped into a tree, and was gone. Caleldir began walking a little farther away from Selene.

"We're not-" Selene protested, but Althaia was already gone. At least they didn't have to worry about listening to her prattle for a while. Let her think that she and Caleldir were more than they were. It would give them a much-needed break from her every now and then.

Caleldir noticeably relaxed, ignoring Althaia's departure and focusing on Selene's reply. "That is good to hear. I suppose you would not want to annoy your cousin." He looked ahead to where Althaia had been. "Although, when it comes to cousin, yours is manageable. My 'cousin' is... well, for a Paladin, she is rather on the wild side." For a moment, he looked thoughtful. "Eh, oh well. Now, on Maziyallian's other theories. Back when I was the librarian, he published this research on cross-school transformations..." The last time Caleldir had talked magic with Selene, the grouchy Drow had mellowed out noticeably, for at least a little while. Thankfully, this time was no different. The drow still had moments when she talked down to him - both because of his not-drow race or because of his gender. She didn't seem to notice when she did, or at least she wasn't being particularly malicious. It was simply the result of her upbringing. Otherwise, Selene slowly revealed her brilliance in the subject of magic and its theory. She had the advantage of being actually able to perform some of the higher level spells.

The day wore on, as days typically do. By the noon, the forest had grown sparse, being more clumps of tall, blasted trees with rough bark and sparse leaves than true woodlands. In the distance, there could easily be seen a range of low, bare stony hills. The sun was getting stronger, and outside of the clumps of trees that still straggled on, it was becoming rather hot. Caleldir wiped the sweat off his brow. He did not do as well with heat as he did with cold. Neither did Selene, who was getting noticeably grumpier. At least Caleldir's armour could be changed to something cooler, like a loose tunic. "Where are the other two?" He wondered aloud. "Perhaps we should find shade and halt until the afternoon sun wanes a bit."

"Or, you could go for a swim!" Althaia, naked and wet (again), stepped out of a tree. "Up ahead a bit, there is a cool shaded pool where Kobold's Brook spills into a gully. An excellent place for a bit of fun." She licked her lips. Her eyes were purple again.

Caleldir eyed the nymph with suspicion. "On second thought, maybe we should just keep going." He said primly.

"I think I've had enough of pools for this week." Selene told the nymph firmly. The mage seemed in complete agreement with Caleldir. She blinked as Bard shot through their path with his usual exuberance. He was very similar to the nymph, Selene found herself thinking. But at least he couldn't talk.

"You guys are no fun." Ashyr said as she jogged up to them. She wore her usual grin. "Maybe we can stop for the day there, and make one of your caves nearby." She suggested, as she met the nymph's eyes, whose smile was as lusty as the ranger's. She should have guessed they would be purple. Her gaze fell to the rest of her body the admire her for a moment before she continued. "Then those who wish can do, well, whatever they want."

The younger drow sighed. "The sun -is- starting to hurt." She grumbled. "But I refuse to have any part in any 'ideas' you might have, Ashyr. That goes for you, too, Althaia."

Althaia ran her hand down Ashyr's back, resting it on her bottom. "Your cousin is as frigid as mine." She pouted. "But we can have plenty of fun, can't we?" Althaia positively purred into Ashyr's ear, using her other hand to coax one of the Drow's palms to her breast. Then she skipped away. "The pool is this way." She vaguely pointed in a direction. "Even if you two are going to be prudes, we should still get out of the heat. Besides, I have some fish for the midday meal." With that, she danced off, hair flowing around her.

Caleldir watched the nymph jiggle for a moment before slapping himself and turning his gaze towards Ashyr, who did not seem inclined to stop openly admiring the blonde nymph. "I wish that our new party member would wear clothes more often. And real clothes, not that silly 'armor' she seems so fond of." He sounded rather sullen, especially when Ashyr wandered off before he could finish his observation and didn't even reply to him.

The younger drow sighed. "It's like they were made for each other." She observed with a shake of her head. "You might just become a thing of the past. Guess that's what you get for being a prude."

If Caleldir had been possessed of a tell similar to Althaia's that caused his eyes to function as a mood ring, at the moment they would have been green. Humph. Well, perhaps he had been replaced by a full-nymph. Oh well, it was inevitable. But the way that Selene said it still annoyed him. "Well," he observed to the younger Drow. "You became a thing of the past before I did. Which is sad really, as you had the stronger claim on her. But what can I say, you have been too prudish these last few days." Feeling an uncharacteristic rush of satisfaction at needling Selene's words right back at her, he skipped off towards the pool in way vaguely reminiscent of Althaia.

Selene rolled her eyes, but didn't care enough to try to explain the intricacies of why she wasn't jealous to him. If he kept skipping around like that, however, she would have to put him in his place. They didn't need two people of nymph ancestry acting like that. A tired sigh, and Selene was the last to follow the nymph to her destination.

