The Improvised Exchange of Laughters
Like a thunderstorm in the middle of summer, Specter had arrived without any warning, did pretty much whatever she wanted and then left just as suddenly. She just so happened to have brought with her Suzuran's will to leave her room. And, as a matter of fact, the vulpo spent the whole morning without ever stepping out. Instead she took a shower, tidied up the room -which admittedly didn't take long at all-, studied a bit and then red from three or so different books.
And occasionally checked her side.
The feeling was not quite there anymore, but it wasn't fully gone either. Or perhaps it was simply the memory that was confusing her, a memory that she really shouldn't have had. The one who got their side pierced -and, most likely, their liver pulled out and eaten- was Specter, not her. But the way she experienced that during their dance still perplexed her.
Thinking about it, was Specter simply just that... violent in bed? One way or another, Suzuran had seen her making love three times, and each time someone got gravely injured. Specter herself, more often than not. That time with Lappland had been an accident though, so it probably didn't count. The other two, however... Specter had told her -no, she had demonstrated- that she, Gladiia and Skadi had an entirely different way of communicating between them. Maybe they had a different way of expressing... physical affection too? By all means, the kind of wounds she'd seen them inflict on each other should've been gravely debilitating, some downright fatal. And indeed, Lappland nearly died that time she distracted Specter during one of her episodes. But those three women seemed to heal faster than someone studying medicine could ever conceive, so... no. No, even when taking that into account, Suzuran couldn't really think of something like that as a good thing. Then again, maybe she was simply judging with her own set of values something she wasn't supposed to? Many things appeared strange to her back when she first arrived in Siracusa too, not because they were wrong but simply because they were different from what she was used to back in Higashi. Was that the same thing?
Could something like that be the same thing?
"... it's... a bit lonely here" she commented, if only to drag herself away from her own thoughts.
She hadn't lied though. She'd gotten more used than she'd have expected to that voice occasionally speaking from inside her head and, now that it was back inside of Ifrit, she found herself occasionally missing the company. Then again, that voice had caused quite a few problems too.
Then something else distracted her from her thoughts, something much more physical. Namely, hunger. She realized only then that it was pretty much midday already. Time for lunch, more or less, and she'd also skipped breakfast too that day. She reprimanded herself for having basically wasted the whole morning but, right before heading to the door, her eyes fell on the bag Specter had given her. That one definitively came from the cafeteria, she recognized the bag itself. Even then, she couldn't help but feel a bit apprehensive about opening it.
Then again, Specter had never actually hurt her nor tried to outside of that one time, and she wasn't in her right mind back then.
Suzuran repeated that a couple of times in her mind before grabbing the bag and opening it. Just as she did so, a scent she was somewhat accustomed to hit her nose, a pleasant aroma that came at just the right time to nearly make her salivate. She pushed an hand inside and took from the bag a few, oddly large strips of dried meat, already seasoned. They looked -and smelled- pretty tasty, to tell the truth, but there was a bit too much for her. That, and it was literally only meat. She liked those strips, she'd had them more than once at the cafeteria, but eating that much didn't seem like a good idea. Well, she could always keep some for later, it woulnd't expire anytime soon after all, but... she just kind of wanted a bit more variety for her lunch.
... actually, why did Specter bring her dried meat in the first place?
No, before that. She had to get out of her room, she couldn't use that meat as an excuse to stay inside there for lunch too. Just as she told herself that, however, someone knocked at the door, the sound nearly making Suzuran jump in surprise. Or, perhaps, in something else. But she still managed to go and see who it was, if only because she had successfully convinced herself that Specter wouldn't come back so soon. And, thankfully, she was right.
"Oh, good day Shamare" she greeted with a bow before stepping aside to let the other vulpo in.
"Side dish. For lunch" she replied as she showed yet another bag from the cafeteria.
Ehm... again?
"I, uhm... I appreciate it" Suzuran said, not quite as startled as she herself would've expected "But where did this come from?"
"Morte said you needed something to eat"
"That's... quite true, yes, but... "
Suzuran stared at the somewhat creepy doll Shamare always carried around. She had never given it all that much thought but, after her experience with the voice inside Ifrit's head... no, wait. Morte was a doll, not Shamare's head, it wasn't the same thing. It was still kind of weird, yes, just... a different sort of weird.
"I have to go now" she said, apparently not really interested in, well anything in particular "See you later, Lisa"
"Oh, wait! Do you think we can have dinner together? You, me and Popukar? We haven't seen each other much lately... "
Shamare didn't reply immediatly, looking at something around Suzuran instead. What exactly, the blonde vulpo had no idea, but she had since long gotten used to seeing Shamare act like that.
"Yes" she eventually answered "I'll tell Popukar later"
"I can do that myself, you don't have to... "
"We have a check-up at the same time today, it's fine" she explained, and that did seem to annoy her somewhat.
"Oh, alright then"
Shamare turned around to leave, only to stop right in front of the door and turn right back around.
"The second door should be the one farthest away. Speak your mind and go along"
Oh. Oh, it'd been a while since Shamare last gave her a divination, and out of the blue too. Though that seemed a little bit more confusing that usual. Suzuran's ears twitched.
"What does that mean?" she asked, with more curiosity than puzzlement.
"I don't know. It's what they said" Shamare replied, her words accompanied by a very soft wave of Morte's whole arm.
"Is that so. Alright, thanks for the... the warning. Oh, and for the bag too. I'll wait at the usual table this evening, if it's free"
"Mnh"
Without giving a real reply, Shamare turned around and left, leaving Suzuran alone once again. Well, alone with her meal, which as it turned out now included an apple, a mini cake and a whole bottle of milk. Combined with the dried meat, that made for a somewhat weird lunch, but not really a bad one.
