Personality Differences

Kessi knelt next to Toleme, and slowly worked the Keoghtom's Ointment into the slashes on his shoulder frowning as the dark purple bruising around the edges of the wounds slowly faded to a less ugly red. The demon-slut's claws had apparently been poisoned. Toleme coughed softly and spat to the side. Kessi smiled wryly as the dirt and rocks puffed to the ground next to him. ~How can we tolerate someone who has more personalities than we do?~ =Because he is more than what he seems and he will help us through harder times than these.= Less than voices in her head, more than idle thoughts, Kessi ignored the internal rambling and applied another swath of ointment to the wound.

Toleme glanced at the rope that hung from nothing a few feet away, then looked up. "She's been in there a while, hasn't she?" Kessi nodded solemnly, the metallic tattoos along her bare scalp glimmering in the light of his flame-tipped staff. "Do you think she's okay?" He pushed himself off the ground slowly, his arm still aching from where the she-demon had torn into it.

'She' was finally clambering down the rope that hung in the mid-air in the cavern. Kessi had left Toleme's side to collect the heavy crystal chain that she'd dropped to administer the potent anti-venom and healing unguent to his wound. She hung it about her neck, the heavy silver weights swinging about her calves as she stood up, the soft ringing of the crystal chain weapon along her crystal chain mail shirt vaguely soothing to her. Pulling her gauntlets from her belt and sliding them back on, she glanced back at Toleme to see why he was so quiet.

Toleme was quiet because he was watching the necropolitan sorceress descend the rope. This was unusual, because it was not like they hadn't done that a dozen times already. Confused, the monastic young woman glanced up, and stared, her cheeks heating the way Toleme's were probably not doing, considering his....companions.

Teahuaca - Tea - was not wearing her studious, thick, functional robes. The sorceress was wearing a tightly laced bustier, the long gloves, thigh hugging boots, and most shockingly, the tight leather thong with it's silver rings at each side. =Not even we could have foreseen this.= ~Like everyone she just wants to be seen as pretty.~ (And she is pretty,) Kessi admitted, as the girl made her descent and wobbled unsteadily on the high heels of her new boots.

Toleme was still looking up at her, his expression somewhat surprised. The entire time they'd been adventuring together, Tea had been as demure and undramatic as any cloistered mage could claim to be. In fact she had been almost fanatic about her decency, blushing whenever Toleme had been host to one of the more aggressive vestiges he channeled. Paimon surged inside him, and he spoke up at the insistence of the ancient soul. "That is....quite a departure from your usual habits, Teahuaca, and not necessarily an unbecoming one."

Unsurprisingly she didn't blush, though she did smile. Her long black hair was still pulled back in it's severe bun, two sharp spikes of carved silver gleaming in the black silk. Her strange eyes, an aquamarine color that was common among half-elves, glittered as she traced the leather of her buster, leaving her pale belly and far more of her back bare. "Do you rather like it? It is difficult to acquire such....nice things. There are too many who disapprove of such....appearance at the schools."

Kessi walked slowly around the half-elf as she carefully adjusted her belt. She was a little more shapely than Kessi had suspected; in fact, Kessi had expected either a dumpy look, or more likely a rail thin appearance. Being somewhat muscular herself, she could appreciate the healthy appearance of the youthful seeming elvenkin. She rewarded Tea's boldness with one of her rare words. "Nice." Tea gave her an odd look, and she smiled, taking some of the suspicion from the other woman's eyes.

The pale half-elven necropolitan smiled a little more broadly, and then slowly turned around, letting the warrior-psychic appreciate all the view. Not that Toleme was not enjoying the view. He grinned and moved close, his hands sliding along the cool skin of the undead woman's shoulders. "You look very becoming. I'd thought you'd be slightly more desiccated." The undead girl glanced over her shoulder at him with an unblushing smile.

Kessi spared him a smirk; he'd never say such a thing if he wasn't under the influence of the sword-dancer Paimon. And he was NEVER so bold as to touch uninvited. ~Shouldn't we be jealous of that? He's been more friendly to us than to her.~ (Not really. If it were just him, I would think so.) =We may regret that later.= (Oh?) =It may be nothing.=

"There is magic woven into the leather. It gives me greater power, and there are some protective magics as well." She looked down at herself and cupped her breasts boldly, even though the bustier did little for an already modest bust. "I rather think it is becoming." She looked up, her glassy eyes fixing on the warm violet eyes of the synad. "Don't you?"

