Spirits of the Earth

Mei still couldn't quite figure out what she'd said to catch the tavern patrons' ire. In retrospect, she should have perhaps been more careful talking to them. After all, she was unmistakably Thanati, from her skin color to her hair color to her very clothes, and Thanatos and Serendipity still weren't on the best of terms, but...

Mei kind of tended to forget little details like political tension.

In any case, whatever happened, whatever nuance she'd misinterpreted or missed, she'd wound up chased out of the pub by some very peeved off men sporting some wicked looking knives. Maybe she hadn't even done anything at all! Maybe they just had a thing against Thanati, as old beliefs ran deep, and she had a feeling maybe that had something to do with it as they yelled things at her, calling her a demon-worshiper and such. Which didn't make a lick of sense to her, but whatever! Hatred wasn't always rational!

Or maybe...well, this wasn't really a great part of town, come to think of it, and she hadn't seen any women in the tavern, which had struck her as a bit unusual. Maybe she should have taken that as a sign, though Serendipity's gender politics were still mystifying to her!

She ran as fast as her sandal-clad feet would carry her--which wasn't fast, because she wasn't a runner! She didn't do exercise! She was a scholar! But no matter how she shouted back to them that she was just a scholar and meant no offense, they kept on coming!

And soon, her lungs on fire, she found herself at a dead end, pinned between the angry men and a wall, and for a second panic struck her as she thought she was doomed. She stared across at them, eyes wide, and backed up further. "Ah. Hello, friends!" she said, laughing nervously, and she looked back to the wall as though it would be able to tell her what to do--

...Which is exactly what happened, when she noticed the small, barred opening near the bottom, with a gap beneath the bars large enough for a young child.

Or a small person.

The men came at her, and Mei dove for it in desperation, flinging her haversack through first before squeezing her way beneath it even as putrid water soaked her fine clothes. The bars caught on her robe, and one man grabbed her by the ankle, but she kicked with her other foot and got him in the face, and then she slipped from her sleeves and left the robe behind as she wriggled under the bars and into the dark tunnel ahead.

She heard the men cursing behind her and shouting their threats, but she ignored them as she climbed back to her feet and grimaced, because she was covered in...

Something she didn't want to know the source of.

In any case, with the men lurking out there, there was no place to go but forward. She left her robe behind, for it was torn and ruined now anyway, and strode onward, dressed in her sandals, cut-off pants, and sleeve-less shirt. As she walked, she checked her haversack for damage--or rather, the things inside it. Her book was there, and she would die if it were damaged! Luckily, though, everything looked dry. Then she removed her dry headscarf and tied it over her mouth and nose to try to fight against the stench.

Well then. Time to push onward. Though Mei knew she should be frightened to be in such a dark, mysterious place, especially a place that reeked of unspeakable things, her logical brain kicked in. If there was a way in, there was a way out. She just needed to stick to the wall and walk, and pay attention to the air. Air would flow where there was an opening, so she'd just need to go toward that.

And anyway, this was something of an adventure, wasn't it? Exploring a place few people could likely say they'd been!

Though Inima help her, she couldn't wait to get out and wash herself, and she didn't want to think about what was squelching beneath her sandals and between her toes!

"Please sir, anything helps..."

Another plead, another soul who ignored him. Daersen looked spitefully at the man who took a few steps away from him as he passed by. Huffing a breath out through his nose, he leaned back against the stone wall of the building corner he was occupying today. Normally, the homeless weren't allowed to loiter on corners like he was, but he had an agreement with the area's guardsmen.

They don't throw him out, and they don't get attacked by rats. It's not like he was harming anyone by begging anyways!

There was a commotion a few streets down, some people running out of a tavern for whatever reason. Daersen paid it no mind, and returned to the task at hand. He had another hour before going back home, and he'd only accrued enough coins for a few days of food, at most.

His abnormally large white rat, Prince, perked its ears up, and hopped off Daersen's shoulder and onto his lap. Daersen pet him, smiling.

"What is it?"

Prince hopped off Daersen's lap and scrambled into a gutter opening, and Daersen frowned before he returned to the business at hand. Across the street from him, a few alley rats were staring in his direction. A frown from Daersen sent them scattering back into their trashy nests.

Just one more hour...

Mei didn't know how long she walked. It probably wasn't long, because she wasn't especially hungry or thirsty...but then again, the smell wasn't exactly conducive to that! Still, it was hard to tell with very little light beyond that which filtered down through small grates in the ceiling here and there, far too high for her to reach or--

Crunch!

Wincing, Mei looked down, and gagged when she saw a wave of cockroaches skitter away from her, one of them crushed beneath her sandal. More were on the walls, making it look like an almost living, breathing thing; Mei had learned very quickly that touching the walls was a bad idea!

"Eugh...sorry, little roach," she said, for though she hated the things, she wasn't a fan of killing even bugs! She'd always been the sort of person to rescue spiders and other insects from the indoors before other people came at them with their sandals.

With a small shudder, she pushed onward and rounded a bend, arbitrarily choosing to go left instead of continuing in a straight line--

And sucked in a breath at the sight that greeted her beyond.

There was light coming in from above. Not a lot of it, but enough that she could see the...home?...in front of her. That was the only thing that could describe it. It was a home! In a small chamber in the sewer. No, maybe home was the wrong word--it was more like a bedroom one would find inside one's home. From a distance, it looked rather fancy, but as curiosity drew her nearer (because what would a fancy bedroom be doing down here?--she saw it was all...trash.

It was all made of trash, from the elaborate, four poster, canopy bed to the mirror to the...was that a sore attempt at a chandelier?

Wait. This was someone's home. Someone lived here.

"Hello? Ah, hello, is anyone here?" she called, looking around the area as she approached, but when no one answered, she got bolder. Well, if no one was home, they weren't around to mind her looking around! And so she stepped inside the "room" and started to poke about.

"How odd..." she murmured to herself as she picked up a broken knickknack, a little statue of a knight that was missing an arm and a nose. Someone's trash that was this person's treasure, she assumed.

How long had this been here? Was the person even still alive? Were there other people down here? Was there an entire sewer population that dwelt below? Intrigued, Mei put her haversack on a makeshift dresser, pulled out her book and a piece of charcoal, and sat on the bed to scribble down some notes and a quick, rough sketch of the room.

It was the end of the day, and it was time for Daersen to pack up. He picked up the small pouch he kept his earnings for the day in, and stowed it inside his bundle of ragged robes. Prince hadn't returned yet, so Daersen assumed the rat must've returned to his home.

Boy was he right.


Mei wouldn't be alone in the chamber for long. Almost about the same time she finished her sketch, a meek little squeak came from the foot of the bed. Standing there, beady red eyes locked onto Mei, was Prince, in all his abnormally large albino rat glory. Although Prince wasn't particularly fierce looking (he was actually pretty cute), he still looked big enough to win in a fight with a house cat.

Prince bared his teeth, hissing at Mei as a warning.

When Mei drew or wrote, she tended to forget the world around her, so wrapped up in her own thoughts and ideas that nothing else existed. It was a squeak near her feet that snapped her back to reality, and when she looked down...

"AH!"

THAT WAS A HUGE RAT!

...A very pretty rat, what with it being white and all, and her having never seen a white rat before, BUT IT WAS STILL REALLY BIG!

And it was baring its impressive teeth and hissing at her!

With a squeak of her own, Mei jerked her feet up onto the bed and scooted back into the center of it, snatching up her book in the same motion. "Nice rat! Pretty rat! Don't bite me!" she said, because she did know rats carried all sorts of diseases! What if it was rabid and that's why it was hissing at her?! Rabies was a death sentence!

You die of thirst even as it makes you terrified of water... Mei thought, cycling through the facts she knew about rabies--before remembering she should probably be thinking about the rat problem she had right now!

Prince continued to hiss, yellowed fangs glinting in the light as he took a tentative step towards her. His tail swayed behind him, though, something not usually seen with an animal acting this aggressive.

The purpose made itself known.

A series of squeaks sounded off in the hallway, and dozens of beady little eyes became visible. Prince hissed, and actually began to scurry towards Mei, cutting off to the side to come at her from the right.

Of course, Prince had no desire to actually bite her, just run her off of the bed.

And then, suddenly, there were more rats!

Rather than run off the bed, Mei leaped to her feet with a cry and bounced back away from the rat--and grabbed a hold of one of the posts. "Back! Get back, you...you rat!" she squealed, and did the only thing she could think to do in this situation!

She hopped up and wrapped her arms and legs around the post, clinging to it for dear life and hoping those things didn't know how to climb!

"Go on! Shoo! Scat! I think I saw some cheese a ways back! It was kind of green but you know, some mold is actually okay to eat! You just kind of have to scrape it off a little, I promise!"