I must make sure this doesn't become an habit she told herself while eating, though wether she was referring to eating by herself in her room, to having others bring her food or to something else was debatable.
The meat turned out to be a bit too salted, to tell the truth.
She still wasn't really sure why the huntress had brought her dried meat in the first place, honestly, but she promised herself to thank her for that. Just... she didn't really know when. She wasn't exactly in any hurry to meet her again, which in itself left a sour taste in her mouth. At the same time, she truly believed she had to get over her fear of Specter, if only because it wasn't right to Specter herself. Or so Suzuran believed, at least.
Still, the vulpo had other things to think about and, among them, the most pressing one was talking to Ifrit. And so she headed to her rooms, only to stop right in front of the metal door separating the ex-Rhine members' quarters from the hallway. She stared at the handle, turned around, took two steps, turned back again, walked to the door once more. And then she did the same thing, again, and again.
She knew what to say, at least for the most part, but she wasn't sure how to say it. Or if she would get to say anything at all, even. She owed Ifrit an apology for the way she'd stormed off back in the hallway, but she also believed Ifrit should've apologized first. But she could be pretty... stubborn, at times. Which wasn't always a bad thing, but on some occasions it did prove to be a rather problematic trait. What if Suzuran simply apologized first, to get things started? No, probably not. She felt like that would've sent the wrong message.
As she kept mulling such thoughts over in her mind, Suzuran started walking in circles in front of the door, almost without realizing, for a good ten minutes, after which she finally reached for the handle.
Only to pull her hand back and knock instead. Not too strongly, that door was sturdier than most others on the landship for some reason. However, nobody answered. She waited a bit, knocked again, and waited. Once more, noone came to see who was knocking. She tried a third time, only to accept the fact that nobody was in at the moment.
It was kind of a relief, in a way. And that feeling in itself caused Suzuran to reprimand herself, because that was akin to procastinating, which wasn't good. Anyway, she had a few ideas where Ifrit might've been, but checking all those places out would take quite a while. Simply coming back to her room later seemed like a more sensible choice. Besides, she had another room she wanted to visit that day. Another two, actually. They were both pretty far, and not exactly close to one another either, so she decided to go to the nearest one first.
Or actually not.
Shamare had talked about a second door. Thinking about it, that probably meant the second place Suzuran wanted to go to that day, in which case she should've gone to the farthest one instead. Maybe she shouldn't have put that much faith in her divinations, but she was right more often than not. So she ended up doing a fair bit of extra walking. Down a staircase too. There weren't many people around in that part of the landship, but she still crossed some on her way, until she finally reached her destination. A door like there were hundreds at Rhodes.
... maybe I shouldn't be here though?
Thinking about it, there was a good chance that room was empty anyway, given how busy its occupant usually was. And even if she was actually inside, that still wouldn't have meant she had free time. Then again, Suzuran really wanted to ask her a couple of questions. She wondered what to do for a short while and came to the conclusion that, if that was a bad moment, she could simply try to arrange an appointment of sort for another time and then leave. That shouldn't have caused any trouble, right?
With a bit of confidence, she knocked on the door, which seemed to open instantly.
"Young Suzuran" Gladiia greeted -though to most that wouldn't have seemed like a greeting in the first place, if only for the tone of her voice- as she stared down at the vulpo, her face not betraying the fact that she was surprised, even only a little bit, by that visit.
"Good afternoon, lady Gladiia" she greeted back with a bow "I apologize for disturbing you like this but I was hoping I could talk with you a little? I will be brief"
With most other people, Gladiia would've turned them down and went back to her work. Suzuran, however, was a bit different, in that the huntress knew she wouldn't have gone out of her way to talk with her if it wasn't for something serious, at least relatively speaking. There was a good chance it had to do with Specter too and, since Gladiia did consider herself at fault for that incident, she also considered it her responsibility to hear Suzuran out.
At worst, she would just send her away after having confirmed wether what she wanted to talk about actually deserved her time or not.
"This will have to be brief indeed" she replied as she stepped aside to let Suzuran in.
"I promise this won't take long" the vulpo said back as she walked in "Thank you for having me"
That wasn't her first time going to Gladiia's room but, thinking about it, she'd never actually stepped inside there before. She tried to not look at anything in what could be considered an excess of courtesy, but that wasn't really possible without either closing her eyes or looking at the floor, and since both options seemed unpolite she did neither. Instead she simply turned back around as quickly as she could and focused her eyes on Gladiia to catch.
Truth be told, the huntress still inspired a certain degree of awe in her. Partially due to her gaze, cold and penetrating but not really hostile. Partially due to her height, as she was among the tallest at Rhodes Island, which meant she quite literally towered over the little vulpo. If Suzuran had to point to a single thing about Gladiia as the source of that feeling, however, she'd definitively pick the way she danced. Actually, ever since their lessons had started the feeling of awe had grown a bit stronger.
Had she ever seen her on a battlefield, however, Suzuran would've likely found that even more impressive.
"I apologize again for having disturbed you, lady Gladiia"
She didn't reply, but a nod told Suzuran to continue.
"It's about that question I asked after our first dance. Miss Specter came to my room this morning... "
"Alone?" Gladiia interrupted the vulpo, still perfectly unruffled.
"Oh, no, miss Skadi was with her" Suzuran replied "Though she was... sleeping" she added with a bit of reluctance. On one hand, she feared that might cause Skadi some troubles. On the other, she had a strong feeling Gladiia would've found out either way.
