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Year 16 AL, In Too Deep
The burning sun was beginning to turn red as it began descending behind the skyline of Port Natalia, a clear sign of the approaching nighttime. Luka quickly moved through the streets of the Human-Mermaid port town, trying his best to get back to his rendezvous with Alice who he was hoping wasn't too mad that he'd taken this long to get gloves...
...Though the pit in his stomach told him otherwise.
With Kitsu and Lime in tow, Luka made quick work of transversing the streets of Port Natalia and the trio soon made it back to Lime's Boomerang stand which looked to be completely untouched. "Whew," The Blue Slime said, rushing to her small shop with a large smile. "I was getting worried that people would start just swiping my boomerangs!"
"I doubt that anybody would go that far just to get a boomerang..." Kitsu muttered.
Luka sharply cleared his throat while giving the silver-furred fox a pointed look. However, Lime seemed to have not heard the comment and moved to stand behind her boomerang stand. Luka gave the Blue Slime a nod, "Well, thank you for helping me find gloves Lime, you helped me out a lot back there." Lime bounced happily at the young Hero's gratitude.
"Of course, anything for you~" Luka twitched at Lime's tone, watching as her face grew a bit more devious. "Y'know, I was wondering..." She said, leaning over her shop's counter, "...If you haven't found somewhere to stay yet, I know a place we can share for-"
"-I've a-already gotten a place t-tonight, thank you though!" Luka hurriedly cut off Lime with a shaky but stern reply, much to the Blue Slime's disappointment as her "Super-Secret Plan" was thwarted before it was even started.
"Oh, y-you do? Wow, that's..." Lime's eye twitched in frustration, "...Great, really really great..." The Blue Slime ended as her annoyance grew, the twitch becoming worse as Kitsu silently snickered at her third failed attempt to get into the purple-haired boy's pants.
Lime's mouth turned into a thin line, a great mental debate on whether or not she could afford to break a boomerang over the Kitsune's head going on before Luka interjected himself between the two. "Th-Thanks again Lime. And, uh, good luck with your boomerang business!" Lime still had a great deal of displeasure after being indirectly rejected, but managed to give the purple-haired boy a wave as he left with Kitsu in tow.
The duo of the purple-haired Prophet and silver-furred fox started making their way back to the Mermaid pub to meet up with Alice. Luka picked up the pace some in the hopes that they'd be able to beat his traveling partner to their rendezvous point. After all, the last thing he needed was Alice getting mad because they took too long. As they walked through the now less busy streets of Port Natalia, Luka took the time to look around the town once more.
Much like before - though again less busy than it was during the height of the day - the young Hero found groups of both Humans and Mermaids mulling around the shops. In general, everyone in the port town seemed to be living fairly peacefully amongst themselves.
Again, the Prophet of Ilias had to wonder: If it could be done here, then surely it was possible for the rest of the World.
In his musings, Luka found his pale blue eyes falling on Kistu. His previous line of thought fell through as he felt as though he was forgetting something. The young Hero let out a gasp, stopping in his tracks to start unzipping his traveling bag. Kitsu stopped at the sound of his movement, watching with a curious gaze as he pulled something out of the bag.
"I meant to, eh, give this to you earlier but I got..." Luka paused, "...T-Ta-angled up in some stuff." Kitsu looked somewhat confused at Luka's odd voice hitch, but her confusion swiftly fell into shock as the purple-haired boy held out a hairpin. The same long and thin silver hairpin that had the matching red ribbon and flower. The one that she couldn't find again after seeing it the first time in Mink's store.
"You..." Kitsu whispered, her bright red eyes watching as Luka held out the small item to her.
Luka smiled at the fox, "You looked pretty interested in it back there at M-Mink's, so I figured that I'd get it for you!" The young Hero said to the still-frozen Kitsune. The air between the two fell silent of everything sans the idle chatter of the residents of Port Natalia, and Luka slowly began to feel more nervous due to Kitsu's stillness.
The purple-haired boy's anxious eyes bounced between the Kitsune and the hairpin, "E-Eh, this was the one you were looking at, right?" Luka asked, now worried that he may have made a mistake. His question seemed to bring the silver-furred fox back to life and she was quick to reach out and grab the item out of his hand, cupping it in both hands as if it would suddenly disappear at any moment.