The pool was as the nymph had described. As they moved, they came to a cliff, and a stream flowing out of a crack in the cliff that led into a sheltered pool and a bowl-like gully. At the far side, the pool was filled by a waterfall. The water was cool and clean, sweet to the taste. Althaia was already half submerged. She waved cheerfully at the group. "See? Is not this way better than the hot sun?"

Selene had to admit, this place was much better than the heat and glaring brightness of the sun. The younger drow settled on the edge of the pool to soak her still-aching feet in the cold water.

Ashyr was already there, and already halfway out of her armor. She stripped all the way down - including her hair decorations - before jumping into the deeper end with a laugh. Selene was not so amused. She could swear that Ashyr calculated it perfectly to get Selene as wet as possible. A blond and white blur shot by, and Selene was treated to a slightly smaller splash. She stood and swore at them in several nasty languages. Demonic was a particularly satisfying language to curse in.

Once Caleldir got to the pool, he wondered for a moment whether he should use his runes to create a bathing suit, or follow the example of those two and strip completely naked. He thought back to Selene's mocking comments, and decided to do the latter. So, in a flash, he was naked. He dived into the water gracefully, and swam out into the deep part of the pool. Hopefully, out here those two would not notice the biological effect that their nudity was having on him.

Althaia merely watched the other three with her deeply purple eyes, licking her lips. While one of her hands was idly fondling herself, the other had disappeared beneath the water. It was not all that hard to guess what it was doing.

Ashyr, blissfully unaware of the jealousy and squabbling, swam up to the nymph with as much grace as she could muster. Of course, compared to Althaia and Caleldir, she looked like a child who'd just learned how to swim properly. It didn't seem to bother her. Ashyr grabbed the nymph's hips and pressed their naked bodies together. Althaia giggled, pulling Ashyr face up to hers and into a deep kiss. One of her hands went to the Drow's bottom, fondling it a little, the other immediately went to the other woman's pussy.

"I noticed your eyes turned purple again." Ashyr told her in a conspiratory voice. "You don't happen to need help with anything, do you?" Her eyes were narrowed with lust, but mischief was written across her mouth. The drow ranger seemed to be paying no attention to the naked Caleldir. It was possible that she didn't notice. He seemed to want to distance himself from it all anyway.

Looking over at the way that Ashyr was cozying up to Althaia (by the false gods of this world, that was hot) Caleldir felt an insane desire to join them. They were both so... so... inviting. Despite the water he was in, his mouth was dry. He shook his head. No! He would leave those two to their perversity. He was not jealous, no, not at all. Definitely. He was looking for a way out of his spiral into depravity. He would go back to his monkish ways and let the nymphomaniacs sate themselves. Yes, that was the best option. He swam away from them, only to find himself a little closer. Dammit, why was he so hard?!

After the kiss between Althaia and Ashyr went on for awhile, Althaia pulled away to finally answer the drow's question. "Oh, I have a lot that you can help me with." She said lustfully. "But I think that this time it might be better to include your mate over there. Look at him! He just seems so lost." She thought for a moment. Her expression was reminiscent of Ashyr at her lustful best. "And your cousin has been shamefully ignored too. I think that both of them could stand to be loosened up a little, if you catch my drift."

Selene, currently naked, looked up when she heard mention of herself. She paused in the process of wringing her robe out, still mumbling profanity to herself about hyperactive traveling companions. "Oh, no. Don't drag me into this." She protested. She slung the dark cloth of her robe over a low branch to let it dry more properly. Selene almost wished she could put it back on. Perhaps it was stop any ideas concerning her nudity. The sight of them did make her feel a bit warm in places she did not want to be warm at the moment. No. She'd had enough of nymphs for a lifetime. The younger drow sat in the grass with a mulish look on her face.

In many ways, Caleldir and Selene were opposites. In others, they were only too similar. Much like the younger Drow, Caleldir seemed to prefer 'torturing himself by watching' to actually getting involved, all the while telling himself that he did not really want to get involved with the two of them. Perhaps he should go hang out with Selene... no, that was a bad idea. The grouchy Drow would probably want to inflict something on him to take out her frustrations. So, instead, he tread water in the middle of the pool, not swimming closer to the two of them.

Wait. Why were they closer? Was it something in the water current?

"Join us or torture yourself by watching, Cal. Your choice." Ashyr told him as she ran a caressing hand down the other woman's back. Her eyes did not leave the beautiful woman's perfect form. She pressed her dark lips to Althaia's jaw as her hand firmly squeezed at one of her breasts.