Kessi lifted her eyebrows, rather bemused by the question. The change in appearance had done wonders for the dead girl's ego apparently. She didn't recall any unusual stares or appreciative looks from the girl, but she nodded and smiled anyways. Tugging on the rope, she then walked over to the entryway they had entered this section of the cavern from and glanced down the slightly irregular hall, checking for any untoward company; not needing light to do so it was usually her job to scout ahead.

Toleme coughed softly, and cleared his throat, his gravelly - literally gravelly - voice rumbling pleasantly. "She's right, Tea, we should be on our way. Someone's bound to have heard them shrieking their obscenities." The bodies had already deliquesced into shapeless slime; all that remained were their daggers and the clothing Tea had taken from them. He watched the girl take apart the spell that had granted her a safe and private place to change; Paimon suggested several interesting things to do with his hand concerning the generous amount of flesh her mostly exposed derrière possessed. Resisting the urge, Toleme picked up his short sword and sheathed it, his own chain mail clinking softly as he moved to follow the synad's lead.

They made their way back down the passage, to a small, quiet, and fairly clean room. They barred the door and used strips quickly sliced from a woolen blanket to seal the cracks in the door, both to muffle sound and light. "I think we can stay here for now. A few hours of sleep will do all of us some good. It will give me some time to enjoy your new wardrobe too, Tea." He smiled and moved close, his hands sliding along the large section missing from the back of the bustier; the succubi wings had extended from there, but now they gave his hands some rarely touched skin to caress.

The synad grinned and back-handed his arm, the thick, oversize gloves slamming firmly into his armor. He jumped and murmured, "Owww...." though there was no real pain in the words. Tea, on the other hand, was beaming, her pearl white skin strangely aglow with her power - or perhaps her pleasure at being admired. Kessi didn't begrudge her that. She imagined the dead girl was largely shunned in the school she attended for her magical studies.

(I wonder how much of her new beauty is a result of the magic and how much is a result of her self confidence?) ~She is a sorceress, and while vanity isn't an elvish trait, it's definitely a trait of human females.~ (Point taken.) Kessi knelt and began unpacking her sleeping gear from the mystically deep knapsack she toted about. Toleme was doing the same, while Tea seemed fascinated by the seams and lacing of her clothing. "I didn't notice that before," she murmured, bringing the psychic's attention back up to her.

Tea walked over and knelt next to Kessi who looked, and was, intrigued. "See this? the sewing here." The youthful looking half elf pulled the bustier slightly askew to show Kessi the seam she was referring to. It also exposed much one apple-sized breast, the nipple a pale blue color like her lips and unpainted nails. Kessi ignored the heat in her cheeks and tried to focus on the seam. "The stitches are irregular, but very tight. I think...I think they may be runic, or some sort of symbolic language. I'd never thought that sewing could be used to craft an actual spell into an item."

She adjusted the bustier, brazenly pressing the cup about her tit until she looked proper once more. Kessi kept her expression as straight as possible, but she had to admit, the girl was being a great deal more open about her body now that she had a way to show it off. =That may be only the surface of the trouble to come.=  (Stop being so cryptic; give me useful information or shut up for an hour.) Chastising the oracular part of her mind was useless, she knew. It was still only a part of her mind, and it would speak when a thought slipped into the present from whenever that part of her mind roamed. "Reminds me of a psychic circuit." Tea looked at Kessi in surprise.

"You know, as much as parts of me enjoy seeing the two of you get along so well," interrupted Toleme, "and believe me, there are more than one, we should really get abed." He grinned, his joke making Kessi roll her eyes as she stripped off the glimmering crystal shirt as well as shedding the padding beneath. Wearing only the silk bandeau and twisted silk loincloth, she stretched, the many tattoos along her arms and legs glinting in the light that perched atop his staff. Some were actual tattoos; many were not.

She watched enviously as Tea murmured a few odd words and blew into her hands; the sorceress then drew her hands from her tightly bound hair down her body, the dust and grime from he caverns and their fights sliding off to pool at her feet. She pulled the silver pins from her hair and tucked them under her pillow, and settled down next to Kessi.

As Toleme prepared himself for bed, the undead woman watched him, and then smiled strangely. "How about we all get cleaned up?" Toleme looked surprised. "I can use the spell for a bit....I'm sure you'd rather not smell like an ironworks tonight, at least." She rose onto her knees, having gotten on hands-and-knees to put the needles under her pillow, and walked on her knees to the tall man.