The huntress' neck bent a bit, her head tilting ever so slightly to the side. Suzuran, however, found that gesture almost reassuring.
"Miss Specter and I danced, and I... it was like I was... I know this might sound weird, but it felt like I was... living her memories, I think?"
Without even realizing it, the vulpo had brought an hand to her side. Gladiia, however, very much noticed, and she knew Specter -and Skadi- well enough to guess why Suzuran had put her palm there of all places.
"What kind of memory?"
"Ah, i-it was a... ehm... I believe that was a... a private moment between miss Specter and miss Skadi... " she replied, blushing a bit, her gaze dropping slightly to the ground "And they... they... also hurt each other, and... "
"That is incorrect" Gladiia interrupted her again as she crouched, getting down on one knee. Though Suzuran still had to look up to meet her gaze "They injured each other, young Suzuran, but they didn't hurt each other"
Her ears twitched. Her tails fluttered softly behind her.
"But... isn't that the same thing? What's the difference?"
"Intent" Gladiia replied "The same gesture can be entirely different, if the situation around it or the motivation behind it changes"
"I'm afraid I don't understand" Suzuran replied, puzzled "How can something so... violent be... not bad?"
That brought back some memories. Memories Gladiia was rather fond of, even though they weren't entirely pleasant ones. With that said, Suzuran's background didn't allow the huntress to use the same speech she once gave to the youngest, most confused Hunters of her team, those who had trouble adapting to their newfound... sensibility. And so she went over her knowledge of the surface's culture instead, knowledge Gladiia herself recognized to be somewhat limited, if only due to her lack of motivation in expanding it. She did, however, find something she could use among said knowledge.
"If I were to caress your tails at the very base, right now, to appreciate the texture of your fur, how would you feel? Answer me honestly, Suzuran"
"Eh?"
Her ears twitched, three times if not more. That question had come out of left field to her, but Gladiia's expression seemed serious. Then again, that was almost her normal expression. Still, the huntress simply stared at her, waiting for an answer without urging her to provide one. A soft flutter ran through her tails.
"I won't get mad" Gladiia said, as if already aware of what Suzuran thought of that question.
That statement, however, did put the vulpo somewhat at ease.
"I... I believe I would feel uneasy" she replied.
To most races endowed with one -or more-, the tail was a rather particular area. Most people weren't overly comfortable with it being touched, and its base was also considered as a rather intimate part, together with the area of the lower back right around it. And Suzuran was a bit more shy than usual in that regard, too.
"And if someone you don't know did it while you were walking around a town?"
"That would be really rude! And... a bit scary, I think"
"Has your mother ever stroked your tails to put your mind at ease when you were worried or scared?"
"... ah"
Yes. Yes, she had done that, more than once. From her lower back to the tip of her tail, a single, soft, slow caress. Her father too, and she definitively didn't hate it when either of them did that.
Well, thinking about that now was a bit embarassing, but that was an entirely different matter.
"Injuries, to us, are not all that different from a caress on the tail for you" Gladiia said.
And then she bit her upper lip, hard enough to draw blood. Suzuran flinched slightly at the sight, but she didn't back away. And, a few seconds later, the wound had disappeared already. The vulpo simply nodded. It's not like she wasn't aware of how quickly they healed, but being reminded in such a way during that conversation did help her somewhat.
"I don't ask you to comprehend what the act means to us, but do understand that, between us, such actions are neither malicious nor hurtful"
Usually, at least.
"I... yes"
Gladiia nodded.
"As for your dance... that is how we communicate. Yes. I realized you could partake in it when you first asked me to dace" she explained "That is, indeed, the reason why I decided to become your instructor"
"But... why can I?"
Gladiia's eyes didn't move away from Suzuran's face, but her focus shifted to her tails. There were some... peculiar individuals on the surface, biologically speaking. Something to do with old, nearly lost bloodlines. If Gladiia had to guess, the vulpo was able to partake in their communications thanks to some gene coming from her family. Unfortunately, the huntress had no time to spare researching such things, and thus couldn't truly answer her question.
"I am not sure myself. But you should not worry about such things, or... " she began to say, only to pause without any apparent reason and turn towards the door instead "I'm afraid this conversation has to end here, little vulpo" she declared as she got back on her feet.
Suzuran was about to ask why but, before she could even speak, the door swung open. Or rather, it got slammed open, the metal frame making a loud crash against the wall. Had an hand not held it back, the door might've bounced back with enough force to close again. A testament to its sturdiness, truly.
"Captain!"
"Shark. Skadi"
Suzuran flinched at the sight of Specter waltzing in, the huntress' eyes quickly falling on the little vulpo who almost instinctively hid behind Gladiia. Though, for how tall she was, the woman's frame just couldn't hide the child, much less her tails.
"And pillow too? We meet again" Specter said with glee, their eyes meeting.
Gladiia's presence, however, gave the vulpo enough tranquility to not avert her gaze.
"Why is Suzuran here?" Skadi asked as she walked in too, closing the door behind her.
"I-I'm sorry for the intrusion" she apologized as she stepped aside, enough to bow but not quite enough to be out in the open "I'll be taking my leave now"
"No, wait" Specter replied as she crouched down "Were you two about to dance?"
"Lau... Specter" Skadi called her out "Don't"
Skadi was... not all that good at reading people, one could say, but it didn't take much to see that Suzuran wasn't entirely comfortable around Specter. As for why, well, she'd been informed of what happened that night.