"Wh-Why did you..." Kitsu began, looking up at the still-smiling Luka. "...Why did you get this for me?" She asked.
Luka simply shrugged, "Well, I just thought that since you helped me find new gloves, so I figured that I would get something for you as thanks!" He ended in exclamation. Kitsu looked back down to the hairpin and, very slowly, a soft smile started to grow on her face. The smile on the fox's face faltered and she peered back up at Luka with an anxious expression, "H-How much was it?"
A chuckle came from Luka's mouth as he waved away the silver-furred fox's worries. "Don't worry about something like that, I wouldn't have gotten it just to make you pay for it later." The astonished Kitsu watched as Luka gently took the hairpin from the fox's still-cupped hands, lifting it up to her forehead. "Now, I'm not really an expert at this part, but I think I can figure something out here." He said, leaning in close as he spoke.
Kitsu froze as Luka grabbed a tuft of silver hair above her left eye, curling it up a little with one hand while holding up the hairpin with the other. Luka stuck out his tongue some as he concentrated on trying to make a somewhat decent style with the Kitsune's hair. As Luka worked on this, the young fox before him found herself becoming steadily aware of something about the boy: His smell.
Something about it was different after leaving Mink's store. It was still the same almost overly sweet scent, but now it had something heavier to it. Kitsu was not knowledgeable enough to know what this new edge to his aroma was, but what she did know was that it was starting to make her stomach stir quite fiercely.
"There, I think that looks nice!" Luka's exclamation broke her from the strange sensation, and she looked up to see the young Hero beaming down at her. His smile wavered a bit though, as he realized that the silver-furred fox in question probably couldn't appreciate his handiwork in the same way he could. "...Eh, well I don't really have a mirror, so I guess you'll have to take my word on that one."
Luka glanced around for a moment before his eyes fell onto a nearby storefront with a sizeable window on its front. He hummed, "Unless... You might be able to see a good-enough reflection over there, I think." He said, pointing at the shop in question. Kitsu wordlessly followed his hand, walking up to the window with a growing curiosity.
As Luka had said, it wasn't terribly elaborate, as he had really only gone as far as to bundle up some of the Kitsune's longer silver hairs for the accessory to pin-up. However, the Two-Tailed Kitsune had to give a smile upon seeing how well the color of the hairpin matched her own colors. Obviously, the silver of the actual hairpin's prongs mirrored her own silver fur. However, the most complementary detail was how the hairpin's red ribbon and flower seemed to be the exact same shade as her own red eyes.
"Heh, you actually didn't do too bad." Kitsu said, looking back to the now relieved-looking Hero. "Thanks, I-I really like it." She said, fighting through an odd stutter as Luka smiled down at her again.
"I'm glad you do, I think it makes you look cu-" Luka stopped mid-word, coughing harshly as he cut himself off. "E-Eh, I mean, nice." Kitsu looked the now awkward boy up and down, confusion coming to her as she watched his face break out into an intense blush. The purple-haired boy was finally able to reign back his embarrassment to say, "W-We should go find that restaurant now. Don't want to keep Alice waiting."
Unbeknownst to Kitsu, Luka had nearly called her "Cute", but after doing the same thing with Mink earlier - and finding out what saying such a thing might lead to - he decided that he may need to be more careful about his phrasing when it came to Monsters.
The sky was growing darker as Luka and a still somewhat queasy Kitsu walked up to the Marvelous Mermaid Bar N' Grill, the planned rendezvous spot with Alice. As it seemed, Luka and Kitsu actually managed to beat the young Hero's traveling partner back to the Mermaid pub. The duo stood in front of the restaurant, watching as a significant amount of people filled inside.
'Must be even more popular at night.' Luka surmised to himself.
"Maybe we should go inside to wait?" Kitsu suggested innocently. The purple-haired boy considered it for about a tenth of a second before remembering the message about a "Mermaid dessert" that had been written on the receipt that still laid in his pocket. A nervous chuckle came from Luka's mouth, "Hehe, erm, n-no I think we should probably j-just stay out here for now!"
