The Strangeness Within Pt. 06

..........................*** Chapter 34 ***...........................

Esther paused, breathed deeply, and tried to listen. It was ten minutes since she'd last seen Mark.

She was still too loud, her lungs wheezing a little, her heartbeat drumming in her ears. She could hear a distant stream, an airplane, and a very faint rustle of trees. Nothing from Mark.

She examined the ground around her, not really expecting to see anything. Even if he'd passed here, Mark was altogether too light on his feet.

There was something tugging at her, though. She closed her eyes and *felt*.

Maybe it was the faintest scent lingering on the air. Maybe there was a quality to the silence that directed her attention to where the small mammals were more still than usual. It didn't feel like a simple sensation, and likely that meant her mind was integrating many bits of information at once. She was feeling out connections, albeit at a very rudimentary level compared to her meditations. But she'd been walking fast all morning, occasionally even running, and her mind was dulled by the hard physical work of chasing Mark.

She moved slowly in the direction that felt correct, wincing at every twig she snapped or branch she brushed against. After a few minutes, she finally saw Mark standing utterly still, somehow camouflaged amongst the trees. He always had a knack for these hiding spots.

He smiled, and in a few seconds he closed the distance to join her.

"Better every time," he said. "You might eventually make an acceptable hunter."

"If it's all right, I'll let you keep the job," said Esther. She was feeling pretty good about herself, though. Mark was always painfully honest in praise or criticism.

They ate lunch in one of their favorite spots, a tiny meadow left open thanks to some old storm damage, with several fallen trees making perfect natural benches. Blackberry brambles offered the promise of a snack, though few of the berries were close to ripe yet. They would be in a few weeks, though. Summer was a beautiful time high in these hills.

Today was unusually warm, and Esther had sweated right through her T-shirt. To her embarrassment, she realized her damp bra wasn't helping much either. Her nipples were clearly visible. Mark didn't seem to notice, of course, but of late she suspected that was mostly a matter of stubborn politeness.

By the time they got home, Esther was limping and moving slowly. Mark must have known, but he clearly judged she could make it. Likely this was another of his uncomfortable lessons.

"All right," he said when she collapsed into a dining room chair. "Let's take a look at your calf."

Mark knelt in front of her, frowning as he stared at the muscle. His touch was firm and his hand pleasantly warm as he massaged gently, feeling for the damage to the muscles.

She knew he could do a better diagnosis if she could stop hiding her body from him, deflecting his attempts to sense the subtle movements of her musculature. Even now, hiding was such an ingrained impulse, but she knew it was a safe one. After all, Abuela had consciously maintained the same habit.

But Esther needed to be able to set it aside on an occasion like this. So with a deep breath, she relaxed, willing her body to be just like any other object in the room.

Mark made a small noise of surprise, and she didn't miss the way he lost concentration for a moment, his eyes flicking up higher, if not quite to her face. It was all right. Mark knew what she looked like under her clothes, even if he mostly tried not to notice. And she certainly knew what he looked like naked. She shivered slightly, her nipples hardening even further. Mark was still massaging her calf, but he seemed to have forgotten what he was feeling for.

Suddenly he stopped and sat back.

"All right," he said. "I felt the muscle tear. It is a modest one, as I suspected. You will likely be fine within two days. You can hide yourself if you like. I'm done."

He was turning a bit red, and again Esther was reminded that whatever curiosity or attraction he might feel, he was too nervous to talk about it. Esther should have brought it up in the few days after Nicola left. She shouldn't have waited over two weeks. Because none of it was as simple as that.

When they finished their afternoon snack, Mark seemed ready for a nap. Usually Esther took this time to do some meditation practices, but she knew nothing would work any better today. So she followed Mark into their sleeping cabin. Before he hopped up onto his bunk, Esther took his hand.

"Can we talk?"

Mark reluctantly turned and sat down, and Esther sat beside him.

"Be honest, Mark," Esther said. "Are you attracted to me? I won't be mad either way."

Poor Mark looked like a deer in headlights. She was pretty sure what that meant, but he needed to say it for himself.

"Yes," he finally croaked. "I'm sorry, Esther."

"No, that's good," she said. "It should make this more fun."

Heart pounding, she put her arms around him, leaning up to kiss him. Mark must have known what she wanted, but he didn't move, instead looking like he wanted to run.