"Oh, you were talking about this morning"
"This morning?"
"Shark carried you to Suzuran's room to have a dance with her. While you were sleeping" Gladiia replied.
"... you did?"
"I had to" Specter said back, turning her head around to look at her fellow huntress "My hat was still there. Besides, when was the last time Swordfish gave dance lessons to someone? I just had to feel her again"
"... you are teaching her how to dance?" Skadi asked, her gaze shifting from Specter to Gladiia.
"I am"
"And she's good! Do you want to try her?"
Suzuran's ears perked up.
"No" Skadi drily answered.
And Suzuran's ears fell back down. She had hoped, if only for a brief moment, that she might finally get a bit closer to Skadi. But alas, that apparently wasn't meant to be.
"I can take care of that" Specter said back with a grin.
Skadi didn't seem to react to those words at all, but the only one to actually not notice any response from her was Suzuran. The three huntresses stared at each other, Skadi's gaze carrying several silent questions and being met by only a few, equally silent answers.
"So. Still scared of me, pillow?" Specter asked as she turned back towards her.
And she was close enough to cause Suzuran to hold on to Gladiia's leg in response, something that admiddetly did keep her relatively calm.
"You don't have to" she chuckled, showing off her teeth.
"I... oh, right. Thank you for the meat, miss Specter. It was tasty"
"Ah! You're very welcome, pillow!" she replied, earning both Skadi and Gladiia's vaguely confused gazes.
Admittedly, Suzuran was a lot more calm there compared to how she'd been in her own room that morning, but she still didn't quite feel at ease. Specter's laugh still pulled all the wrong images from the pit of the vulpo's memories and threw them right at the forefront of her thoughts.
Her laugh.
... her... laugh... ?
"Enough" Gladiia simply stated "What business brings you here?"
"Are you going to the ball with someone, captain?"
"A ball?"
"In five days" Gladiia briefly informed Skadi before moving her gaze back to Specter "There is hardly anything decided yet"
"Is that so? How about you, pillow? Do you want to go with us?"
"Eh-ah-n-no, I... I already had... someone else in mind, I'm sorry... "
"Don't be! I already have someone too" she smirked back.
"I'm not going" Skadi pointed out, which caused Specter to let out a weird middle ground between a chuckle and a groan.
"Keeping it private, yes"
Skadi briefly looked at Suzuran, who happend to return her gaze by pure chance. Truth be told, she wasn't all that comfortable having that conversation in front of the little vulpo, but Specter was aware of that too, otherwise she'd have been a lot more... direct with her words, so to say. As for Suzuran herself, she quickly shifted her gaze back to Specter.
Ifrit said I... looked cute back then... she thought.
An idea that Suzuran herself would later consider utterly absurd began to take shape inside her mind. In hindsight, Shamare's words might have spurred her on a bit, but there and then Suzuran had kind of forgotten about them.
The three huntresses continued to talk for a short while, during which the vulpo kept staring at Specter. Holding on to Gladiia's leg kept her from shaking despire how close she was to her, but it did little to prevent her mind from going back to that night every time she saw her teeth, which she liked to show off, or whenever she heard her laugh, which she loved to let other hear.
"I am busy enough as is, I don't have the time to humor you any further right now"
"Come on, Shark, let's go" Skadi said as she tapped Specter's shoulder, her way of siding with Gladiia.
"Shall we take her with us too?" Specter asked as she got back up, pointing at Suzuran.
"We have a small conversation to wrap up"
That reply caused Specter to grin, which in turn nearly made Gladiia and Skadi sigh. Nearly.
"Ehm... " Suzuran then spoke up, dragging three sets of eyes to herself "Miss Specter, may I... may I ask something a bit... unpolite?"
"Ah! But of course, pillow!" she replied, apparently much more amused than Suzuran could conceive as she crouched back down.
"May... may I... t... tickle you? If... if at all possible?"
Silence fell over the room. A silence that grew more and more unsettling with every passing second, or at least that's how it felt to Suzuran. She didn't know what kind of face Gladiia or Skadi were making, but Specter seemed, well... flabberstagged. For a very short while.
"... pff"
Her lips cracked into a smile as she bursted out laughing, a laugh so intense it knocked her off her feet.
"Ahahahahahah! T-tickle! She wants to -bwahahahah! Did you hear that, Skadi?!"
The huntress didn't really reply, unless one were to count her sigh as an answer.
"That's a first, pillow!" she pretty much screamed as she got back on her knees and leaned forward "I've never been tickled before! Do you want my first time!? But of course!" she cackled, prompting Suzuran to take half a step back.
"This is a pointless idea" Skadi said in an attempt to end whatever it was that was going on inside there.
"Why do you want to tickle me, pillow? Oh, no, wait! You'll tell me when we dance!"
Gladiia placed an hand over Suzuran's head, maybe to feel wether she had any swollen contusion that might explain how she came up with such an idea.
She had none.
"Are you sure?" she asked as she looked down.
Truthfully, by that point Suzuran really wasn't all that convinced anymore.
"But of course you are! Aren't you, funny little pillow?"
But with how enthusiast Specter herself seemed to be about that, the vulpo couldn't find the courage to back out.
"Y... yes" she replied.
"You can't be serious"
"Take a seat, Skadi" Gladiia offered, or perhaps ordered, as she stepped back, leaving Specter and Suzuran face to face.
"You can't be serious" she repeated "How can you be fine with this?"