Kitsu looked a bit taken aback by the young Hero's sudden second bout of nervousness that evening, watching as Luka lifted a hand to his mouth to clear his throat. "A-Anyway, I-I figured we'd just wait out here for now..." He paused, glancing around the crowd to look for Alice once again. However, his search quickly came up short as the disguised Lamia was nowhere to be seen.
Luka frowned but could only figure that his friend had good reason to be taking her time.
The purple-haired boy looked over to the Mermaid pub again, 'Well, we don't really have to go inside to use it as a rest stop.' He thought, moving towards the restaurant after a moment of deliberation. Luka heard Kitsu move to follow him, "I thought you wanted to wait outside?" She asked. Luka kept walking until he got to the outside wall, taking off his traveling bag and setting it down against the building.
"I did," He said while unzipping his traveling bag. "I just figured that we should get a bit more comfortable while we're out here." Kitsu's head tilted to the side as she watched Luka riffle through the bag, finally pulling out the mat that usually served as his tent's bed. Luka unfurled the mat and spread it out right in front of the bag.
Luka nodded at his handiwork, spinning around to sit cross-legged on the dark green mat. The young Hero glanced up at Kitsu, patting the spot next to him as he did. The Two-Tailed Kitsune was slow to respond to the gesture but surprisingly did eventually decide to sit on the mat as well. However, she chose to sit on the far end of the mat from Luka.
The young Hero turned and reached into his traveling bag once more, pulling out the black gloves that he had gotten from Mink's shop. Luka's movements drew the attention of Kitsu, who watched as the boy slipped on the new gloves. A smile came to Luka's face, "I have to thank you again, Kitsu. These are pretty nice!" He turned to the Kitsune, a question on his mind. "Hey, so you said that you use these for something called Ninjutsu? What is that, exactly?"
The silver-furred fox's ears quickly fluttered, quickly becoming more energetic at the mention of the term. "Yep, it's a special type of skill that I've been practicing." Luka hummed, shuffling a bit to face the Two-Tailed Kitsune a bit better. "So it's a type of fighting technique, then?" He asked, to which Kitsu proudly crossed her arms before replying, "Uh huh, I know a lot of really cool moves because of it!"
Luka blinked, something about her answer striking him as odd. "So, you know how to fight?" Kitsu scoffed at the question, "Of course I do! I even got a few pointers from the great Tamamo no Mae herself while I was traveling with her." As impressive as that sounded, Luka's confusion only grew greater.
"So..." The young Hero began, "...Why didn't you actually fight me back at the Cave of Treasures, then? You didn't even do one attack against me."
Kitsu made a strange choking noise in response to his question. The silver-furred fox squirmed beneath Luka's questioning stare, suddenly becoming quite embarrassed. "W-Well, I was... I was feeling sick that day! Yeah, I had horrible stomach bug, r-really threw me off my fighting game."
Luka peered at the Two-Tailed Kitsune with just a hint of suspicion, her tone not really lending a lot of credibility to what she was claiming However, he did still want to know more about the art. "Okay, I was just wondering because I thought it sounded pretty interesting." Kitsu bit her lip after hearing the purple-haired boy's words, appearing to mull over something for a moment.
"W-Well..." The silver-furred fox said, wriggling back and forth beneath Luka's gaze. "...I could... sh-show you some stuff. Maybe." The young Hero scooted closer, his excitement showing on his wide smile. "Really? You would do that for me?" He asked. As the purple-haired boy drew closer, Kitsu found her nose being assaulted by his scent again. The Kitsune's two tails twitched uncontrollably as the queasy feeling she had before returned with a renewed power.
However, before the Kitsune could answer Luka's question, a certain Monster Lord appeared before the two. Luka was the first to notice his traveling partner, his pale-blue eyes widening as he smiled at the approaching Alice. "Oh, h-hey Alice!" He called out, swiftly standing from his seated position to stand before the disguised Lamia.
Alice gave a nod, "Sorry if I kept you waiting too long. It took me a while to find a place up that wasn't booked." Luka quickly waved away the golden-eyed Monster's words, "O-Oh, that's fine. We weren't waiting for you very long at all!" Alice's gaze moved from Luka to Kitsu, her sharp eyes noticing the fox's new hairpiece. The disguised Lamia debated questioning the item out of a mild curiosity, but that inclination was stopped when she smelled the young Hero.