"I can't," he said. "It wouldn't be right. Would it?"

She heard the plaintive need underneath his voice. And suddenly she understood what he needed from her.

"Yes," she told him. "It would be right, if we both want it. Nicola said as much to me. Didn't she say something to you?"

He buried his face in her hair.

"She said you might need me to help you get excited, the way you needed her, and that it didn't have to be any more than that, but it was all right if I wanted it to be. I'm scared, though. I don't want to hurt you."

Esther looked at him in confusion.

"Hurt me?" she asked. "I'm more worried about hurting you. This isn't an obligation you have to me. I hope Nicola didn't put it that way. I can definitely find another way."

Mark's grip became far tighter. His easy strength really was disquieting. And he hadn't demonstrated it accidentally.

"I hurt Nicola a few times at first," he said wretchedly. "I never meant to. It was all so new and pleasurable, and my body did things I didn't expect."

"I'm positive she forgave you," Esther said. "And you know I'm not as fragile as I look."

She pulled away hard, and Mark quickly let her go. He could have held onto her easily, and that was her point.

"See?" she asked. "You instinctively know what to do. You live with it all the time, and I bet you haven't hurt Nicola since those early times. You won't hurt me."

Her heart hammering, Esther pulled off her sweaty T-shirt and dropped it on the floor. Her nipples were painfully erect under her bra, and a glance showed her how brightly blue her spots had flushed.

Mark stared at her chest, obviously aroused, but unable to make a decision. So Esther made it for him. She knelt down in front of him and started to undo his jeans. He shuddered but didn't move away. When she got them unzipped, he stepped out of them himself, and then pulled down his underwear.

His penis was completely hard, the swirl of green spots as vivid as the blue on her chest. The colors complemented each other, and the thought was funny enough that she managed to take off her bra before thinking about it too much. She leaned closer to Mark, letting his penis brush softly against her chest, the way she'd done with Javier.

"You're so beautiful," Mark moaned, and Esther wrapped her hand around his penis.

It was only the second one she'd felt, of course, and the little differences were mesmerizing. The freckles were marvelously different from Javier. Most of his body was hairier than Javier, but near his groin it turned into a light, short fur very similar to Esther's. He sighed happily when she ran her fingers through it and cupped his testicles in one hand. When she kissed him right at the base of his penis, he moaned her name.

His penis was a little smaller around than Javier's, particularly at the head. It would be easier to get in her mouth without bumping him with her teeth.

Mark's noises told her she was doing a good enough job, particularly when she added her hand. Just as she'd seen Nicola do it, and not so different from what Javier liked. She swirled her tongue along the side, feeling a surge of jealousy at the way Mark sucked in his breath and shuddered.

Why couldn't she be like Mark and Nicola? She let herself imagine having a normal body, with some extra erogenous zones, the way Nicola described herself. Esther would keep the blue nipples. But instead of the strange mockery of a vulva, she could have a normal one. Maybe with the special freckles on her clitoris, or running down one side. She shivered at the thought.

Meanwhile, Mark was clearly struggling not to move around too much. Finally, he pulled quickly out of her mouth.

"I don't mind if you come in my mouth," Esther said. She knew he did that sometimes with Nicola, who would make little jokes about the taste and then swallow it happily. She'd do the same thing.

Mark shook his head. "I'm so worried I'll hurt you."

But he was staring fixedly at her exposed breasts. Mark liked to come on Nicola's rather more impressive chest. She could at least give him something familiar.

She leaned back, stroking his shaft quicker. When she arched her back, her breasts practically vanished, leaving little but a pair of strange blue nipples.

Mark seemed to like looking anyway. He stroked her hand with his fingertips, urging her along while he kept a careful distance.

"That's it, stud," she said. "Spray your cum all over me."

Mark looked stricken, and she realized she shouldn't have said that. She'd been trying so hard to copy Nicola, and he'd probably been trying not to think about her.

"Sorry," she muttered. "I'm really nervous too."

She slowed her motion, and then she thought to try something different. Long, languid strokes with one hand, her fingertips slipping across the head of his penis at the top of each stroke. The other hand reaching further back, lightly caressing his testicles, moving even further towards his anus.