Upon hearing that, Specter got back on her feet, walked up to Skadi, grabbed her face and kissed her. Suzurans' ears twitched wildly, the little vulpo bringing her hands to her face to cover her eyes but forgetting to actually hold her fingers over said eyes, her gaze glued to the event unfolding in front of her. She couldn't actually see the kiss itself since Specter blocked her line of sight, but the sounds were pretty... eloquent. Skadi didn't return Specter's hold, but she didn't push her away either, at least at first.
Gladiia coughed.
Twice.
Only then did Skadi push Specter back.
"Did you want to take this first yourself, Skadi? I had no idea you had such interests"
"No, I... I don't" she replied, glad that Suzuran couldn't see the soft blush on her face.
"Shall I take yours later, then?"
"I'd rather not"
"Ehm... I... should I leave?" Suzuran asked.
"But of course not" Specter replied as she spun, no, twirled around "Rather, let us begin!"
Skadi sighed with an equal amount of frustration, confusion and discomfort. And a very faint trace of envy too, albeith one so small she might not even have been aware of it herself. Her gaze met Gladiia's, who was now sitting on a chair, and her eyes very cleary said she was aware of how Skadi was feeling. She took a second chair and settled right next to her.
"Why aren't we stopping her?" she whispered in aegirian.
"Would you rather have this happen here and now, where and when I can stand guard, or let Shark chase her some other time?"
"I can make sure that won't happen"
"Just like you made sure Specter didn't wander into her room to dance this morning, I presume" she said back flatly.
There wasn't any malice in her voice, but that didn't really help Skadi in any way.
"We both know you aren't able to rein her in, Skadi. And not due to a lack of strength, might I add"
Skadi shifted slightly in her seat.
"That's... "
"I don't blame you for that, Skadi. I just need you to be aware of your limitations. Besides, young Suzuran put this idea in her mind herself. I believe she should face the consequences too, so long as Shark doesn't lose control"
"... "
Specter, in the meanwhile, had moved a bit of furniture around. On top of being somewhat cramped, that room was on the small side too, but she still managed to carve out a workable free area. And without messing anything up, if Gladiia's lack of complaints was of any indication.
"Have you ever tickled anyone before, pillow?" Specter asked as she bent forward to be at Suzuran's eye level.
Normally, that'd have caused the vulpo to tremble almost uncontrollably, but Gladiia was there. Skadi was as well, and awake too. And, maybe, the fact that none of her interactions with Specter after that first one had been violent was starting to make her dread the woman just a bit less.
Maybe.
"I haven't, no"
"Ah! I shall take your first too then! How lovely!"
"... do you really have to word it that way?" Skadi asked from the side, a faint annoyance in her voice that would've caused Suzuran to apologize had Specter not answered first.
"But of course I don't, dear" she replied as she turned around, her smile both warmer and softer than usual, and yet somehow also sharper at the same time "But this is more entertaining"
Skadi sighed. Gladiia looked on in silence, with perfectly concealed curiosity.
"Let us begin then!" Specter declared as she tossed her hat to Skadi.
And started unblucking a few belts to take off her capelet, her sleeves coming off with it only to be sent flying towards Skadi as well. Suzuran fidgeted.
"Ehm, m-miss Specter... ?!"
"You can't tickle me if I'm all dressed, can't you, pillow? Oh, but I've never tried this before. Maybe I'm ticklish? How funny!"
"Specter... "
"There is nothing to fret over, my dear" Specter told Skadi as she threw her her dress too "It's nothing she hasn't seen before"
"... what?"
Suzuran found half of herself wanting to look away and the other half bent on keeping her gaze on the huntress as Specter took off her boots and thighhighs too, nothing but her underwear left to cover her body. And, while Suzuran had technically seen her bare skin before -she'd even felt through her bare skin just that morning too, odd as that one occurrence had been- that was her first time taking a proper and good -if extremely bashful- look at her nearly naked form. Specter wasn't particularly tall. She was a bit shorter than Skadi, actually, and much shorter than Gladiia. She was rather slender too, with little in the way of either excessive flat or muscles, which made Suzuran wonder just where her strength could come from.
With that said, two facts combined to bring Suzuran's gaze to certain areas of Specter's body. Other than her still rather chilling smile, that is. The first one was that, ever since her first meeting with Lappland, Suzuran had one way or another built up enough... experiences to become aware of other people's bodies in a not entirely innocent way. The second was that Gladiia and Skadi's presence gave her enough peace of mind to actually have such thoughts, for better or for worse. As for Specter herself, it didn't take her long at all to notice that the vulpo was staring at her lacy underwear, black with white frills, not overly revealing.
Skadi would never say it out loud, but she quite liked how that kind lingerie looked on Specter. Which was the exact reason why she had it on in the first place.
"Alright, pillow" she said as she opened her arms, inviting her in "Where do you want to start?"
"I, ah... y... your... sides... maybe?"
"Sure!" she replied as she brought her hands up and behind her head to give the vulpo full access.
Suzuran gulped, twice, and then took a step forward, with less hesitation than she herself would have expected. Her hands were shaking, but only slightly, and her fingers quickly found the huntress' sides. Her skin was pale, surprisingly cool to the touch but not really cold. Smooth and soft, almost delicate. She didn't really do anything at first, simply accustoming herself to the feeling, or rather, to the fact that she was actually touching Specter in such a way. Nobody said anything, which did help her relax to a degree, enough to convince her to fully rest her palms on her.
Specter chuckled, and Suzuran's tails fluttered in response. But after a few seconds of nothing happening, she found enough courage to start moving her hands up and down. Her sides were... pleasant to the touch, honestly, more than the vulpo would've expected. Not because that was Specter, but rather because she had never thought someone's sides could feel so nice to the touch.