The nymph melted into Ashyr's touch. "Yesss..." She sighed. "I needed that..." Looking up at Caleldir, she giggled again. "I think that your mate needs convincing." She whispered to Ashyr. "Do you mind if I bring him over here? Protest pretty quickly if you do, because I desperately want him and have waited way too long."

"Only if he doesn't protest too much." Ashyr responded with that grin of hers. It was probably inevitable that this happen anyway. There was no way Ashyr alone could shoulder the 'burden' of keeping Althaia sated. The nymph was on a whole new level of sex-crazed that Ashyr mentally shuddered to imagine. It must have been so difficult to just exist when she wasn't rubbing her genitalia against something. They pretty much needed to get Selene and Caleldir on board. How horrible. Excited mirth shone in the older drow's eyes.

Caleldir's ears twitched, trying to hear what the nymph was saying to Ashyr. It sounded like he was being talked about, which disturbed him. Then, the water grabbed his foot, and started pulling him towards the two women. He would probably have protested, but his mouth was too full of water to do so.

"Ah, fuck it." Selene finally said after seeing Caleldir being unwillingly pulled towards the two women in the pool. The forced aspect made it so much hotter. She slipped into the pool and began wading over to the rest of the people.

Caleldir surfaced out of the pool sputtering, collapsing between the drow and the nymph. "What was that for?" He said indignantly. He looked up to see Ashyr's breasts. He swallowed. "Err... put me back in the pool?" He said uneasily.

The female nymph giggled. "Silly half-nymph." she said cheerfully, "you cannot fool me. I know that you love this. If nobody forced you into sex every now and again, well, you would still be a silly virgin!" She pulled Caleldir until he was sandwiched between her and Ashyr, his body angled slightly more towards the dark elf, his erection pressed uncomfortably against her leg, but his head turned a little more towards the nymph. "Now, stop hiding your beauty." She whispered loud enough for Ashyr to hear. Her hand went down to Caleldir's manhood, rubbing against both it and Ashyr's thigh. Abruptly, Caleldir took on his stunning faerie form, at the same time as Althaia herself allowed a weakened version of hers (so as not to literally blind the drow). "See, is that not much better?" She asked.

"I..." Caleldir seemed to want to protest, but was unable to form the words. "Save me Ashyr!" He finally said.

Ashyr sighed, then quickly signed something to Selene. Then Selene sighed. That dumb fool (or really smart, depending on how one looked at it) said one of the few things that would actually make her endeavor to rescue him. From the nymph, anyway. There was no saving him from herself; he'd revealed that wonderful, beautiful face of his. She couldn't resist him, even when there was a more potent creature right next to him.

Selene went directly for Althaia, casually coming slightly between Caleldir and Althaia. She feigned that she was drawn in to the full nymph's pure beauty and wanted her full attention - though, honestly, she didn't have to act. That woman was literally irresistible when she looked like that. The younger drow's hands caressed the nymph's body with one hand, while the other tried to pull her face in for a kiss. Meanwhile, Ashyr's hand went to Cal's dick to take over for Althaia. Her mouth quickly found his to impart a deep, loving kiss.

The diversion worked pretty well, all things considered. Althaia saw right through it, but did not much care. "Oh?" She said as Ashyr slipped Caleldir away and Selene slipped between them, "Oh? So the half-nymph is not ready for me yet? Worry not, your time will come." She met Selene with a hungry kiss, moving into her with her usual ravenous skill, kissing, fondling, groping, sliding, pressing, and more, much like she had done with Ashyr. Looking over Selene's shoulder at Caleldir and Ashyr, she grinned. "Just wait, I will have my due eventually!" She was probably referring more to Caleldir, but the way she said it combined with her libidinous gaze, she definitely meant both of them at least a little. Or a whole lot.

Selene returned her touch with a much more serious expression than her cousin could ever manage in a similar situation. The younger drow tried her best to keep up with the other woman, but she had enough trouble just standing. Her cousin had fared much better in this situation. Selene couldn't match Ashyr's skill and willpower despite being a more mental creature than her older cousin. She moaned loudly against Althaia's ministrations and clung hard lest she fall completely into the water.

Caleldir was just pleased to have Ashyr paying attention to him again. "Nymphs may come and go," he said after their kiss was at an end. "But you remain first in my heart." It helped that he was immune to the nymphen aura that made the Drow so weak-kneed, but he really did prefer Ashyr.

Ashyr shot the other two women a grin. It was strangely satisfying to see Selene so helpless against the nymph. She didn't think that her younger cousin minded all that much; there was a look of ecstasy written across her features. Ashyr turned her attention back to Caleldir. Those words he had just said elicited a soft smile that was as honest an expression as Ashyr could manage. She felt a warmth all over that had little to do with her horniness. "Good." Was all she could say before she pulled him over to the shore and claimed his mouth with hers, this time with more possessive aggression. She was pleased to find that he returned her kiss.