Unlike Kitsu, Alice was able to quickly tell much more from his scent.
At first, she only picked up the fragrance of Vanilla that now seemed to be his natural scent - something that Alice still found to be endlessly bizarre - but alongside this were two other scents: The first being that of a Mermaid...
...And the second smell being Luka's sperm.
Alice's gaze intensified almost immediately after deducting the connection between the two. "So, you must've been pretty busy looking for gloves." The disguised Lamia said, her hardened tone putting both Luka and Kitsu on edge. Luka warily lifted up his hands to show his new black gloves, "Y-Yeah, Kiit took a little bit longer than I th-thought it would."
The golden-eyed Monster gave a slow nod, "I see that, I also see that you found a bit more than just gloves, didn't you?" The young Hero gulped, not quite aware of what was bringing his now red-faced traveling partner to have such a wild change in attitude. "E-Eh, I-I don't k-know what you m-mean?" He half asked, half said.
Alice responded by simply staring down at him with a tense look on her face, to which Luka only became more bemused.
The disguised Lamia sighed, her somewhat unjustified anger getting worse with each passing second. "N-Nevermind that, just make sure to wash yourself off well when we get to the hotel. I'll have a horrible time sleeping with that horrid fish smell all over you." Luka blinked a few times in confusion before his eyes nearly grew to double their size as he realized what the fish smell would be...
...Or rather, who, it would be.
"O-Oh, r-right..." Luka said as the umpteenth wave of red came to his face, "I-I-I'll do that." He answered with a rising shame at his "encounter" having been found out so easily by his traveling partner.
Kitsu, who had been watching the scene unfold with a hint of worry, did not catch their meaning. "Fish smell?" She asked innocently, eliciting a scowl from Alice and a shaky look from Luka. "N-Nothing! Let's j-just go now!" The young Hero exclaimed, quickly moving to gather his things into his traveling bag. Alice shut her eyes closed, a vaguely familiar irritation rising in her chest. However, the Two-Tailed Kitsune who was still with them was not the heart of the problem this time.
But now Alice was starting to find herself regretting the decision to stay the night in a town with a significant population of Mermaids.
A brisk and uncomfortable walk led by a still-upset Alice led the trio back to the hotel she had picked out for them. It was a cozy-looking place, but the disguised Lamia was now ruing the fact that she had happened to book them a night at a Mermaid-operated hotel specifically. Of course, when she first found the place, it had not been a problem. But now that she was standing in front of the establishment beside Luka, who had recently been frisked by a Mermaid, it was quickly gaining her ire.
The only way it could be worse is if there happened to be a few Harpies and Elves running around as well.
Alice bit her lip, 'Get a grip, it doesn't matter. Get a grip, it doesn't matter.' Her mind repeated, 'I shouldn't even care if he's messing around. In fact, I don't! No, not at all. Not at all.' She said as her fists tightened, the sound of her gloves becoming strained going through the air.
Luka watched his traveling partner's hands shake with a weary gaze, his face showing his hesitance as he opened his mouth. "Eh, Alice? Are-Are we going to... go inside... soon?" Indeed, the trio had been standing in front of the hotel for a few minutes now due to the disguised Lamia having stopped directly in front of the front door.
The young Hero's question seemed to break Alice from her little episode and she hurriedly replied, "O-Of course we are, it just wasn't check-in time yet!" She yelled out before grabbing Luka by his arm and yanking him through the doors. Kitsu - who had been silent so far out of fear of being tossed into the ocean by Alice - carefully followed a few steps behind the pair as they ventured inside.
Alice did not hesitate to tow the stuttering and flailing Luka through the lobby, wordlessly flashing a key to the bemused Mermaid behind the hotel's greeting counter. The disguised Lamia spent little time in bringing the purple-haired boy into a short hallway, stopping at a door numbered forty-two. Alice quickly shoved the key inside the doorknob and unlocked the hotel room, dragging Luka behind her as she walked inside the room.
Kitsu scampered behind them, very nearly having one of her two tails smashed as Alice slammed the door closed and locked it.
The hotel room, whether it be on purpose or by coincidence, seemed to be going for a similar feel as the Mermaid restaurant they had eaten at earlier in the day. All of the room's walls and floors were wooden, including the small table and matching chairs that sat in the middle of the room. In addition to this there was a full-sized bed with dark green sheets in the corner across from the room's door, and in the corner closer to the door was a similarly colored loveseat.