"I'm not so delicate, pillow" the huntress pointed out as she pushed her hips ever so slightly forward "You'll have to put some more vigor into it"
There was a fair bit of amusement in her voice. And a little of something else too, though there was a very good chance Suzuran hadn't noticed that.
"Ah, y-yes" she replied, in a way that almost made it sound like Specter was the one to have come up with that idea in the first place.
And so Suzuran took a deep breath, lifted her palms off her sides and pushed her fingertips down on her skin. Not too strongly, to tell the truth, for two entirely different reasons. And, at last, she dragged her fingers along her sides.
Specter's body jolted. Just slightly, but it jolted, a soft and entirely new kind of laugh leaving her mouth for a brief moment. Suzuran jolted too, but backwards, taking a step back.
"I-I'm sorry!" she apologized, startled.
"Ah! Ahahahah! That's new! That's new, pillow, that's new! So odd!" the huntress chuckled "Come on, try a bit more!"
"I... right. Of course" the vulpo replied, reminding herself that she was the one who had asked to tickle her in the first place.
"... what's this?" Skadi whispered, utterly lost.
"I wonder" was Gladiia's dry, perhaps too short answer.
In the meanwhile, Suzuran had taken a step forward and put her fingers on Specter's sides once more. And then she started scratching her. Her nails weren't particularly long, but they weren't that short either. Just the right length for... well, tickling, as it turned out. The huntress started to chuckle, and her laugh truly sounded different somehow. Or so it did to Suzuran at least, which was arguably all that mattered. Her laughs grew a bit louder as the vulpo kept scratching her sides, her hips bucking slightly, an occasional jolt running through her. Suzuran continued, not too intensely but she continued, blushing as if she was the one almost naked.
"How odd! How funny!" she said -rejoiced, perhaps?- as she spurred Suzuran on "More! Harder!"
Under a deeply confused gaze and a slightly concerned one, the vulpo pushed her fingers down with a bit more strength, the huntress' forced -and yet spontaneous somehow- laugh completely filling her ears as her eyes sheepishly bur surely ran all over her body. She looked... well, cute really wasn't how she'd have described her, but she did seem a bit less... a bit less scary, yes. Her hands traced up and, by the time she realized it, they had already reached Specter's armpits.
"Sure!" she said, hands still behind her head as she got on her knees to give her better access, which also brought them roughly face to face.
"Y-yes!" Suzuran replied, the huntress' odd enthusiasm slowly rubbing off on her one way or another.
The vulpo took a few moments to appreciate the unexpected softness of Specter's armpits before sinking her fingertips into them, quickly scratching a loud laugh out of her. A few drops of sweat began running down her skin, giving it a faint luster of sort that enticed the vulpo, spurring her on, her touch slowly but steadily growing more intense, more swift, and in turn Specter's laugh grew louder, more unabashed -if at all possible-, a few spasms occasionally shaking her body, making her limbs twitch.
Maybe Specter truly was ticklish, maybe Suzuran was putting much more effort into it than she herself realized. Whatever the cause might have been, the huntress fell back on the floor at some point. Had Suzuran been more relaxed, she'd have probably seen that one coming, Specter had been squirming with growing intensity after all. But relaxed she quite wasn't, and so that turn took her by surprise.
"Come on!" Specter said with glee as she reached forward, grabbing Suzuran and dragging her towards herself, the little vulpo suddenly finding herself sitting atop the huntress "Continue, continue!" she spurred her on, arms lifted once again to expose her armpits.
"R-right away!" Suzuran replied, an odd kind of enthusiasm taking over her as she resumed tickling the huntress, laughters quickly filling the room once again.
The little vulpo would later realize that, despite what her thrashing around might have suggested, Specter was still in full control of her reactions. Or at least of their intensity, otherwise Suzuran would've been sent flying by simple virtue of how much strength Specter held in her body. But she failed to realize that in the heat of the moment, which made the huntress look oddly... normal. Perhaps almost vulnerable, even. And approachable too, yes, especially that. The vulpo smiled without even noticing. The way Specter's body jolted and squirmed beneath her, pushing her this way or that, was genuinely fun. It also sort of reminded her of that time she had tried to ride a baby burdenbeast, though she made a point to never say that comparison out loud.
And so she kept tickling, with little to no variation to her touch but plenty of vigor and enthusiasm, and Specter in turn kept laughing, beads of sweat rolling down her skin, her teeth glistening under the light, a sight that somehow -absurdly, perhaps- didn't quite unsettle Suzuran anymore, at least as long as she was lost in the moment. She had started holding her breath at some point, without even noticing, and her fingers stopped moving when her lungs ran out of air. She got up and took half a step back and to the side. A deep breath, and silence fell over the room again. Specter's breathing was heavy too, heavier than Suzuran's even, but that only lasted for a couple of seconds, three at most, the huntress catching her breath so quickly it almost startled the vulpo.
"How was that, pillow?" she chuckled as she got back on her knees. Her teeth seemed a bit less scary as her lips parted to reveal them. Only a little bit, but still.
"I... I don't know, miss Specter, that was... intense... ? I think?" she stammered for a reply, confused "And... and fun"
She only then realized that she was smiling, but... that wasn't really a bad thing, right? She couldn't really think of any reason why she should've knocked that smile off her face, and so she simply didn't.
"Yes, yes! Shall I take my turn now?"
Suzuran's ears twitched.
"Shark" the two other huntresses called out, but Suzuran turned around to face them right away.