Prince stopped a foot away from the post, snapping at Mei like he was a dog or something. The rats hiding in the corridor began to spill out, and it was a veritable pack! Squeaking, gnashing, snapping rats, all surrounding the base of the bedpost, which was threatening to give out under Mei's weight.

At first, it looked like all she had to do was hang on, but then the worst happened. The rats began to climb on top of each other!

"No, no, no! Go away!" Mei cried as the bed post creaked and cracked, and she couldn't help but think that if she survived this, this would make one hell of a story for her notes! Intelligent rats that problem-solved! It was utterly fascinating...

...If they weren't trying to eat her.

And then, the worstest of the worst happened.

The bed post cracked, leaned, and toppled over, sending both it and Mei crashing to the bed.

With the bedpost, came a quarter of the canopy, now hobbled by a lack of support. It fell, pinning Mei beneath its weight as rats flooded up onto the bed.

Their sharp, filthy fangs were inches away from Mei's flesh, when they abruptly stopped, and went silent. Prince, who'd hopped up onto Mei's chest, sat up, looking down towards the doorway to the chamber.

Daersen was there, looking absolutely mortified. He remained at the doorway, clutching a grubby shiv in his hand, his only weapon.

The rats backed a few steps away from Mei, although she was still very much surrounded and helpless.

"Who the hell are you? The hell are you doing in my home?"

Mei shrieked and thrashed, all scholarly interest replaced by instinctual fear and disgust of the creatures that were swarming her! But she was trapped, tangled in the canopy and pinned beneath the post, and she thought maybe this was it! Maybe this was how she would go, eaten by rats! What was the likelihood! Well, not very high, unless you were a criminal in some countries being tortured by that method, because rats would eat literally anything, so some of the more barbaric nations liked to--AGH NOW WAS NOT THE TIME SHE WAS GOING TO DIE BY RATS!

She was still screaming and flailing and clutching desperately at her book, crying out, "Don't eat this! Eat me if you must, but not this, this is how they'll know it's me!" when...

Suddenly, the rats drew away.

And over the din came a human voice.

Panting and pale, Mei froze, unharmed but very rumpled with her white hair spread out all over, having come free of its elaborate ponytail. The white rat was still on her chest (was it their leader?), so she didn't dare try to sit up, but she turned her head to look--and sucked in a breath when she saw the wild and dirty looking man, clutching a shiv! Ah! that must be one of the wild sewer people!

"Do not fear!" she said quickly, holding up her hands slowly to show they were empty, her book resting on her belly.

"I come unarmed and in peace! I'm Mei Yi! Thanati scholar, traveling the world for the sake of knowledge and learning! I found your place because some men were mean and scary and chased me out of a tavern and I wound up in the sewer and I was wandering around until I came upon your home and--" She paused to suck in a breath before continuing. "--And I was curious so I looked around and hope I wasn't intruding but then the rats came and attacked me and I'm sorry I wrecked your place!"

"Okay! Just shut up! I get it!" Daersen said, putting away his shiv, which was little more than a sharp piece of steel with one end wrapped in string for easy holding. He sighed, pulling back his hood while muttering "Kia give me strength..."

He looked at her, all filthy and surrounded by rats, and he shook his head. He motioned behind him with his thumb, and the rats all jumped off of the bed, scurrying back into various grates and crevices within the room. Prince lept off of Mei's chest, and bounded up to Daersen, climbing up his robes and settling down on his shoulder.

"You're very lucky I came by when I did. Those rats almost turned you into their next shit."

He stepped up to the bed, shaking his head at the damage she'd caused.

"Did it ever occur to you what could happen if somebody caught you here? There's some really crazy people down here, lady. People who would've killed you. Or raped you. Or both."

He set about lifting the post off of her, grunting with effort as he picked it up and dropped it to the side.

...Were the rats obeying him?

They all withdrew with a motion of his hand. That couldn't be coincidence, could it? Not to mention the white rat's strange behavior, and that it was...was that his pet?

Mei was drawn from her thoughts as the man approached and began to remove the post--and lecture her. And her face colored first in embarrassment, before paling as he listed off what could have happened. With a deep breath, she sat up as soon as she could and raked her hands through her hair, repressing a shudder.

"Er...well, no. It didn't occur to me," she said with a sheepish smile. "I was more concerned with the men who were chasing me with their knives! I sort of came here because I had to, and then I was just looking for a way out, you see. I didn't actually know anyone lived here! Or that there were hordes of rats that wanted to eat me! That's certainly new!"

But then she flashed him a bright smile, looking for all the world like she hadn't just almost been eaten by rats. "But none of those terrible things happened because you found me first! Thank you. I really am sincerely sorry for wrecking your home! It's quite a nice home, for what it is!"

"Damn straight it is. Put a lot of effort into making living in a sewer comfortable."

Daersen looked at his ruined canopy, and set about putting the post back into place. He groaned as it fought him for a second or two, before it snapped back into place.

"What the hell did a nice looking girl like you do to get chased into a sewer by a mob, anyways? You don't seem the instigating type," Daersen said. Prince hopped off of his shoulder and clambered onto a nearby table, curling up in the middle.

Daersen stretched his back when he was done, reveling in the few pops that sounded off.

"I..." Mei opened her mouth, finger raised, and then let her hand drop.

"You know, I don't actually remember now?" she said, watching the rat scurry from the man's shoulder. "But I suppose it was rather bad, judging by their reactions! Completely unintentional, of course! But you Serenians can be rather prickly about Thanati, so I'm sure anything I said to that particular bunch would have been taken poorly! Some people just can't be reasoned with no matter what you do! Now do these rats listen to you?"

She launched straight to business without much transition, speaking as quickly as her thoughts came to her. "It was a rather odd thing, that horde of rats leaving as soon as you motioned them off! And this white one, its behavior has been pretty atypical of what I know of rats. Now, admittedly, my knowledge is not firsthand, but rather through books and secondhand accounts, but its behavior was still oddly dog-like by my observations! Not to mention the rats that climbed themselves to try to get to me! These beasts are smart. Is that specific to this strand of sewer rat, do you know, perhaps an adaptation to survive in this environment, or is that common in Serenian rats?"

"What? Lady, just who do you think..."

Daersen looked offended. A little mad, even! Nobody had this much gall! Yet, even as his speech trailed off, words failed him.

I swear, the nerve of some people...

Then, he smiled.

"Tell you what. I can tell you all about these rats and little old Prince over there," Daersen said, motioning to the snoozing white rat.

"If you can get me a shaving knife and some food. I don't give out freebies."

Mei blinked at the request, and then beamed.

"Oh, sure. That's easy," she said, as she found the fallen hair picks and ties and started to pull her hair back up. Though she quickly stopped, remembering the filth on her hands, and grimaced, letting it fall back down. "I can have you all that in two shakes of a rat's tail. You're just going to have to show me how to get out, and how to get back in, without encountering..."

She lowered her voice. "Murderers and rapists?"

"Come along, I'll guide you out," Daersen said. He patted his side, and Prince scurried up onto his shoulders.

"My neck of the sewers is pretty safe, relatively. People down here know me, and they know not to mess with me."

Mei slid off the bed, and grimaced as she once again stepped down into grossness. But she scurried to keep up with the man, even as she thought she really, really needed to bathe when all this was done and over.

"Why do you live down here?" she asked as they walked. "Don't the fumes get to you? And the waste? And the insects? It's rather filthy. You could catch a lot of diseases, you know, like rabies or plague, to name a few! Not to mention the fleas and infections and respiratory issues. And that's just barely scratching the surface!"

"I got used to it, I guess. Funny thing is, I haven't gotten sick yet. Apart from the obvious issue of food and water, I've been pretty healthy."

Daersen stretched a bit, glancing over to Mei, who was covered in muck and other less desireable substances.

"You staying in an inn?"

"You've been very lucky, then!" Mei said with a nod, glad for the scarf around her nose and mouth and trying not to think about what she was covered in.

"But I still don't see why you'd want to live down here! It's unbearable and dark and roaches! Ah, anyway, yes! I'm staying at an inn! It's not actually far from here...I don't think. I'm afraid I'm a bit discombobulated! I'm not really sure how far I walked, to be honest, or even how long I've been down here!"

"Oh, well in that case, I'm gonna need a bath, too. Warm water helps jog my memory, actually. Fun fact."

Daersen made it a point to avoid the question of "Why?" as they traveled back out into the tunnels. He stopped to peer around every corner, always cautious. Eventually, they arrived at the corridor covered in roaches.

With a cough from Daersen, the roaches on the right wall parted, revealing a grate on hinges, with another, considerably tighter tunnel beyond.

"This'll take us up to the surface."

Mei stared into the smaller, more claustrophobic tunnel, and grimaced. She had no issues with tight, closed in spaces, having grown up in the Temple and spent most of her time indoors, cloistered away; in general, she was rather fearless, just because she was oblivious to all the things she should fear. No, her grimace was because it was filthy, and because in order to go through it, she'd have to crawl.