"Oh," Mark exclaimed, starting to shake. And after ten seconds or so, he let out a massive moan and began to blast semen in every direction.

She knew he was messier than Javier, some random consequence of penile dynamics that made her giggle to think about. But usually the amount was less than Javier. Not so this time. Then again, for all she knew he'd gone without since before Nicola left.

He was looking at her with such a simple joy that she couldn't help but smile.

"That was different!" he finally breathed. "Nicola never did that."

"Then you should ask her to," Esther said. "When she comes back."

Mark took a few deep breaths and suddenly burst into tears, leaving Esther feeling like an idiot. She'd just been trying to make him feel better. Awkwardly she got up and found the towel to clean both of them up.

"I'm sorry," he finally said. "I miss her so much. And Abuela. I don't know what I would have done if you'd left. Do you want me to lick you between the legs now?"

Nicola usually did the rude talking when she and Mark had sex. Esther had only heard Mark's pillow talk a few times, and she'd found it charming.

Esther sighed. "I miss Nicola too," she said. "And I think I'd like it a lot if you licked me between the legs. I don't really know how to explain what to do, though. You know I'm different."

Mark reached for the button on her jeans, and she nodded nervously.

"I'll just do what Nicola did, then," he said blithely.

Of course he'd spied on them. Nicola had called this place a fishbowl, and she wasn't wrong. The thought that he'd actually paid enough attention to know exactly what Nicola had done with her tongue those times in the bath ...

She shivered. She really did miss Nicola. But Mark was something different, with his scratchy stubble and his big muscles. Her heart raced when he pulled off her pants, and then to her great surprise he lifted her and gently placed her sitting on the top bunk, her legs dangling over the edge. He was so effortlessly powerful, much stronger even than Javier. Of course she'd known that, but the thought filled her with guilty excitement.

It was obvious enough what he planned, and she opened her legs to him, leaning back slightly and shivering. She'd never felt so exposed, not even with Nicola in the tub. The bath had always felt more intimate and private than this cabin.

Esther realized Mark was simply looking at her.

"You're so pretty," he said. "I know your differences make you uncomfortable, but I think you're just as pretty down there as Nicola."

Having made the comparison, he blushed. And then he covered his discomfort by bringing his tongue against her bare skin.

Esther was already aroused, but the touch of his tongue was like a lightning bolt. Mark's lovely smell filled her mind, his hair and skin and sweat and semen mixing together into something so different from Nicola or Javier. A unique human fingerprint. She could feel all her individual nerves, more finely than ever before, and she wondered if this was how Nicola felt. But with that thought her senses slipped into an outward spiral, embracing the whole camp and still growing. She sensed the faint lines of connection underlying the view her senses provided, and she tried to relax into her body's own distant pleasure.

Mark was rubbing her back gently, and she could only feel it indirectly, as though she'd already left her body. She'd been starting to feel guilty for wanting this so much, and now her body wasn't even giving her the pleasure she craved. Cautiously she pulled her senses back inwards, and she was rewarded with a powerful wave of pleasure, nearly cresting —

She sighed and shuddered with the orgasm. It was over far too fast, leaving her sweaty and tingling, yet vaguely dissatisfied.

Mark pull his lips away.

"Should I keep going?" he asked.

"No," she said, sitting up to brush her fingers through his hair. "No, that was really nice. And I learned a lot."

That was true enough. It hadn't been a total failure, anyway, and it was something different. More information for next time. She supposed they were going to need a lot more sessions like this before she got herself coordinated. That had been true with Nicola, as well.

It was an embarrassingly arousing thought. She needed to do this, and Mark seemed to like it.

"Actually," she said. "I think maybe you could start again. If you don't mind."

Mark nodded seriously, and she lay back with anticipation. When his tongue touched her again, she knew it would work better this time. She smiled to herself. It was the same as anything. It would take practice.

..........................*** Chapter 35 ***...........................

Javier relaxed when he saw Kat's sedan approaching right on schedule. This street looked even worse than the one he'd parked on last time, but to be fair, his car managed to look worse as well. Under the hood, though, he'd been slowly fixing it up. It would never be his beloved wagon, but it probably wouldn't crap out on him at random.

Kat looked great when he opened the car door. But she always looked great.

"Hey, looking sexy, Javier," she said while he got in. "God, did you see the news?"