"N-no, it's fine. Miss Specter was kind enough to accept my request, so accepting hers in turn is the least I can do" she said, to herself as much as to them.
"... very well then" Gladiia complied as she sat back down.
"What do you mean "very well"? What about this is "well", exactly?" Skadi asked as she stood up, not really angry but rather perplexed, confused even.
"What's the big deal, Skadi?" Specter inquired as she stood up and walked to her "We're just bonding a little, that's all"
The two exchanged a few more words, but with such hushed voices that Suzuran couldn't catch any of it. Once they were done talking, however, Skadi sat back down with a sigh and Specter turned around to walk to the bed.
"Here, here" she invited Suzuran over.
The vulpo looked at Gladiia, since that was technically her bed. The huntress didn't reply in any way, but by that point Suzuran had been around her long enough to know that, had she had a problem with what was going on, she wouldn't have remained quite. Probably. And so she mentally prepared herself as much as she could before complying, sitting on the bed as Specter crouched down in front of it.
"So... should I... undress too?" she asked, fidgeting a bit.
Specter ran her gaze all over her, from the tip of her ears all the way to her feet and then back up again, around three times. To judge wether her clothes would get in the way, yes, but also to gauge if she could actually bear to take them off or not. Wether Specter was good or not at judging such things in the first place was debatable but, as a matter of fact, Suzuran was downright horrible at keeping her body language in check, something she occasionally forgot about.
"Just your feet" she ultimately replied as she backed away a bit, just enough to give the vulpo a bit of room for moving around.
Suzuran nodded, took off her shoes, put them next to one of the bed's legs, got up, pulled down her pantyhose, neatly folded them and placed the garment on the farthest edge of the bed before sitting back down, a bit of nervousness having made its way into her expression. Her legs felt a bit cold, but she was sure she'd get used to that in just a few minutes. Specter stepped forward again and kneeled down right in front of her.
"So" Specter spoke as she grabbed one of her feet and lifted it up "Have you ever been tickled before, pillow?"
Her mind briefly went back to that accident with the metal crabs. That... likely didn't count though. Specter probably meant if she had ever been tickled by other people after all. That, and the crabs weren't really trying to tickle her in the first place back then, they were just eating off her after she'd fallen right into their food.
"No" she replied, and maybe the fact that her response had arrived somewhat late made Specter second guess her honesty.
"Another first! So senselessly precious!" she laughed -giggled almost- as she ran her index back and fort over Suzuran's feet, her nail delicately tracing a markless line on her skin.
Is miss Specter more... enthusiastic that usual? she wondered as a soft chill slowly expanded over her feet.
The huntress' touch was surprisingly gentle, her index and middle slowly moving up and down from her ankle to her toes and occasionally pushing down, as if she was gauging how thick her skin was, or how resistant perhaps. Then she traced her nails to the side of her foot, and then underneath, over her soles.
Suzuran pulled her feet back on pure instinct, a jolt running up her leg as a soft chuckle escaped her lips. The two glanced at each other in silence for a brief moment, maybe two, until Specter's smirk prompted the vulpo to speak.
"I-I'm sorry! I didn't mean to do that, it just... "
Specter didn't really reply, not with words at least. But her smile grew wider, and Suzuran felt an entirely new kind of chill run up her spine. She wasn't scared, no. Rather, she was kind of anxious. And somewhat confused too. She pushed her feet forward again, trying but not quite managing to hide a bit of apprension. Specter took hold of her ankle, a soft and yet incredibly firm grasp that promised to never let go. Her other hand rubbed her feet gently, two fingers tracing a soft line over her naked sole. Suzuran held back a soft chuckle, her feet swaying slightly on its own, a futile and deeply amusing attempt at avoiding contact.
Specter pusher with a bit more force, though that still couldn't be called scratching by quite a fair margin. And yet Suzuran found herself jolting, her fingers clenching the sheets. The stimulation was... not exactly strong, not yet, but still definitively more intense than her prior experience with the metal crabs had led her to expect. Was it because Specter was actually trying to tickle her, rather than doing so by accident? Or because there were people watching? No, no, that's not how that worked, she was sure of it.
A twitch ran up her leg. Holding back her laugh was becoming increasingly difficult, and Suzuran was so focused on keeping her voice in check that she completely forgot about her tails, swaying and waving behind her without any semblance of control. She looked at Specter, but the woman didn't return her gaze, her eyes fixed on the vulpo's little, bare feet. She moved in, closer, to the point Suzuran could feel her breath on her skin. And then, without any warning, a third finger ran along her sole.
"Pffh!"
Specter's eyes jolted up, their gazes meeting, and Suzuran brought both hands over her mouth, more out of reflex than anything.
"That's it, that's it pillow" she said, her voice oddly low, almost hushed "Lie down and enjoy. Let it out"
Suzuran didn't quite comply with the "lie down" part, but she did try to relax. Specter resumed caressing her sole, with slowly but steadily growing intensity too. The vulpo jolted a bit, making a conscious effort to keep her hands off her mouth, which did allow a few giggles to escape her. It was... surprisingly embarassing. She'd laughed in front of others before, obviously, but that felt different. More personal, perhaps. But Specter hadn't even tried to hold her own laughters in, so Suzuran figured that doing so would be disrespectful, or at least unfair.