If this was all the room had then it would be a completely serviceable place to stay for the night, if not a bit mundane. However, the last and most significant detail of the room was the fact that every single wall had some sort of Mermaid-centered decoration hanging from it.
Most of them being somewhat... suggestive.
Alice's golden eyes twitched as she looked over the paintings, something Luka was quick to pick you on. "Y-You know, I'm not r-really too fond of these." The purple-haired boy remarked as he walked over to a painting of a Mermaid wearing a sailor outfit - one that could not possibly be in line with any legitimate uniform code due to the cleavage alone - and he flipped the frame around so that the lewd image could not be seen. Despite his attempt to appease Alice, the disguised Lamia was not ready to give him a break.
"That's surprising. I figured you'd be quite thrilled to see more Mermaids since you seem to be so p-popular with them." Alice not-so-subtly accused. Luke cringed at the remark, his confidence quickly crumbling under his traveling partner's words. "N-No, I'm n-not thrilled. H-H-Honest." He stuttered out softly, continuing to turn around the rest of the paintings.
Alice's anger finally began to dwindle while she watched Luka diligently turn around more paintings. However, during her following of Luka's path, the disguised Lamia spotted a very concerned-looking Kitsu who seemed to be attempting to hide behind the couch in the far-off corner of the room. Alice squinted at the Two-Tailed Kitsune, who squeaked while ducking further behind the loveseat.
The disguised Lamia snickered to herself, finding some comfort in terrorizing the poor fox.
"There we go. Out of sight, out of mind." Luka said, turning back to face Alice. The disguised Lamia then decided to shift into her regular form, a sight that garnered a small smile from the young Hero. However, Luka's traveling partner was not quite prepared to let him relax. "Good, now go wash that abysmal stench off of your body." She demanded before slithering towards the bed.
Luka's smile quickly dropped, "Y-Y-Yeah, I'll d-do that." He said, removing Angel Halo and putting it on the table in the middle of the room while bringing his traveling bag to the washroom. He shakily opened the door and walked inside, leaving the two Monsters behind as he closed the door behind himself.
The purple-haired boy let out a tremulous sigh, his entire body quivering as he leaned headfirst against the door before him. Alice's barbs alluding to what he had done with Mink had taken their toll on him mentally, both from Alice's obvious agitation about it and from Luka's growing self-awareness of his alarming increase in sexual activity.
Needless to say, Luka's understanding of the sensual aspects of life was nearly nonexistent when he was living in Ilias Village. For most of his life, he was only ever partially aware of the inner workings of intimacy, as his Father had passed long before he could ever explain the finer details to Luka. And when the young boy's Mother had attempted to "educate" him on the subject, she had substantial trouble...
...Luka could still remember the night she had come to him with an Anatomy book, muttering something along the lines of, "Y-Your Father was a-always so much more kn-kn-knowledgeable with th-these things than I..." By the time it was over, Luka would've rather sat through a thousand of his Mother's meals than to ever talk about sexual education ever again.
Though Luka still didn't really understand what she meant by "knowledgeable", how much was there to know?
Either way, the purple-haired boy had started becoming increasingly less careful with his innocence. 'I need to protect myself better,' Luka thought as he gently pushed off the door and began taking his traveling bag off of his shoulder. 'One careless slip-up, and I could end up making a serious mistake.' He reached down and unzipped his bag, reaching in for his nightclothes.
He retrieved the pure white shirt and underwear, turning to place them on the sink's marble-white countertop. After doing so, he started to remove his clothes, casting a glance about the bathroom as he did.
It was a fairly plain room, most of it being colored white aside from the green throw mat on the floor before the shower. Luckily for him, there were no scantily clad depictions of Mermaids in here. Having removed his shirt and Enrikan armor, Luka reached for his belt buckle to undo the article. Just as he did, the boy paused and glanced at the door behind him.
"B-Better safe than sorry." Luka muttered to himself before reaching out and locking the doorknob.
Click
Luka flinched, his heart skipping oddly at the sharp sound of the lock. "Th-That's strange..." The confused boy said out loud, reaching up to put a hand over his heart. For whatever reason, it was throbbing quite intensely now.