Kessi rolled over and propped her head on her elbow, curious. She'd never offered before, and the prodding of the Oracle had made her wary. She didn't let this show in her face, in fact, Kessi thought it wise to carefully erect a barrier behind which her triplicate thoughts would be safe. It took some effort to prevent the usual telltale signs of her power; she actually used a psychic mnemonic to release some of her mental focus specifically for that purpose. It was even more interesting that the beautiful corpse did not rise to her feet but knelt before Toleme still.

Toleme, for his part, looked rather surprised. It was an honest emotion, not one of those his borrowed souls enforced upon him. The dead girl looked up at him, her cool, glassy eyes shimmering strangely as she raised her hands high and twisted them gracefully to wrap the spell about his head and shoulders without needing to stand. Tea smiled up at him as she knelt before him, and Paimon brought to his mind a number of romantic - and some downright bawdy - images that the scene evoked. He pushed the thoughts away; his interests lay in the direction of the warm, silent psychic, and it didn't matter that this lovely half elven corpse was making him feel more refreshed and masculine than he had in some time.

Agares disapproved of his lustful thought; he was pursuing Kessi in a romantic manner, and it would be inappropriate to show too much attention to this....brazen hussy who knelt at the perfect height to suggest certain pleasurable pursuits. The girl's hands slowly moved along his hips, not quite touching, but suggestively gesturing even as she forced sweat and dust and dried blood to fall away. He couldn't help his body's reaction, which made Paimon all the harder to control.

When she had made the tiny pile of detritus vanish, Tea sat on her haunches, and then slowly turned at the waist, letting her body flow after her until she was on her hands and knees, feet up high. It was easy for Kessi to see his reaction at the sight Tea presented him with; when the necropolitan spoke softly, "Your turn," she couldn't keep surprise off her face. ~Her body language screams sexuality.~ (Oh, thank you SO MUCH for that brilliant observation.) ~Actually we're pointing this out because it doesn't look like she's doing it consciously. Her eyes, the way she looks, her posture....it all looks natural to her, which belies everything we've seen up to now.~ Paying attention to the information the collective part of her mind gave her, she had to agree. This was very unlike the silent sorceress she was used to.

Holding her tongue and thoughts she sat up, facing the other woman. Tea smiled and also sat on her haunches, smiling winsomely. It was disturbing for Kessi to see the once-cold eyed woman gazing at her with clearly admiring eyes. It was one thing for a woman to be attracted to one sex or the other. But either Teahuaca was one of the rare sorts who enjoyed the pleasures of both, or she was being influenced. Yet there was no real control there; the synad had seen mind control often enough to tell at a glance. Kessi looked up at Toleme as Tea started the spell, and gave him an unhappy frown as Paimon's pleasure in the sight of the woman running her hands over the the curves of Kessi's body was written all over Toleme's face.

The soft caress of cool skin to her cheeks brought Kessi's attention to Tea, and she schooled her expression. "It is not like he gets to see something like this every day. You could visit some of the most expensive brothels in the city and never see two woman as lovely as we are half clothed." Kessi rolled her head to one side, a diagonal nod of sorts, admitting the truth of the sorceress' words. She was very glad she'd protected her own mind from intrusion. Even though the sorceress couldn't possibly be a succubus in disguise - because she really was quite dead - she still had the ability to use magic to read another's thoughts. It was how she'd kept them from stumbling into the trap the succubi had set for them, the demons pretending to be prisoners.

Tea's fingers slipped away from the smooth skinned synad's face, and she smiled. "You have eyelashes, but no eyebrows. How strange." Kessi smiled and ran a fingertip over the thick golden wire threaded through her skin where her eyebrow would have been if she ever had them. The naturally hairless state of the synad sometimes distressed people, and so she'd turned it into a style all her own; the faux eyebrows hinted that she actually had them at one time and it meshed with the body decoration well. She lowered her hand, pausing as Tea hesitated her hands hovering over Kessi's breasts; the synad looked calmly at the other woman as she hesitated and was somewhat relieved when the dead girl did not press her fingertips to the silk covering her bosom. That would have incited Paimon further, and while Toleme was in control, true, he was still only human - and very definitely male.

Kessi had to admit that it would have made her somewhat discomfited as well, and she did not usually think of other women in that peculiar way.

Finally the sorceress finished her little magic and slowly slid back into her bed between Kessi and Toleme. Toleme let out a long, deep breath, and shook his head. Kessi was certain that it would have made Tea blush if she'd been capable of the act. Kessi settled into her own bedding as well, still disturbed by how sensual the sorceress had been in act and even deed, without being overtly sexual. It was strange, and at the same time, alluring. She resolved to put it out of her mind until they woke; Tea cast an Arcane Lock over the door, and Toleme put a sleeve over the Everburning Flame at the end of his staff, plunging them into darkness. It was some time before any of them slept.