"Oh...gross..." she said, but even so, she wanted out of here! So she paused and rolled her pant legs up to her upper thighs, then slid into the tunnel with a shudder.

"Oh, this is so gross!"

"Sorry to tell you, but this is the quickest way in and out of my place," Daersen said, silently enjoying the view as Mei climbed in ahead of him.

"Now, you're going to make a left one you hit a fork, and there's gonna be some handholds to climb up and into an alley. Got it?"

"OOF!"

...That would be the fork in the tunnel. Mei bumped into it with her face, and got a nice smear of something on her, blessedly contained to the scarf she wore. Still, she gagged, the stench now on the protective cloth, and she turned to the left.

And this time, she felt out ahead of her before she proceeded.

"That would be the fork. Alright, handholds, handholds...Inima, it's dark in here!"

Daersen groaned.

"Shouldn't be that hard to see, there's some light that comes in from the hole cover," he said, impatiently tapping his hands on the ground.

Looking up at the ceiling, Mei soon saw he was right. There it was, the light from the grate above, and when she felt around along the wall, her fingers brushed over the handholds.

"Ah! There we are!" she said, and cautious rose to her feet before positioning her hands and feet on them. Eager to leave this stinky pit, she began to ascend, carefully because it was slippery.

"Careful. Stones are loose around here."

Daersen began ascending behind her, despertately hoping she wouldn't fall. Slipping and falling onto the filthy cobblestone would definitely lead to a scrape.

An easily infected, filthy scrape.

No sooner had Daersen spoke when Mei's foothold gave out and she slipped with a gasp, though she was still clinging to the wall with her hands and other foot.

"Ah! Don't say things like that!" she yelped. "Saying things like that just makes it come true! Don't you know that?"

"No, saying things like that warns you," Daersen said.

Jeesh, he was normally a kind and charitable guy, but this trespasser here was starting to grate. It figured, really. Only Daersen could have a crappy day, only to come back and find a thanati scholar poking around his house.

Taking a deep breath, Mei once again began to climb. "Well...that, too," she relented, before, finally, fresh air hit her face as she reached the top. Lifting her arm, she pushed against the grate and found it was deceptively heavy, and it took a lot of grunting and shoving before she moved it aside.

With another grunt, and hauled herself up and through the opening, flopping out onto cobblestones. "AIR!"

Daersen poked his head up after her, glancing about. He pulled himself up, crouched slightly. It was approaching nightfall, and Daersen was naturally paranoid about being out on the streets at this time.

He nudged Mei's belly with the tip of his boot.

"Come on, let's get going. Lead the way to your inn."

"Oh, ick! Don't do that! You have things on your boot!" Mei said as she rolled away and climbed to her feet.

Adjusting her soiled clothes, she grimaced. "I look a sight. Let's hope the innkeeper doesn't shoo us away when he sees us! Though my things are already in the room. Hmmm..."

Lips pursed, she looked around. "I don't actually recognize this area. Do you know where the Nipping Nag is?"

"Nipping nag..."

Daersen crossed his arms, wracking his brains.

"Uh...Yeah! Actually, I do. Begged on the corner of that building a couple days ago. It's in my usual neighborhood," Daersen said. He peeked out of the alleyway, mentally bracing himself.

"Come on. Make it quick, too. I don't like being out on the streets at this hour," he whispered before he got going.

"I'm coming, I'm coming!" Mei said, moving closer to the man. "But you'll have to show me the way. I entered the sewer from a completely different location, and as you may have surmised, I'm really not at all familiar with this city! So I'm all turned around, I'm afraid, and this place has no rhyme or reason! Not at all like Suna, where things make far more sense and the layout's far more intuitive--wait."

She gave him an odd look, then glanced at the darkening sky. "What's wrong with being out now?"

Daersen spun about, placing a finger over his mouth to tell her to shut up. He glanced around, before he resumed walking at a brisk pace.

"It's not safe at night. Kia, were you born yesterday?" He asked, shaking his head. "It's when all the criminals are out."

"I was actually born eighteen years ago," Mei said, though she had lowered her voice as she fell into stride beside him.

"Are the criminals here all so bold? I daresay I can hardly tell the difference between criminals and common folk! They're all so moody and prone to violence. I wonder if the men that chased me were criminals or just angry people? If they were criminals, it might make a little more sense. I did get the feeling I was in a bad part of town, but it's hard to gauge! Suna is significantly safer. Or perhaps those are my own cultural biases speaking. I've been trying to take a more objective view of things for better accuracy but alas, I'm human."

"Shut it!"

Daersen looked back at her.

"Do you always talk so much?"

Mei jumped at his sudden snapping, her eyes going wide as a deer's.

"...I...yes?"

"Okay, well..."

Shit, she owned up to it...

"Don't, okay? Please, I've had a long day. Try to keep it under two sentences, alright?"

Mei furrowed her brow, shooting Daersen an odd look.

"So...by 'under two sentences' you mean one sentence, right? Because anything less than two sentences would be one sentence. You can't really have less than two sentences without it being a single sentence unless it's incomplete, I suppose, or fractured in some way, unless you were just being facetious, because even a single sentence can be terribly long if you structure it correctly. And if you have the lung capacity to speak it."

Daersen stopped walking, and slowly turned his head back to Mei. He sighed, and just kept on walking, deciding it best to just not give her anymore fodder.

They were almost at the inn, anyways.

Fortunately for Daersen, the inn came into view then, and Mei picked up her pace when she saw it. "There we go! Wow! It really wasn't that far! Maybe I didn't go as far into the sewer as I thought. You know time feels different in the dark? Come on, let's go!"

And she picked up her pace, falling into a jog.

"Woah, before you run on in, take a stop at the stables," Daersen said, catching Mei by the shoulder.

"It's not the cleanest, but you can use the water to get those clumps of muck off of you. It should tide you over until you can get a bath or two ordered."

"You mean...wash in the trough...?"

Mei made a face. "All that horse slobber, though! Ugh, but you're right. Better horse slobber than...this. Horse slobber is probably cleaner, anyway. I wonder if there's a way to test that, come to think of it? Ah, I'm digressing! Anyway! To the stables it is! I'll feel guilty for dirtying their water, if anything."

And so she altered her course, turning from the inn she'd been rushing toward, and heading for the stable doors.

"Well, not wash. Just sort of...rub yourself down with wet hands. Get the clumps off and stuff."

Daersen had done it before. mostly because it was the only way to get somewhere near a semblance of clean. Apart from standing in the rain, which was one of Daersen's favorite pastimes.

They came into the stables, and Daersen was quick to wet his hands and begin rubbing down his face.

"Do it real quick, okay? Don't want to spend too much time out here."

Mei joined Daersen at the trough, and followed his example. The water was murky, but it did the job as she rubbed muck from her hands and legs. Her face, fortunately, was clean; the scarf had saved her, and she took it off so she could dry herself with the clean parts.

Looking over at the man, she cocked her head. "Worried about criminals here? It should be fine! I haven't had any problems at this place, but if you go near the tavern a few streets over--yeah, I wouldn't do that! That's where I had my trouble."

She looked at her scarf, grimaced, and dropped it to the ground, slyly covering it with some hay. No way that thing was salvageable. No way anything she was wearing was salvageable!

"Alright, then! Let's go! Hopefully we stink a little less!"

"Trough water's got a stiff smell to it. It'll mask us long enough to get a bath in the inn. Man oh man, It's been so long since I had a bath. Or a shave. Or good food, really," Daersen said, rubbing his hands together.

He cocked a grin at Mei.

"You might be a bit talkative, but you're the best thing that's happened to me in a long time."

Mei couldn't help but laugh at that, as she lead the way up the steps to the door.

"Even though I wrecked your place? I swear I wasn't trying to! I was initially planning on leaving it as undisturbed as it was when I found it, which is the proper way to study something, but then the rats happened and--hey. I just realized, I don't think I got your name?"

Daersen laughed a bit, waving away her apology.

"Oh! My manners. Daersen. You can call me Daersen. And you don't gotta apologize for the bedpost. Really, it's what anyone would've done."

"Daersen," Mei repeated, testing it out. Foreign names always felt unusual on her tongue, and it was obvious that Common was not Mei's first language, even if she was fluent. She had an obvious, if not quite thick, Thanati accent, especially noticeable in her Rs and Ls.

"An interesting name! I think I already told you I'm Mei? I was panicking so I'm not quite sure whether I did or not! Anyway, it's been a delight!"

And with that said, she opened the door and held it open for Daersen, motioning him inside before her.

"You already gave me your name, Mei. I think it was during that initial scare of yours when you first saw me," Daersen said, and strolled on in.

The inn's tavern floor was nearing empty, fortunately for the two of them.

Daersen looked back to Mei, and grinned.