'Maybe I'm more tired than I thought? After all, I hadn't really gotten good sleep on the boat.' With this shaky logic in mind, Luka quickly kicked off his shoes and undid his belt buckle, dropping his pants and underwear in a hurry. Now completely nude, the young Hero reached into his traveling bag to retrieve his bathing necessities and approached the shower in earnest.
A smile came to his face as he set his things on the edge of the tub, pulled open the shower curtain, and automatically outstretched a hand to the Hot knob. The showerhead kicked on as he twisted the knob, spraying water down into the tub below. Luka took a step back, humming a little aimless tune to himself as he waited for the water to heat up.
After about half a minute, Luka ran his hand beneath the water his mouth scrunching up a bit. 'Well, not as hot as I'd like it, but it'll have to do.' He lamented somewhat before stepping inside. Either way, Luka let out a satisfied sigh as he felt the hot water fall onto his head and body. For a moment, he simply stood beneath the showerhead, allowing the water to trail down his pale skin.
"Ahhh, I missed this so much!" Luka whispered happily.
After running his hands through his shoulder-length purple hair a few times, Luka finally stopped stalling and reached down to retrieve his shampoo. Luka held the clear bottle up, a light snap coming from the lid as he opened it. The young Hero paused at the sound, finding it to be a bit familiar.
...The young boy watched on expectantly as the Mermaid pulled out a small clear bottle, giving it a light shake. "I've always wanted to try this, but I was savin' it fer a guy who needed the extra work." Mink said, opening the cap with a quick snap...
"N-NEH!" Luka yelled, nearly falling over inside the tub as the bottle slipped from his hands. The shampoo bottle crashed onto the floor, the most ungodly loud banging noise echoing around the bathroom as it did. Luka hurriedly placed a hand on the shower wall, his heart now furiously pounding against his chest after the brief vision of Mink preparing to oil up her breasts for him.
"Oi, don't tell me you just slipped and knocked yourself out in there!?" The voice of Alice half asked, half yelled from outside the bathroom.
The red-faced Luka trembled some as he reached down to get his shampoo before it started leaking out everywhere. "N-No, e-e-everything is f-fi-ine!" The young Hero yelled back, his voice cracking uncontrollably at the end. No further comment came from Alice, spurring Luka to shakily raise the shampoo bottle up and pour the clear liquid into his hand.
...Mink let more and more of the liquid trail down her chest, the substance causing her skin to shine in the light of the room...
Luka gave a frustrated whine as he tried to shake away the vision of the Mermaid's breasts, nearly dropping the shampoo bottle a second time as he set it on the edge of the tub again. He ignored the slight tingling he felt down in his groin and started rubbing the shampoo in his hair. The purple-haired boy closed his eyes and forced the lewd thoughts out of his mind...
...And so, he did not think of Mink removing her top...
Twitch
...And certainly, he also did not recall how the Mermaid had pressed her bust against his face, no matter how soft they had been...
Twitch
...And without a doubt, he did not - even for a MOMENT - think about how Mink had run her oiled-up breasts against his member, pumping him harder and harder until finally-
Twitch-Twitch
"E-Eh!" Luka murmured, snapping out of his haze and angrily rinsing his hair free of the shampoo. The young Hero breathed a touch bit more heavily as he retrieved his body wash and purple loofah, now in a hurry to end this rapidly degenerating shower experience. Luka opened up the bottle and poured it on the sponge, lathering it up as he did.
Without his usual smile, the now tense-looking Luka started brushing his body with the bubbly soap. First, he did his arms and moved on from there to his shoulders, then he moved downwards to his chest. Then his hands moved down to his waist in the direction of... of...
...Of his now erect penis.
Luka's pale-blue eyes stared down in horror at the sight, unable to believe that he had allowed himself to get excited. "O-Oh n-no..." Luka whispered in dismay, realizing something even worse: The fact two Monsters were waiting for him right outside in the main hotel room. "...This is bad. V-Very very bad!" He whispered again while frantically looking around the room for a solution to his problem.
Incredibly, there was no answer.