Kessi was woken by soft, familiar noises. She didn't move immediately; nor did she bother to pretend snoring; her people were physiologically incapable of it. She listened for several moments, and then slowly turned over, already certain of what she would see.

There was no light; but not being human Kessi didn't need any. She could see the svelte, delicate curves of the undead sorceress as she straddled Toleme; still clothed, but then, the clothing she was wearing was minimal, really. Toleme hadn't woken - or at least was pretending sleep. =He sleeps still. She is being careful.=  And she was - she was gently, carefully sliding her hips back and forth, barely stroking the man along his loincloth and her tight leather thong. He was hard - and Kessi knew from experience how impressive that was - and his erection protruded several inches out of the loincloth. The binder moaned softly, and started to stir.

=We can avert a fight here.= ~Harmony is best for traveling in these places.~ (All right. I'll bow to the situation.) Moving quickly, Kessi slipped up behind the dead girl, and pressed her body to the girl's back, letting her feel the warmth. One hand slid up to press on the front-lacing of the bustier, keeping Teahuaca from rising immediately even as her body weight pressed the girl's groin to the man's cock. Her other hand pressed down gently on Toleme's belly, preventing him from rising as well. "Relax," she said aloud, loudly enough that it was heard by both of the surprised not-yet-lovers.

Tea had frozen, shocked by the sudden arrival of the woman that Toleme clearly favored and perhaps surprised by the idea that she hadn't simply snapped her neck with the powerful gauntlets and psychic force she could bring to bear. Toleme, on the other hand, was of three minds about the situation - and unlike the synad, his minds were actually not all his. Agares was appalled by this blatant disregard for niceties, while Paimon was eagerly accepting of the situation. It was the repeated command of "Relax!" from Kessi's lips that decided him. If she wanted to give him a present, then why not go with the flow?

Paimon rushed through his mind and he opened himself to share the sensations more fully with the bold vestige. He found himself enjoying the situation even more, especially with two beautiful women, one of whom was clearly leading the other through something new. Toleme relaxed, and let Kessi take control.

Feeling how tense Tea had become prompted Kessi to help the dead girl relax more. The sorceress' soft skin was not unpleasant; she'd noticed it before, and was not sure if it was Tea's own magics or the magics of the outfit she'd stolen that made it so. She laid a soft, warm kiss along the back of the girl's neck, through the dark silk of her her hair and Tea started to relax a little. Kessi started to move, and with her moved Tea, once more sliding her body along the youthful, healthy man beneath her. She moaned softly, her skin apparently sensitive to touch - another surprise - as Kessi forced her to slide her leather-clad sex along the exposed manhood underneath it.

She smiled and pulled the cups of the bustier down, exposing tea's small, firm breasts. The nipples were soft and cool, yet Tea gasped when they were caressed by knowing fingers. ~Undead shouldn't be this sensitive to touch. We're positive something strange is happening here.~ Even as she slowly guided Tea through what seemed to be her first sexual experience, another Kessi's mind was exploring the possibilities of what was happening. She invoked a mantra, carefully concealing the telltale displays again, and fed that knowledge to the Collective Memory. ~She doesn't seem possessed; it is more like she is being transformed or changed. The clothing is not a single item of clothing either - it is a set of clothing designed to give the wearer power. It cannot be a coincidence, we think.~

Toleme, on the other hand, let his hands slide up Tea's hips so he could fumble at the silver rings, his own vision, like Tea's, utterly useless in the dark. He managed to loosen them and the thong split along the middle, letting strangely cool wetness slide across his prick. Tea's gasp and sudden lift away made him smile, though the smile was more Paimon's than his own. He hadn't entirely lost his touch as a bodiless spirit and Toleme was at least interested.

Wordlessly encouraging the other woman to continue, Kessi removed her top, sliding free of the binding silk so her breasts could press along the smooth, cool skin of the undead sorceress. =If we continue this relationship we will acquire strange traits.= Ignoring the oracular warning this time, Kessi lifted herself up and removed her loincloth, tossing it too onto her bedding. Then she pressed her bare body along the dead girl's body, sharing her warmth with the other woman, her hands sliding up to caress both firm breasts gently and knowingly. It was only half instinct; the collective remembered many such experiences, not strictly Kessi's own. She leaned into the youthful appearing sorceress and stroked Toleme's manhood with the girl's sex, eliciting more soft, eager noises from the girl.