"Eh... eheheh... "
Specter chuckled too, and then she just... closed her mouth over Suzuran's feet, her big and index toes completely disappearing from sight. The vulpo froze, though that state was broken immediatly by the feeling of the huntress' fingers scratching her sole and her tongue running between her toes. The latter in particular was not a feeling Suzuran had braced herself for, a loud laugh escaping from her throat. Specter sucked a bit on her feet before moving her tongue again, a fourth finger joining the others to tickle the vulpo's feet, her other hand still making sure she wouldn't accidentally pull back, causing Suzuran's laughter to grow louder still. And something else began to build up too, a warm and tingling feeling the vulpo had grown somewhat worringly familiar with over the past few weeks.
Then, however, it all stopped. With heavy breaths, almost panting, Suzuran moved her gaze up. Or down. She honestly wasn't sure where she'd been looking at for the past minute or so. Anyway, Specter had stopped tickling her, or licking for that matter. She was still holding her ankle, yes, but nothing else.
"Tell me, pillow, tell me, do you need a break?" she asked, an odd mix of emotions showing on her face.
"I, ah... no. I appreciate your concern but I'm fine, thanks"
Specter's smile grew wider and, without waiting any further, she got back to tickling Suzuran, her laughter quickly filling the room once more. And with it something else returned, that faint heat slowly building between her legs. She leaned back on the bed, or perhaps she simply fell, trying her best to not roll or thrash around because that was still Gladiia's bed and messing it up any further would've been unpolite. But still that heat grew, and at least for a few moments Suzuran wondered just how exactly she could even notice that through the tickling.
Specter noticed that too, on her part. Suzuran was showing much more self control than she'd expected, which was both amusing and disappointing, but she couldn't exactly manage to stay still either. Her other leg twitched -or maybe kicked, it honestly didn't make any difference to the huntress- and Specter grabbed it with a simple, swift motion. She looked up for a split second to do that though, and that's when she noticed the faint dampness on the little vulpo's underwear, something the two other huntresses had no way of seeing from their position.
"Ah! Ahahahah! So twisted, little pillow!" she said, nearly shouted.
And so, without warning, she turned Suzuran around, making her lie on her belly and dragging her a bit forward. The vulpo let out a surprised yelp as the huntress pulled Suzuran's legs against her own chest, holding them still with just one arm and leaving the other free to play with her soles, Suzuran's toes still perfectly within reach of the huntress' mouth. And lick she did, closing her lips over her toes once again and sucking, running her tongue over each and between them while she tickled her soles with her free hand, the vulpo's confusion quickly giving way to her laughs.
Specter, however, was now paying close attention to something else. Namely, to the way Suzuran reacted. She was looking for certain kind of signals, of responses. And she quickly found that those seemed to come from her toes rather than from her soles. Reminding herself to later check wether Skadi had any similar, amusingly odd quirk, Specter kept playing with Suzuran's feet, taking great delight in her growingly uncontrolled reactions, her legs shaking and pulling and pushing as she grasped -nearly clawed- at the sheets. Sweat was running down her skin, and Specter made sure to lick that up too. It was a bit salty, but not as much as she'd hoped. She continued teasing and stimulating the vulpo. She was getting closer, Specter figured, and so she doubled her efforts. And she quickly found out that there was a little spot between the index and middle toe that seemed very oddly sensitive. Suzuran would jolt whenever Specter's tongue ran over it, a very faint difference in her laughs every time that spot was touched. Her scent was changing too.
She casted a quick glance at the two women sitting not too far away. Skadi looked a bit... uncomfortable? No, not quite. She was flustered. Aww, how cute. Gladiia, on the other hand, seemed to have noticed something was a bit off. Specter brought her gaze and attention back on Suzuran and made a point to not focus too much on that particular spot between the toes, to not alert her captain. She didn't want that odd game to end too soon, after all.
"S-stop! Specter, stop!" Suzuran eventually screamed between her laughs "Please!"
Admittedly, Specter didn't quite stop there. The vulpo was on the verge of orgasm, she was sure, and the huntress had never seen anyone have a climax from being tickled. She really, really wanted to see that. And so she kept going.
"Stop!"
"Shark" Gladiia and Skadi both called out, one more composedly than the other.
And so Specter complied, albeith somewhat begrudgingly.
"Need a break, pillow?" she chuckled "Or maybe you want to get back on top? That'd be interesting too"
"Ah... I-I... " she tried to answer, still too short on breath to properly form a full sentence.
"This has gone on for long enough" Gladiia interrupted them "You have taken plenty of my time already. And it's gotten quite late"
"Late... what... what time is it?" Suzuran managed to ask.
"Almost six in the evening"
"Already?!" Suzuran shouted as she almost literally jumped back up, put on her pantyhose and shoes and fixed her clothes, so quickly it nearly surprised Specter "I'm terribly sorry but I promised to meet with the others for dinner and... "
"You owe no explanation, young vulpo" Gladiia cut her off, probably her way of trying to calm her down.
"I, uhm... thanks for having listened to me" she replied with a deep bow "And thanks to you too, miss Specter"
"Listened to what?" Skadi asked.
"That can wait. Would you mind sitting here for a moment, Skadi?" Specter chimed in, earning a confused and very slightly concerned look from her fellow huntress.
As for Suzuran, she said her farewells and dashed out, making a conscious effort to not listen to anything the three were starting to discuss as she left the room. She probably needed a shower, or to wash her face a bit at least, and her room was quite a way away. It's not like it was on the other end of the landship though so, if she hurried, she should've just made it in time for dinner with Shamare and Popukar. And, as a matter of fact, she managed to get back, wash up a bit, get a change of clothes for good measure and head back out without being late.
This one was, uh... more messy than I had expected. And completely different from what I had initially planned for this chapter.
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it.