"So, take me up to your room, Mei."

"Of course!" Mei said, and then paused. She needed to find the innkeeper to get their baths ready! Wasn't that one of the conditions for learning about the rats? Or maybe it had just been food and a razor? Hm. Well, it would be nice to have a smelly guest, so no matter, she could throw that in, too, either way!

Turning to Daersen, she fished a key from her pocket and handed it to him. "It's upstairs. Second door on the left," she said. "I'm going to fetch the innkeep. Let her know to send up some baths!"

Daersen nodded, taking the key and heading up the stairs. He was quick to scurry up them and slink up into the room.

He opened it, and nearly cried. A bed! A proper, honest to Kia bed!

He set about poking around the room, simply admiring just how not shit everything was.

It was several minutes before Mei entered the room, shutting the door behind her.

"Our baths will be up soon!" she happily announced, and tossed her haversack onto the floor. That would have to be washed, too, just like everything else she was wearing. Blech. "Oh yeah, I don't have much food here with me, but I do have a couple apples in my other bag. You're welcome to them! We can get proper food down below later. Now, if you'll excuse me, I really can't stand this a moment longer!"

And that was all the warning Daersen got before Mei began to strip down to her smallclothes, eager to be out of her soiled outfit.

"Sweet!"

Daersen immediately tore into Mei's other bag, digging in to find a ripe, red apple. If only Prince was here, but unfortunately, Daersen had left the white rat behind to guard his home. He'd bring him back some, though.

"So, when..."

Daersen froze up slightly, just caught off-guard by Mei's sudden strip session. After a few seconds, he smiled lightly, taking a bite out of the apple.

Nice...

He was considering dropping his own clothing as well. It...er...only seemed proper, really! Daersen slipped out of his ragged, patchwork robe, and began undoing his threadbare tunic.

Mei wasn't bothered by Daersen's stripping. She also wasn't bothered about being in naught but her undergarments around him, a perpetual stranger. Thanati weren't known for being prudes, and aside from that, Mei tended to view the world through a lens of knowledge! and learning! When her head wasn't in the clouds, she was observing and studying and categorizing.

In other words, naked people didn't bother her. She'd done a number of nude studies with live models--

--And some not-so-live models, also known as cadavers.

She knew her anatomy, inside and out.

Plopping down onto the ground when she was done, so as not to dirty the bed, she sat cross-legged and pulled down her large book and fetched some charcoal from her haversack.

"What were you saying, Daersen?" she asked absently, as she opened the book and began to move the charcoal over the page. "'So when'? So when, what?"

Daersen himself wasn't too prude-ish either, although he still had a Serenian background. However, years of going basically threadbare or coming up against crazy naked sewer bums (Something that happend more often than one would think!), among other things had pretty much rendered him desensitized to nudity.

Of course, living in the sewers also deprived him of women, and he was fighting a losing battle to try and keep from ogling her too obviously.

"When're they bringing the bath up?" Daersen finished, trying to play it cool as he slipped off his tunic, which he dumped on top of his robe.

"As soon as they heat the water, I imagine," Mei said, glancing up from her book now and then to stare intensely at Daersen, before glancing back down and continuing her sketching. If she noticed his struggle, she didn't show it.

Mostly because she didn't notice.

"Real helpful..."

Daersen hopped out of his pants, leaving him with some tattered smallclothes. He stretched his shoulders, shivering a little now that he was exposed. For someone who lived in a sewer, Daersen didn't look too malnourished. He was a bit thin, yes, but he also had plenty of muscle. He was fit, so to speak.

His secret was that he used his power to get food when he needed it. Rat wasn't the tastiest nor the most nutritious of meats, but he used his begging money for proper food and drink whenever he could to balance out his diet.

"What're you doing there, anyways?" Daersen asked, moving to sit a couple feet across from Mei.

Mei looked up from her book, blinking as though surprised to find him still there and talking to her, and then she flashed him a wide grin. She did so love to talk about her book!

"Oh, just drawing you!" she said, before she went back to sketching away.

"Oh."

Daersen had never been sketched before, and he didn't really know what to say about that. She was a scholar, so he supposed he should be honored?

"You draw a lot?"

"Oh! Tons!" Mei said with a beaming smile, bringing her knees up to rest the book on it--and angle it in a way so that Daersen couldn't see it.

"I draw all the interesting people and things I encounter! Things that stand out to me in some way. You know, to record and document my journey! But I've always loved art, and it really comes in handy in my work to have some talent in it. Do you draw at all? Or have any artistic talent? I'm afraid this is my only artistic skill. Ask me to sing or embroider and it's embarrassing."

"Oh, I'm just a sewer bum. I wouldn't call myself interesting, but...Shit, I'll take the compliment," Daersen said, smiling as he rubbed the back of his head. He frowned a bit when Mei angled her sketch out of his sight, but Daersen interpreted it as her being a bit coy.

"I can play the fiddle...and I know how to ballroom dance. That's about it, though...Oh! I'm real handy too. I guess you saw that with my home, though."

Daersen took another bite from his apple, preferring to slowly savor it. He crossed his legs, and studied Mei a bit more closely.

"What's a pretty girl like you doing running around Le'Ranna sketching things, anyways? You on some kind of knowledge quest? Spiritual journey?"

"You're very interesting! The first person I've ever met who has a home in a sewer and a giant pet rat! Not to mention how the bugs and animals seem to listen to you. Their behavior was so strange! Even more interesting is that you're a 'sewer bum', yet you can ballroom dance? What a strange combination! That doesn't sound like a skill typical to someone of, ah...your station. Of course, I'm not the most knowledgeable about the Serenian social hierarchy and what skills are typical or not among your people."

Mei paused her sketching to jot a couple notes, written in the intricate Thanati characters. Just a few memos to herself to find out more about that.

"Anyway, about me! You're not far off, actually! I'm on a quest for knowledge, yes. And I guess you could say it's a spiritual quest, too. So many people separate the two, but really, spirituality and knowledge go hand in hand. I'm a temple scholar, you see, hoping to one day become a Zhaobin! It's a lofty goal, but I'd settle on priestess, too. Either way, yes, it's a spiritual calling of mine to travel the world and learn what I can and just live, you know? Oh, I love nothing more than reading in a library, don't get me wrong, but reading about plants and animals and cities isn't the same as touching them and experiencing them."

Her sketching stopped then, and she looked over her work. "Knowledge is the path to enlightenment, after all, and there's holiness in all Inima's creation. She's life itself, after all."

"Wow, that's..."

He didn't have the damnedest clue what she was talking about, for the most part, apart from the fact that she's a ambitious religious scholar with a knack for hands-on experience. He didn't know who Inima was either, but he could assume she was some kind of Thanati god.

She was Thanati, right?

"Sounds like one hell of a dream, heh. Either way, my abilities with ballroom dance and the fiddle have nothing to do with the fact that I live in the sewers. That's a whole other story I can tell, but that'll cost you even more."

"Oh?" Mei asked, and blew on her drawing to clear away the dust.

"Well, I'm already paying food and a shave and throwing in a bath! What's the price of that story?"

Daersen stretched, and scratched his beard a bit. As much as it made him look a bit more threatening to anybody who might wish him ill, he hated the scraggly beard that dominated his face.

"I...don't quite know, actually. Huh...You can probably understand why! I mean, proper food, a bath, and a shave is already like heaven for me, so I'm struggling to think of something..."

He stared intently at the ground.

"What can you offer me for my life's story?"

"Hmmm..." Mei frowned with thought. "

Well, it's not like my own funds are limitless! I am on a budget, but I can think of a few services I could offer..." she said, brightening with a smile.

"For example...art!" And she turned her book around so he could see the sketch she'd done, which was a rather realistic portrait of Daersen. "I've actually made a fair bit off my sketches traveling about the land. It's how I pick up extra coin when I need it! People do love having a lasting image they can pass down in their family. Of course, if art doesn't catch your fancy, well, I saw how you were eying the bed. A night's sleep in something not a pile of trash, maybe? Oh! And I know a lot of things! If you need information, I'm you're gal! Not to toot my own horn, but I'm pretty smart."

The art was an interesting proposition, but then again, the bed was even better. He might as well milk this for everything he could get!

"Oh, I think the bed's a darling idea! It's been so long since I slept on a proper bed," He said.

He cocked his head to her, grinning.

"Or had someone to keep me company at night."

"Right? I've been alone on my travels for the most part, myself! Which I can't say I'm really used to that, because where I come from, I shared a room with several other women so I was never alone and always had some sort of company. Don't get me wrong, I'm having the time of my life traveling to all these exotic places! But it is a lonely affair, too. I suppose that's why I find it so easy to talk to strangers, like you--though sometimes it doesn't work so well. Sometimes, they're not very friendly. But boy, do I have a lot of stories to take back home now! Like, just a week ago, if that, I almost got eaten by a bear and met an ork! Who does that? I do, apparently!"