Luka hurriedly started cleaning his penis, grunting as each normally-innocent movement jolted him with unwanted pleasure. As soon as he was able to, the purple-haired boy stopped lathering his erection with soap and moved even quicker to wash it off with water.
The rest of the body wash had been rinsed off by now, his shower effectively finished though he had bigger issues to think about at the moment. 'Come on, Luka! Clear your mind of impure thoughts!' He lambasted himself before pausing. 'Wait, clear my mind? Maybe if I Meditate...' He hadn't used the technique since the first time, but it may just end up helping him here.
Luka reached down and turned off the water, cutting off the shower so he could stand in silence. Then, he brought his hands together in front of him as if to pray and then closed his eyes. His breathing slowed as he Meditated, and his long purple hair - despite being completely soaked with water - started to rise on its own.
A smile came to the face of the Prophet of Ilias as he felt his mind clear and his body tingle. After a few moments, he dropped his hands, his hair falling back down in tandum. Luka opened his pale-blue eyes, which seemed to shine just a touch brighter, and glanced down just for his mouth to drop in disbelief. The erection had not gone down at all. In fact, it looked like it had gotten...
...Just a touch bigger.
"Wh-... How?" Luka's question came out in a defeated whisper as he shook his head in disbelief. Begrudgingly, he opened up the shower curtain and reached out to grab a white towel hanging from a bar on the nearby wall. The purple-haired boy started to dry off his body, carefully making sure not to knock against his member as he did. Although this was a very difficult task indeed.
Luka was finally able to dry himself off and stepped out of the tub to walk over to his discarded traveling bag. He bent over and dug inside, pulling a small hairbrush out of the bag shortly after. The young Hero then stood up to face the mirror, moving to start brushing his hair. Despite his best efforts to ignore it, Luka's erection was still as powerful as ever by the time he was done running the brush through his hair.
After finishing this, the purple-haired boy moved on to his nightclothes. Luka frowned as he picked up his white underwear, glancing between it and his hardened member multiple times. He carefully slipped in one foot after the other and began to pull upwards, dragging the underwear up until reaching his thighs. Luka's mouth formed a thin line of frustration as he stared at his erection, which stood just as strong as ever.
With great hesitation, Luka started pulling up his underwear again, having to grab his hardened member and awkwardly stuff it inside.
Needless to say, there was not a lot of breathing room.
Luka then grabbed his long white nightshirt, swiftly throwing it over his head. The purple-haired boy looked down, inspecting his waist area. 'Well, at least you can't see it. Too much.' He thought before turning to the bathroom door. Luka took a few breaths to steel himself and then reached out with his left hand to unlock the bathroom door.
Click
Twitch
Luka let out a small whine of frustration as his member throbbed fiercely from within his underwear, a light blush coming to his face. The purple-haired boy fought against his now quivering hand, finally able to wrap his fingers around the doorknob and twist it. A low creak came from the door as Luka very carefully pushed it open. The purple-haired Prophet shuffled through the doorway, hoping to himself that someway - somehow - his sizable erection would eventually go down by itself before it was noticed.
The young Hero's pale-blue eyes glanced about the room to find his two traveling partners in more or less the same positions he had left them.
Kitsu was still on the side of the room with the couch, but the Two-Tailed Kitsune was now sitting on the couch instead of hiding behind it like she had before. The silver-furred fox looked over to Luka, her red eyes blinking a few times in surprise at him. "What are you wearing?" She asked with a tilt of the head.
Suddenly, Luka felt himself grow bashful, having to grab at his hair to alleviate some of his anxiousness. "M-My night clothes." The purple-haired boy replied softly. Kitsu stared at him for a few moments longer, and finally decided to give a slow and exaggerated, "Oookay." Satisfied with knowing that the Kitsune didn't seem to notice his predicament, Luka glanced over to his traveling partner, who was still sitting on the edge of the bed.
A gasp nearly left Luka's mouth as his gaze met Alice's.
The lavender-skinned Lamia sat frozen, her golden eyes large and firmly locked on him. The intensity of her expression caused his spine to shiver, and he had to fight the sensation away. As quick as he had noticed it, the look vanished, and his traveling partner gave a slight shake of her head. "T-Took you long enough." Alice mumbled, her tone unusually subdued.