The weird heat that filled Teahuaca's belly was unfamiliar, and not entirely unpleasant. She wanted it filled, wanted that heat to be quenched somehow, and Toleme could do that for her, she was sure. Her hands moved past his and she untied his loincloth, gasping as he lifted himself up beneath her, the length of him kissed by the strangely moist petals of her cunt. She managed to pull it away and toss it aside, and then her hands moved across his chest, her nails slowly drawing invisible lines across his skin. He groaned and shifted uncomfortably; then Kessi's hands were between her legs, at his groin. "Up," she murmured, her breath a hot rush along the sensitive elfin ear.

Kessi felt the girl rise, heard her whimper softly....then she guided her lover's prick into the girl's cool channel. Tea slowly settled onto the warm member, the heat of it and the size of it filling her fit to burst. Then he started moving her over it; her hips rolled, almost instinctively. She was no virgin, but she was older than the two mortals suspected; it had been far too long since she'd felt this sort of need or pleasure. And it was pleasure, the feel of a man deep inside her body, how he writhed beneath her and pushed himself into her. Her nails bit into his chest and his pained gasp made her release the tight grip; he didn't stop however, and thrust slow and deep inside her welcoming body.

Kessi shuddered, feeling the girl move along her body, watching how her lover's face changed from moment to moment under the influence of Paimon and his own soul. She kissed the soft skin of the girl's shoulder and rose slowly, keeping her hand on the girl's smooth arm to let her know she was not gone. Tea slowed but did not stop her eager pleasuring of Toleme, and Kessi smiled. Then she lowered herself over Toleme's face, her bare slit wet and needy.

Being a bright young man, Toleme felt the woman settle over him and his hands slid up her belly to cup her full breasts, nipples hard and firm along his palms. His tongue slipped to the flower of the synad's strangely contoured sex; it was different than a human's or an elf's, but tasted much the same. And it too held a single spot that drew immense pleasure; the one his tongue played against, deeper among the petals and more broad than a human's.

The feel of the man's tongue inside her aching sex made Kessi shudder. Then small, cool hands were sliding along her arms, up to her neck, her cheeks. She was pulled forward, pressing more of her soft heat into her lover's mouth as Tea silently demanded a kiss from her. Cool wet flesh met hot wet flesh, and resulted in a burning, strange kiss. The undead girl tasted of spices and lifeless flesh, while the synad tasted of warm crystal and glass.

Toleme slowly increased his efforts, piercing the svelte half elf again and again, deeply enough that she made small grunting noises as he pushed the air from her unneeded lungs. The same lack of breath made her kiss incredible, and Kessi had to pull herself away as she became lightheaded, the feel of her lovers tongue and the soft cool lips on hers making her center heavy with pleasure. And she wanted more, so much more.

Which is when her minds started to pull apart.

Kessi felt her minds drawing apart as the outside influence impacted upon them. Isolated and separate, the tripartite mind forced the psychic influence to spread itself thin, fraying it at the edges so that the Overmind - the part that was more Kessi than the others - was able to easily resist the overwhelming desire for more of those potent kisses. She breathed heavily, riding her lovers tongue and lips eagerly, and then more tentatively kissing the other woman as she made quick, eager noises, clearly close to the edge of her pleasure. Loosing herself in the pleasure was easy; Toleme was working faster, truly fucking Tea as he gave his mouth to Kessi's sex. Kessi felt her body tightening, the interruption actually making her pleasure closer to her lovers (In the plural, how strange....).

Her fingers moved to the apex of Tea's sex, stroking the firm nub there, rolling gently over and around it, sliding into the folds of her sex. Tea broke their kiss with a cry and she arched her back, jerking as she reached her climax. Toleme followed quickly after, the sensation of the cool, slick cunt squeezing his prick in waves too much to resist. His hands moved from Kessi's breasts to her hips and he licked her hard and fast as he spilled his seed into the undead girl, forcing the synad to cry out loudly as she experienced her own orgasm.

Carefully Kessi moved away from Toleme as Tea collapsed onto his body, her cool flesh feeling his sweat and heat like that of a wet furnace. Kessi cuddled against his side, and kissed him, deeply and lingeringly; only partly because she did not want Tea kissing him. She slipped her arm about the girl's shoulders and she was gratified to feel a cool hand along her cheek, as the undead girl relaxed.

Sleep was quick to arrive, this time.

~End~