Then Mei paused as though realizing something.

"You don't snore, do you?" she asked, as though she hadn't just gone off on a total tangent.

Frankly, Daersen was surprised Mei took his last few words to close to heart. He was also surprised he didn't have a red hand mark on his cheek. Were...were the rumors he heard about Thanati women true?

Her question snapped him back into focus.

"Me? Snore? Erm, I've been told that I do, actually. veeeeery lightly. Barely louder than breathing, really," he said, having no shame in admitting that.

"It must be pretty cold for you, sleeping alone in these western nations. I mean, I have less of a problem with the cold, since I live in a sewer, but I know the nights can get pretty cold and lonely pretty quick."

"Oh. Well, that's not terrible! If it's just like breathing, then it won't be an issue. I can be a light sleeper, so snoring is the worst! Though there are methods I've heard of for dealing with that! In any case! Yes, the nights here have been rather chilly. I'm more used to a more balmy, if often miserably humid climate. But at least even then, it was warm, and you could always take a swim to cool off!"

Mei shivered a little, just thinking about the climate difference! Well, that and she was sitting around in her skivvies.

"It's the loneliness that's the worst, though. I must say, Serendipity is rather hit and miss so far! When you find friendly people, they're very friendly! But so many look at me, see 'Thanati', and turn their noses up. To think, some people actually believe we're necromancers and demon-worshipers!"

"Necromancers?" Daersen repeated, incredulity flush in his voice.

He shook his head, scoffing at the very notion. He saw that she was shivering, so he scooted up next to her, mostly just to see how she'd receive it.

"I don't know how anybody could look at such a nice girl as yourself and even think about considering the possibility that you summon the dead, or worship demons."

If Mei was bothered by Daersen's closeness, she didn't show it! Mainly because she wasn't bothered. She stank as much as he did after being in the sewer, and she had a tendency to invade peoples' personal space when she got really excited and distracted. She hardly noticed when her own space was being invaded, namely because she was usually oblivious to it with her mind working a hundred directions at once half the time.

And this was a subject she was passionate about!

"Oh! You don't know, then?" she asked, eyes going wide--because she did so love to share her education!

"Well! It's because I'm Thanati, see? And we used to live in Le'raana, too! Our population was smaller back then and we were more nomadic, I hear, but then the witch hunts began! You see, gifts of divination and primal magic run high in our blood, so many among us can actually commune with the dead and conjure spirits and such! Now, granted, gifts like that can be taken to a dark place. The line between summoning and communion and necromancy is a bit thin, but they're very, very different things! Well, because of a very small criminal minority that abused their power, we all got painted with the same brush. People got paranoid and called us demon-worshipers and grave robbers, and we got hunted and persecuted and ultimately had to flee the mainland for our lives. So says history."

She frowned, shaking her head. "A few awful people can destroy it for everyone. Anyway, the old prejudices still linger."

Daersen listened quite closely as Mei gave him a crash course in Thanti-Le'Rannan relations, nodding every once in a while to let her know he was still paying attention. When she finished, he ran a hand through his hair.

"Oh, that...I didn't know that," Daersen said, crossing his arms.

"A lot of people find us Serenians weird, too. It's because of all he fey blood we have, and how we're all magical, in a way. Not me, though. My mother was Adelan, and I took to her more," Daersen said, motioning to his ratty brown hair.

"Personally, I'm glad my hair isn't bright green or something. I've always found it a bit weird, even if I did grow up with Serenians."

"I think the colorful hair is quite pretty, myself!" Mei said, smiling wistfully as she thought of all the different hair colors she'd seen that day alone. "Granted, there might be some combinations that wouldn't be aesthetically pleasing--say, a baby puke green, that would be unfortunate! And I suppose it'd be hard to ever blend into a crowd. But I'm a little biased; I've always enjoyed the unconventional. Maybe because I have a rare eye color myself? Who knows!"

Closing her book, she put her charcoal neatly away in its case in her haversack, but kept her book atop it for easy grabbing. "Honestly, I'd say everyone's strange in their own way. Everyone like to think they're normal and that their way is the one true way--even us Thanati! But if anything, I'd say all my traveling has confirmed one thing: there's so much variation in the world, everyone's right and everyone's wrong, all at once!"

At that moment, a knock sounded at the door, and Mei paused in what had been about to turn into another long tangent. "Ah! That must be our baths!" she said, hopping to her feet and trotting to the door, and she swung it open without a care to the fact that she was in her smallclothes--which were naught but a breast band and a breechcloth.

The two men carrying the filled tub--singular!--just about dropped it when she cheerfully greeted them.

"Ain't that the truth. No matter what you say, there's always somebody out there who thinks the opposite," Daersen said.

He practically shot to his feet when the men arrived with the bathtub, and before he could even really think about at least throwing some pants on before some complete strangers entered, Mei'd answered the door for them.

Really, all he could do from where he was was watch.

"Uh...I think we, uh, got the wrong room, my apologies..." One of the men said awkwardly, his face red, though his buddy snickered behind him.

"What? Oh, no, this is the right one. Come in, come in!" Mei said, and held the door open wider so they could enter.

They came inside, took a look at Daersen, a look at Mei, and while the one man looked increasingly mortified, the other just flashed them both a knowing look. They set the steaming tub down in the center of the room and then left, but not before the one said, "Enjoy your bath!" while the other hushed him and slugged his shoulder.

The door shut behind them, and Mei stared at it a moment after they left. "Huh. That was strange," she said with a shrug, before she untied her breastband and unlaced her breechcloth, with the same nonchalance she'd stripped with before. She wasted no time in stepping into the tub, with was wonderfully hot--but not unbearably so!--and shot Daersen an apologetic look.

"I hope you don't mind, but I really can't stand the grime!"

Daersen was oddly quiet.

"Oh, no. I'm, uh...perfectly fine. Really," he muttered, a bit of color making its way onto his cheeks as well. Although he was in no way opposed to this, it was a bit jarring to see someone so willing to get naked in front of somebody they'd met barely an hour ago.

Not to mention she was pretty damn hot, too. With her piercings and tattoos...

Damn!

Daersen began to strip out of his own undergarments, grinning.

"No way I'm letting you sit in that by yourself until it goes cold, either!" He said, and he quickly clambered in across from her once he was in the nude, going quick so Mei wouldn't see just how awkward his boner was.

He slowly slid in as well, probing forwards with his legs as a look of absolute bliss entered his face.

"Holy shit, it's been so long... I could die right now and be the happiest man in the world."

Mei was happily sitting in the tub and scrubbing away the dirt with an herbal soap when Daersen was suddenly right there in the tub with her! She startled, but only because she didn't expect that! After all, the tub wasn't that big! And wasn't too excited that the water wouldn't stay clean quite so long now!

But she didn't really mind it otherwise. There were public bathhouses in Thanatos, so seeing naked strangers wasn't such an odd thing to her. Communal bathing was just a fact of life.

Scrubbing the dirt from her hair, blissfully oblivious to any awkwardness from Daersen, she laughed. "It'd be a shame to die now when you've only just gotten into the bath and haven't even had a chance to enjoy it. Though, I'd be careful about saying things like that. Did you know that most accidents occur within the home? And that a significant amount of them are related to bathing! People do die in the bath, you know! They slip and hit their heads."

"Well, yeah. But those people are also dummies," said Daersen, who pitched forwards to dunk his head in the water before it got too murky. He held his head underwater for a good minute as he scrubbed and rubbed furiously, before coming back up, looking considerably cleaner.

"So, you uh..."

Rather awkwardly, Daersen attempted to stretch his legs as far as they would go, hoping no awkward contact would occur.

"You been traveling long?"

Daersen bumped Mei's bare knee, and she shifted her leg out of the way without fuss. She was currently working on her own stark white hair, trying to get it immaculately clean again. After all, with white hair like that, any little bit of dirt showed, and hers came down to mid-back when it wasn't tied up.

"Oh, not that long! Maybe half a year, now. I've kind of been all over the place! It's been a wild time. I had a bit of a mishap where I got on the wrong boat, ended up sailing to Adela instead of Serendipity, took a wrong turn and headed to Zantaric, then had to go all the way back to Adela and finally to Serendipity, where I wanted to start out anyway! It certainly hasn't been an easy journey, but it's been filled with learning experiences I wouldn't have gained if I hadn't made those mistakes!"

"Damn, that sounds like a hell of a mishap to me. Kinda hard to believe that a smart-looking woman like yourself hopped on the wrong boat. You must've been pretty miffed!"

Daersen began to rub his shoulders and chest, practically sighing as the grime came off with the water.

"You meet a man on your travels?" Daersen asked, genuinely curious.