"The supposed terrorists?" he asked.

"Yeah," she said. "Ten bucks says those poor folks get put on a plane direct to The Unit's basement and no one ever hears from them again. I can't believe this is what passes for America."

"It's just Franklin," Javier said. "And whoever he's influencing."

"I doubt it," said Kat. "People get scared enough and you don't need any fancy tricks to get them to do what you want. I'm scared enough to do something stupid."

"Yeah, but the stupid things we do are for everyone's good," joked Javier.

"I'm sure that's what Franklin tells himself," said Kat. Javier winced, because she was probably right.

There had been an actual bombing of an office in L.A. No one had been hurt, but four days later the media had been plastered with a sad-looking pair of mug shots. Neither of them obviously had the changes, but it was a fair guess they worked for Lukas. The office they'd blown up was rented by an InfoCorp subsidiary, and it had probably deserved to be blown up.

"I almost wished it had been Janelle," said Javier. "For five seconds anyway."

"Right," said Kat. "Because then you imagined the mayhem a hypnotized, extra-righteous Janelle would cause. We are all so fucked if we can't figure out how to stop this."

When they got to her door, Kat made her usual apologies for the mess, which Javier waved off as always. She unlocked it and pushed it open.

There was a naked woman on the bed, legs wide open. Kat let out a girlish yelp of exactly the sort she always made fun of in other women.

"Andrea," Kat hissed. "You said you'd be gone."

Andrea lifted up her head. She was a slim, athletic woman with a fair resemblance to Kat's ex, María. That didn't seem entirely healthy, but then Javier shouldn't judge. Andrea was smiling broadly, and was obviously in the middle of a serious masturbation session. She had fine features and unexpectedly big boobs for her figure. Javier thought they were probably fake, but they did look pretty good. Her neatly trimmed bush was dripping wet, and she seemed utterly unperturbed by the company.

Andrea adjusted the vibrator down a little but didn't stop. Javier looked away, blushing, but Andrea obviously found the whole situation amusing.

"Sorry, Kat," she said. "But you know I don't like getting cut short. Plus, this vibrator's better than any of mine. Hey, whoever you are, did you know what good taste Kat had in sex toys?"

"I'm starting to question my taste in the flesh-and-blood sort. C'mon Andrea, get dressed and quit harassing Javier."

"Mmm, Javier," said Andrea, very slowly turning off the vibrator. "A nice name and a fine-looking bit of flesh. Kat ever suggest a three-way?"

"Yeah," said Javier. "Want me to go find another woman for you two then?"

Andrea started laughing, getting up from the bed. "Oh, I like this one, Kat. Almost makes me wish man-parts did anything for me. I'll leave you two lovers be, then."

She shook hands with Javier. He thought he managed not to stare too badly.

"You're a bigger pain in the ass than me, and that's saying something," said Kat. "He's a friend. Just because I like men doesn't mean I sleep with every one of them. I understand how that concept could be confusing for you."

Javier winced, but Andrea laughed harder. She began to pick up her discarded clothes and get dressed.

"Great time as always, Kat. See you around, then?"

"I'm considering it," Kat said with mock severity. "Oh, fine. Take the damned vibrator too. I know how you hate getting interrupted."

Andrea happily dumped the vibrator in her purse and headed to the door. Before she left, she gave Kat a lengthy kiss, one fairly dripping with the promise of sex. Javier swallowed with uncomfortable arousal. When Andrea grabbed Kat's ass, Kat finally pushed her away with an annoyed smile.

"Thought I might get you," Andrea said. "I'm sure Javier wouldn't mind watching, right?"

"No comment," said Javier, and the two women laughed. Then Andrea was gone, leaving only the lingering smell of sex and a completely disarranged bed.

"Well, fuck," said Kat, starting to laugh.

"I hope you don't think you have to hide your girlfriends from me," said Javier. "I'm glad you found someone."

"More like she found me," said Kat. "And girlfriend is a stretch. It's sex, is what it is. We don't really have anything in common except that. But it's better than no sex."

Kat sat down on her bed, shaking her head. "Anyway, let's pretend that we're not both thinking about what the two of us were up to, and then — oh, Jesus! I can't believe she creamed all over my covers and then just left the wet spot."