Luka winced, feeling as his erection throbbed again at just about the worst time it could possibly do so. "I-I just... tr-tried to be thorough..." He answered lamely. "...But I'm pr-pretty well ready to c-call it a night, I think." He continued, but something at the back of his mind told him that the night was not over just yet.
"Call it a night? But the sun isn't even all the way down yet." Kitsu said, wearing a questioning look on her face.
Luka watched as, with alarming speed, Alice snapped her gaze over to the Two-Tailed Kitsune. The movement caused the fox to flinch, her red eyes meeting Alice's just as the Lamia's golden gaze flashed. The effect was immediate as whatever Alice just did caused Kitsu's eyes to glaze over as she fell backward onto the couch, falling asleep before she was even done falling.
"U-U-Uh," Luka stammered, his wide eyes bouncing between Alice and the now knocked-out Kitsu. "Y-You didn't hurt her, did you!?" The young Hero asked in alarm.
Alice rolled her eyes at the boy's distress, "She's perfectly fine, I just didn't care to hear her whine anymore." The lavender-skinned Lamia's usual cadence seemed to return, and she turned away to start pulling back the dark green bedsheets. The pace of Luka's breathing became more disheveled as he watched Alice literally slide into the bed, every small movement from her slim torso to her long tail catching his now undivided attention.
Twitch
Luka gave a low groan upon feeling his hardened member pressing against his underwear harder than it had ever before, thus far. Alice's entire body was finally beneath the covers, and the Lamia's gaze met his again. Strangely enough, her golden eyes looked expectant as they fell onto him.
The purple-haired boy didn't need to look around the room to know that his options for sleeping were limited.
The young Hero's heart was pounding in his ears as he shambled towards the bed, a great pit of anxiety growing larger and larger in his stomach. Luka grabbed at the bedsheets, pausing to look up at Alice. He gave a light gasp this time, the powerful look Alice had on her face earlier having resurfaced.
Twitch-Twitch
This time, Luka ignored the movement beneath his clothes and instead pulled up on the bed coverings. As expected, the young Hero saw a small section of Alice's tail underneath. Shakily, Luka climbed in to lay down at the foot of the bed much like he had before in Harpy Village, laying perpendicular to the mattress while Alice laid parallel with it. The purple-haired boy carefully pulled the bedsheets over himself, leaving only his face exposed.
Twitch
It was going to be a long night.
My, oh my. It seems as if Luka is in yet another precarious situation due to the problem of his growing libido. Not only that, but our golden-eyed Monster Lord seems to be well aware of what is ailing him.
Just how are we supposed to fix something like this?
Proud Parent: Lime will have her time to shine for sure, as she'll pop in and out quite frequently. In fact, she'll probably end up having the most cameos out of all of Luka's "friends" in this fanfic.
espioll: Critical Ecstasy is a concept here still, yes. However, the one thing I have yet to elaborate on is that with each new "encounter" Luka has, he steadily builds up resilience to it. So this is why you'll see Luka not being 100% submissive to any Monster he does happen to have relations with. There's a general scale to this, as he was the mostly dominant one with Reina and definitely the dominant one with Lona, but was mostly on the "defense" with Mink until the very end.
The only exception to this would be Alice, who Luka is completely unable to mount any resistance against. A fact that becomes more and more prevalent as this story goes on all the way to when they get to the Monster Lord's Castle...
As for whether or not Luka has a harem, at first, I was kind of wishy-washy on going that route since trying to make those work in a well written and mostly sensible way is a tad bit more difficult without it becoming an all-out smut fest, but after some thought I think that Luka will indeed be having one. So one big hoorah for those readers hoping for that.
However, my retelling of Chapters 1 and 2 will still be mostly Luka/Alice with interest spread around here and there like you've already seen with the likes of Reina, Lona, and Mink. Chapter 3 is really when I plan on having us see more of that dynamic being explored, as his relationship with the various Monsters progresses further beyond just basic attraction.
I will say Luka will be able to reject Meia, although for entirely different reasons than what you may think. In general, Luka's resolution to end his "encounters" with Monsters is a brittle one, though this is mostly out of his own control. For the pheromone therapy done to him at a young age by Assassinroid is beginning to take a hold of Luka now...
Guest: Your worry is not unfounded, for Alice will be very quick to retaliate as you no doubt see here.