"Oh, I was surprised, but not really too miffed! I just got so excited and distracted, I...I must admit, I was too busy writing in my book I wasn't really paying as much attention as I should have. But it was fine. I just figured it must be what Inima wanted for me and the people were quite nice! They were Thanati, so it wasn't that terrible or anything."

Lifting a leg, she began to scrub away at her skin, focusing on her knees where she'd crawled through the muck. "Anyway, I've met a lot of men! I'm talking to one right now, aren't I? Lots of men and women and people who identify as neither or both or something different altogether. Like I said, humankind is fascinating!"

Really? No way! Damn it all...

Daersen shook his head.

"No, I meant like...er...ah, nevermind," Daersen said, allowing his eyes to wander as he went quiet and focused on cleaning himself, slipping his hands beneath the water so he could get at his extremities.

At some point, his eyes locked onto her breasts, and they didn't leave. Because shit, how was he not supposed to look at them?

For the most part, Mei was oblivious to his stare--mostly because she was still nattering away about the diversity of the human species.

It was only when she had chattered on for a while without getting any feedback that she trailed off and took a look at Daersen.

And found he was staring at her. Or rather, at her chest. "What are you...?"

She glanced down at her own chest, blinked, and idly splashed herself to rinse away the suds she'd missed the first time. Then she looked at him again and tilted her head.

"Is there something strange about my mammaries?"

"Uh, What? No! Uh," Daersen's eyes shot right back up to Mei's, blush now visible on his skin now that he was cleaner.

"There's nothing wrong with your tits, I...Was just, uh admiring them an--"

Daersen's mouth shut like a slammed door, and his face darkened further.

Oh my Gods did I really just say that?

...Eh?

Mei blinked rapidly at him at that. Admiring them? She glanced once more at her breasts, blinked again, and then looked back up at Daersen--only this time, there was a slight blush darkening her cheeks.

"Oh. Ah. Well, yes, I suppose they are...rather nice, as far as such things go, if on the small side," she said slowly, and sheepishly rubbed the back of her head. "Yikes. I'm afraid I got so distracted wanting to get clean that I forgot this isn't Thanatos and that your people have a much different view of nudity than mine do! Apparently you only see other people naked in sexual situations, correct? Eheh. Errr. My apologies!"

And, still flushed, she rose to her feet, sloshing water, and quickly began to scrub down and rinse off the rest of her body.

"Oh, no it's fine, really!" Daersen said, not wanting for her to hurry up.

"I don't mind. Be as naked as you want! I'm rather progressive like that. Always believed in freedom of culture. We're all human after all, aren't we?" He said, desperately trying to get Mei to slow down.

"Really! I...uh...I don't care!"

Mei looked at Daersen and slowed a little, but she didn't sit back down even as the cooler air made goosebumps rise on her brown skin. The water had gotten rather murky, anyway! And she didn't really want to soak in shared dirty water. Maybe she could request another bath be brought, just to make sure she was actually clean!

"Oh. It doesn't make you uncomfortable? Ah, I should have learned by now, but I suppose mistakes are expected! At least this time I made it to an actual inn and not a brothel! Now that was awkward!"

"Really?" Daersen asked/

"Sounds like one hell of a time. You didn't have to screw anyone, did you?" He asked, realizing that he was going to have to ditch this bath sooner or later. He milked the water for whatever shreds of cleanliness he could still get from it, and stood up out of it as well.

A curious feature about Daersen was the curious fact that his body, apart from his beard and head, was hairless. Even in places where he should have plenty of it.

His teeth chattered as he stepped out into the cold air. He was still a bit grimy, to his great disdain.

"I think we're gonna need another bath..."

"Oh, Inima, no!" Mei said with a laugh and a slightly wrinkled nose. "Though a man did think I worked there, and he did try...things. But an actual worker intervened so it worked out in the end. Apparently, that man was rather notorious for being a bastard, so it was just my luck he'd be there that day. Much respect for brothel workers. You know, we don't really have those in Thanatos? Or, well, we do, but they're rare and the workers are reviled. Quite a horrible situation, really. That experience really opened my eyes to the sorts of things they have to put up with!"

Glancing over at Daersen curiously as he stood, she noted his lack of hair, which was...strange, but maybe it was a Serenian thing, to shave all over. She wrung out her hair, which was pure white when it was clean, and kicked water from each foot in turn before she stepped out of the tub.

"I was thinking we'd need a second one," she said with a sigh, shivering in the cooler air. "Of course, I'm hardly dressed to notify them, but I could pop my head out and holler, I guess!"

It wasn't even that Daersen kept his body shaved. A keen observer would be able to notice that there wasn't even a trace of hair on his body. Besides, if he had the means to keep it shaved, why would he have asked for a shaving knife as payment?

Daersen always thought it was some kind of trait he had from birth.

"Don't you have another set of clothes or something? Something you can throw on so our bath delivery men won't drop the bath when they see you?" Daersen asked.

"I mean, somebody's gotta open the door."

"I do have other clothes packed..." Mei said with a frown. "I admit, I was just being lazy and not really wanting to put dry clothes over wet skin! Blech. That always feels gross. But I suppose I'll just have to bite the belt and make do!"

Because, unfortunately, she hadn't thought to ask for towels. She'd have to remember next time.

Heading over to her travel bag, she fished around until she found a fresh new robe, made of a light and breezy material, though it was solid and intricately embroidered. She slipped it on, cringing as it stuck to her, and tied it closed. Then she slipped on her sandals after quickly washing them in the tub.

"Be right back, then!"

Out the door she went, shutting it quickly behind her, only to return a couple minutes later.

"It'll be a few minutes and they looked at me funny, but they're bringing it," she announced as she shut the door behind her.

While Mei was gone, Daersen could do little more than soak off his clothing (which was just as filthy as he was previous), more or less finishing off their first tub of water and condemning it to be dumped later on. However, compared to how they were before, his tattered clothing and robe were clean! and he slipped on his outer robe as he waited for Mei to return.

When she did, he smiled at her.

"Great. Listen, uh. I've been thinking..."

He stepped a bit closer to her, looking down at the ground.

"Look, I want to apologize for being shitty to you earlier. My day today was pretty rough, and I kind of just took it out on you. Just wanted to clear that off my chest, Mei. And also to tell you that I'm really grateful for all this, really. It means too much to me."

"What?" Mei blinked at Daersen in confusion for a moment, head tilted, and then let out a sudden laugh.

"Oh! Oh, no, it's fine! To be honest, I'd actually kind of forgotten about all that?" she said, rubbing the back of her neck. "Really, don't worry about it! I think anyone would have reacted the same way to an intruder in their home, and you did save my life, grumpy or not. This is really the least I can do to repay you! I mean, you could have let the rats have me! You had no way of knowing who I was or what my intent was. I know I don't look like much, but this is Serendipity. For all you knew, I could have been a powerful mage criminal or something!"

Walking across the room, Mei took a seat on the edge of the bed. "So, no hard feelings. It's all behind us now!"

"Oh, that's a relief. I'm a nice guy, really. But when you're begging on the streets, competing for food with men who are just as hungry or desperate as you, you gotta act tough. Crazy, even!"

He crossed his arms, actually forgetting that he was buck naked. What could he say? He was comfortable around her. He took a few steps towards her, sighing.

"Besides, powerful mages don't get run up bedposts by sewer rats. Although I'm pretty glad I came in when I did. Would've been a shame to lose such a smart, pretty woman."

"True..." Mei said, scratching her chin. "But a powerful mage could have a powerful rodent phobia! And phobias don't really lead to much rational thinking. Why, I've seen intelligent men and women screech over a harmless house spider or a garden snake, and they know it's harmless and know they're bigger and stronger than it, but the fear is so intense they forget how to act. Oh, but phobias are fascinating things in general!"

Leaning forward and fingers steepled together, she grinned, eyes lit up like they always got when she spoke of something that excited her. "Did you know there are people with phobias of holes? Not just any holes, but like honeycombs, or a tree filled with holes pecked into it by birds, or lotus pods. Especially lotus pods. I'll admit those make even me a little squirmy. And there are even more ridiculous ones! I had a friend with a phobia of rice. RICE!"

With a laugh, she shook her head. "Do you know how inconvenient that is in a place like Thanatos?"

"Holes? Rice? That's ridiculous!" Daersen said, shaking his head.

He plopped himself down on the bed next to her, not really feeling like standing up. He placed one of his ankles over his knee, and remained with his arms crossed.

"I don't believe you."

"I'm serious! I wouldn't lie about this. The spread of misinformation is anathema to my work! Watch, I'll prove it to you!"

Bouncing to her feet, Mei marched over and scooped her book back up. She took her seat back on the bed, flipped through the pages--she just about had it memorized!--and then turned the book toward Daersen with the book opened to a series of sketches.

There, Mei had written extensive notes (in Thanati), but she had also sketched several detailed images, too. One was an image of a lotus seed pod, one was a honey comb, one was very porous coral, and the most disturbing of the images was that of a toad that carried its eggs under its skin, and whose babies escaped through many tiny holes in its back.

She watched Daersen's face expectantly for his reaction.

Daersen watched her bounce up, quite unsubtly eyeing her as she retrieved her book and came back.

When she opened it up and presented the pages, Daersen scrunched up his brow, his first impulse being to read the words on the page. Once he realized he couldn't, he looked at the pictures. None of them really phased him, save for the toad, which made him frown.

He'd seen some pretty fucked up things in the sewers, things that made the sketches look tame. Corpses made maggot-nests, roach hives, the list went on.

"I mean, personally these things don't really spook me, but I can see where you're coming from. That thing with the toad's pretty gross."

"Well! They may not spook you, but a lot of people have a severe aversion to images like these, so much that it can cause them great distress. Just like some people are terrified of spiders--which, I imagine wouldn't bother you, all things considered! Oh, I have a whole section here about strange phobias, like--"

A knock sounded at the door then, and with a small smile, Mei closed her book and set it down on the bed. "I'll get back to that later."

Rising again, she answered the door, and the men looked relieved to see her wearing a robe--and surprised to see Daersen not. With awkward looks, they quickly set the tub down, retrieved the old one, and exited, the door shutting behind them.

Daersen's eyes lit up when the second bath arrived, and the door was practically halfway closed by the time he was up off the bed and walking towards it. He rubbed his hands, almost incapable of waiting. Once he heard the door lock, he slipped himself in.

He didn't notice that this tub was a tad bit smaller than their previous.

"Ah, that's the stuff. Again," he said, and splashed the water abit with his hands.

"Won't you join me, Mei?" he said with a teasingly seductive tone.

"Oh, of course! Just one second!" Mei said, and it was obvious she missed his teasingly seductive tone as she went about riffling through her travel bag. She pulled out a small case, then shrugged out of her robe and folded carefully, setting that on the bed as well.

Naked again, she strode over to the bath, case in hand, and set it on the floor nearby as she stepped back into the water.

"Ahhh, I think it feels even better the second time around!" she sighed as she sat down--and she noted quite quickly that she had to sort of turn herself sideways and fold her knees to keep from squishing into Daersen too much. "Probably because this time I can actually bathe. The first time, I didn't really feel like I got very clean. Oh! I have a razor, by the way!"

She reached over the side and picked up the case, then flipped it open to draw a simple, sharp straight t razor from it. "It's all yours after I'm done with it. Pass the soap?"

"Definitely better the second time," Daersen agreed as he glanced over the sides of the tub for the soap. He had to pull himself out slightly so he could reach for it, but get it he did. He held it firmly, yet all too softly at the same time, as if worried it would just up and jump out of his grasp.

As he wrested the soap into his grasp, he noticed Mei was tucking herself up.

"Oh, you don't have to worry about brushing up against me. I really couldn't care less about the contact," he said, and finally held the soap out to her.

"Gonna shave your legs?"

"I am!" Mei said as she relaxed a bit more, reassured that he wouldn't be disturbed if they touched. "I hope you don't mind. It's just been quite a while since I've gotten the chance. You know, when you're traveling and all and sleeping where you can, it's sort of the last thing on your mind. I don't have to tell you that, though."

Lifting a leg and propping her foot up against the tub's edge, she snapped the razor open with a flick of her wrist. "Neat, huh? I don't think these are very common everywhere just yet! Not the flippy-open ones, at least. Then again, not everyone even shaves, anyway! It's such a hassle, honestly, though it's fascinating how attitudes on it vary from culture to culture. In some cultures, shaving hair is done as a sign of mourning, or to mark an exile, or done before one's wedding night, and then some cultures view the removal of body hair as anathema, because growing hair is a sign of adulthood. Me, I just do it because I like how it feels."

She laughed at that, taking up the bar of soap and rubbing it over her leg (which had several weeks worth of growth, but which was practically invisible since it was white and sparse; Thanati didn't tend to grow much body hair off their heads) to give it a nice, slick coat. It wasn't ideal, doing it just with soap, but it was better than doing it dry!

"Rather funny, really, that the religious scholar should care about that! But really, I did it because I planned on getting a tattoo on my leg, then I didn't have the time, so I shaved the other to even myself out. Then I just liked how it felt, and hated how prickly it was growing back, so I continued. I guess we can't all have deep reasons for the things we do!"

And as she spoke, she slid the blade over her skin, and she hardly looked like she was paying attention. Truthfully, she'd just done it so many times she could practically do it blindfolded.

"Yeah, I know how you feel. Personally, I just wanted to shave to get this beard off of my face. I'm a good looking guy, I swear! It's just that, well...It's hard, you know? Watching yourself deteriorate. You never really learn just how incredible something as simple as shaving can be until you've been deprived of it..."

Dearsen looked off to the side, accidentally sweeping himself up with emotion.

"Yeah...say!" He suddenly started, looking over at her leg.

"Has anyone ever told you that you've got some nice freaking legs? I mean, for a scholar? Damn. Mine are the same, actually," He said as he lifted a leg of his own up out to show her, his hairlessness allowing her to see his muscles perfectly.

"Except, you know. I don't have any fat on mine. Wish I did..."

Mei actually snorted a laugh, and had to pull the blade back so she didn't nick herself while her shoulders were shaking. With an amused look his way, she reached out gingerly, put a finger to his ankle, and slowly pressed his leg back down.

"Yes, very nice. Ahaha. Suffice to say, I've gotten a good view of your legs previously. Close quarters and nudity don't leave much to the imagination," she said, and returned to her shaving. "Some people are just naturally blessed that way. Or not, depending on whether or not you come from a culture where body hair is reviled or loved! Anyway, you're not the first person to say that. About my legs, I mean. I'm not sure why it's such a surprise! I know scholars have a reputation for being cloistered away indoors, but my work requires a lot of walking, so naturally you're going to get a bit toned just from that."

She rinsed the razor, then finished up that leg before switching to the other. "Speaking of blessings and curses, how did you wind up in the sewers?"

"Well, it's pretty long story. I...uh, chose to live in the sewers," He said, crossing his arms. He glanced to the sides, and motioned for her to come closer.

"I think I'm cursed. My entire family got sick, and I was the only one who stayed healthy. I didn't know what to do, so I left. I heard they all passed away a few months ago, so maybe it was for the best that I left. Iprobsbly would've caught whatever they were carrying."

Mei paused in her shaving to lean in close, and found his words...rather disheartening. Cursed? Because he was healthy when others weren't? So he'd banished himself?

"You know, that sounds less like you're cursed and more like they are," she said, and began to shave beneath her arms when her legs were done. "It's not too unusual, you know. There are many reports of plagues sweeping through towns and families, but not everyone gets it. It's more like the survivors were blessed or very lucky, like Inima wanted them to survive to pass on strong children who could likewise survive. If there weren't those strong ones, why, us humans would have gone the way of the Fynari long ago!"

Mei paused, looked at Daersen. "The Fynari was  a native bird on Thanatos. Very pretty, but very stupid and fragile. One hasn't been seen in decades. Anyway, why be miserable in the sewers just because you're lucky. Oh, here."

Finished shaving, she rinsed the blade, closed it, and handed it over.

"Well, people think I'm cursed. Sorry, it's a bit confusing. I just left before I could be kicked out. I tend to just think of it as a curse anyways, since, you know, entire family's dead. There's also the things with the rats, an--Oh, thanks!"

Daersen took the razor, and examined it. It took him a while, but he managed to click it open, and he also took the bar of soap to lather up his beard with it.

"Anyways, there's also the thing with the rats. Rats and roaches just love me for some reason. They're always following me around. I can tell them to do things, too," he said, and he began to shave his beard.

"Like, I just think things, and they do it. Anything I want."

As Daersen shaved, Mei gave herself another thorough scrubbing to clean off any dirt the first bath may have missed, even re-washing her hair.

"Ohhhh! So that's why the rats acted the way they did! See, I thought you had something to do with that! So you're a beast-speaker, then."

With a grin his way, she rinsed her hair. "You know, beast-speaking is fairly common in Adela, and less common other places. Just like many types of magic run stronger in some cultures than others, well, with Adela it's beast-speaking! That's not to say it can't pop up in other people in different places--even people with no Adelan blood...though the concept of blood is a rather strange one, because humans in general have bred all over the place forever, so when you break it down, we've all got a little of everything in us, probably! I digress. Point is, you're not a freak."

She studied him as she spoke, looking thoughtful. "I know you might feel like one because your animals of choice--or the animals that chose you--are considered vermin, but it's only people that decided that was their value. But Inima put them here, and everything has its place, and they're important, too. Rats are really quite intelligent and they're surprisingly clean! And roaches are survivors. I don't think either creature thinks of themselves as disgusting, worthless vermin."

Daersen looked at Mei as she spoke, face slowly softening as she went on. He couldn't talk, since he had a blade running across his jaw, but the corners of his mouth rose. He whisked off most of his wild sideburns, and flicked the blade off to the side so he wouldn't get any hair in the tub water.

"Th...Thanks, Mei. That means a lot to me," He said, eyes warm with happiness. He went back over the remaining stubble on the sides of his head. Already, the great shape of his jaw was becoming more visible.

"I don't really speak to the vermin, though. They just...gravitate towards me."

"...Ah. I see. Yes, if they seek you out, that could certainly be inconvenient and awkward to explain," Mei said, and once she was finished cleaning herself, she rose from the bath.

She began to wring out her hair. "But think of it this way. If you can compel these creatures to do your bidding, you are the sort of person that could be a very valuable asset to your community! Hasn't it occurred to you before? What kind of business you could do? For example, how many grainaries have issues with mice and rats and insects? They have to get cats to keep the place clean, and still things get it them and ruin their product, losing money and even starving people. How many cities have problems with the diseases these creatures carry?"

Mei fixed him with a pleased grin. "It sounds to me like you've been so caught up in thinking yourself cursed and viewing yourself as small and bad that you haven't been thinking big enough!"

"You know what? You're right!" Daersen said, pointing at her. "I've been just so...caught up in my grief that I just sort of blamed myself. I guess it took someone like you talking to me to make me realize that..."

Of course, he felt a bit ridiculous now. All that time in the sewers felt like it was for nothing now. He felt happy, but at the same time...he felt like a good portion of his life had been converted to a waste of time and effort.

He smiled up at her, and held his arms out.

"Come on. Gimme a hug!"

Mei laughed and shook her head. Really, it seemed so obvious to her! But a lot of things were obvious to her that weren't to other people. It was her natural inclination to be a problem solver--which could frustrate people when she went into problem-solving mode when all they actually wanted her to do was listen.

"Sometimes it can be difficult to see the forest for the trees," she said, and ducked down, ready to hug him without thinking--

But then stopped and straightened back up. "Er. On second thought, we can save that for when you don't have a razor in your hand."

Daersen glanced at the razor in his hand, and smirked at her, pushing it closed with his thumb. He retracted his arms, only stand up from the bath as well. Squaky clean, smoothly shaved, Daersen looked like a completely different man.

He also took the moment to give Mei a good looking over as she stood in front of him.

"Gotta tell you. It feels really good to look like my old self again...

Mei stepped from the tub and flicked water from her fingers, and tip-toed her way to the bed. Once again, she'd forgotten to ask for towels, but she made do, grabbing up her robe and using that to dry herself.

"I'll bet! You look like an entirely different person," she said while she dried herself, giving him a looking over as well, head to toe. There was curiosity in her eyes, because he really did look different! He Under the grime and beard, he didn't look like a homeless man off the streets, but rather like he should be in expensive clothing living in a mansion somewhere. Well. Okay, he still looked homeless in a sense, because he looked starved, but other than that, it was crazy to see because he was pretty attractive.

"If you take what I said to heart, I don't think you'll ever have to look like anything but your old self ever again. You won't have to live in the sewers! Honestly, I think you could do good business, and it's not safe to live down there, anyway," she said as she took a seat on the bed's edge and fluffed her long hair.

"yeah..." Daersen said, and he shook himself up a bit before taking his robes and using them to dry himself. He then let them soak in the water, so they can dry up. Stretching one more time, he plopped down next to Mei on the bed, crossing his arms.

He couldn't hold it in anymore, he had to ask.

"Say, I've got this crazy idea in my head..."

(Are you READY?)

"Crazy idea?" Mei repeated, and cocked her head curiously. "Alright then, say it! You're in good company when it comes to wild ideas, I have to say, considering everyone back home thought I was insane to do what I'm doing! Let's hear it."

"Heh, wild ideas, huh? Erm..."

He took a deep breath. He looked her in the eye, and slowly transitioned one of his hands over to her knee.

"Listen, I think you're a great girl and all, and we're two consenting adults, comfortable with each other and, well...there's just no elaborate way to put this..."

He swallowed down his nerves.

"You wanna fuck?"

WELL!

Mei had been expecting wild, but that was beyond anything she had been anticipating! It seemed Serenians were a rather blunt people! Duly noted, that! She sputtered in sheer surprise, her face flooding with heat, and she wondered if, yet again, she had severely missed a lot of social cues.  It wouldn't be the first time she misread a situation! Or just didn't notice things. She was good at pointing out the obvious...except when it affected herself.

"I...wow," she said when she could speak again, eyes wide and unblinking with sheer embarrassment. It wouldn't be the first awkward moment! She'd accidentally wound up hired at a brothel, after all! This was rather different from that epic fail, though, because this man was pretty nice and well-meaning, not awful like the people in that brothel. Kudos for asking and not just grabbing her like that man had!

"I must admit, that wasn't quite what I was expecting!" she said. "Though perhaps I should have anticipated it? I'm afraid I'm terrible at reading cultural cues just yet, were you...were you flirting with me all this time? Inima, that's rather embarrassing! Ah. Wow. I can't really say I've ever been asked this question before! Granted, I'm aware there are many people across many cultures who enjoy such activities with no strings attached, just for fun, so it really shouldn't be that shocking to me! It's a little new though because that's not really the norm in Thanatos, since sex purely for pleasure and not creation is frowned upon, so I've not partaken in such things before. At least it's not the norm in my caste, and I haven't wanted children because it would inconvenient in my line of work!"

"Shh!"

About halfway through her nervous unraveling, Daersen simply placed a finger over her lips to silence her. Although he could understand her surprise, he really didn't want to sit through another hour of rambling.

"Yes or no, Mei. You say nobody's ever asked you before? Well, think of this as me offering to teach you something new! Something fun, you know? I mean, this is a pretty crucial lesson that I'm offering to you. You can't really make it out here without it."

Mei's eyes went even wider. "You can't?" she asked. Was it a Serenian thing she was missing and hadn't read about somehow? Fidgeting with her wet hair, she glanced from his finger to his face, and got a better look at it this time around, instead of just a cursory glance.

He was handsome. Strong jaw, nice lips, interesting eyes and a smooth face. Good body, too, if a bit underweight, but there was muscle there if no fat. Amazing, really, considering his living conditions! He should have looked sallow and horribly unhealthy, but he looked like he could blend in well among normal people.

"A-ah. I mean. It's not like I haven't considered it before!" she said, heart racing. "A no strings attached experience, that is, for research purposes and exciting life experiences. And it's not that I don't find you an attractive specimen! There are matters to consider, however! Inima hates waste and all sex should be with the intent to create a child, but I don't want a child yet--but perhaps it's different since I'm in a different country, so the rules might not apply? When in Arca, as the saying goes. Ah! And your sexual history! I don't know you and there are many diseases that can be passed down through such activities, warts and infections and all manner of nastiness that I want nothing to do with. Granted, some healers can deal with that, but I'd rather not hurt when I pee. I've no doubt it's fun, considering humankind's obsession with the act, and I've no doubts you're a good teacher, but there are matters to be considered before we enter into such a liaison."

Daersen laughed. He glanced about, before leaning in a bit closer. "Well, turns out I just happen to be immune to disease. Part of my "curse", really. How do you think I keep this healthy when I've ived in a sewer for years? I'm clean, Mei. I mean, just take a look at me," Daersen said, gesturing downwards so Mei could see he was healthy, and in pretty good shape down there as well.

The hand that was on her knee tiptoed up her leg a few paces, and he smiled.

"Whaddaya say?"

Mei's heart pounded even faster. This was crazy! This entire day was crazy! Should she? She'd only just met him!

...Perhaps that was all the more reason to, though? She could try things out, and if it was a disaster--or even if it wasn't!--she'd never have to see him again. She was allowed a little wildness while she traveled abroad, right? This kind of behavior would not be smiled upon back home, and she was curious. She could get away with it here--get away with taking precautions. And, you know, just hope Inima forgave her wastefulness!

She glanced down at his hand, shivering a little as it traveled further up, and swallowed. "...Why not? BUT!"

And she quickly covered his hand with hers to still him. "Clean your mouth, first! Ah! And I must consult some records first," she said, snatching up her bag and riffling through it. "I don't think I'm ovulating presently according to my calculations, but the body doesn't always run on a tidy schedule and my moon cycles aren't always regular! I better double check. Also, what precautions do we plan on taking? And lastly, ah, if you haven't guessed already, you must know, erm..."

She cleared her throat and pulled out a smaller book. "I'm a virgin. I hope that isn't a problem, but forgive me if I'm a bit...well, lacking. You'll be careful, right? I know it hurts some women at first, but I also know much of it has to be with arousal."

Daersen nodded. That was a reasonable enough request, he supposed. In truth, he hadn't gotten around to it, mostly because he had no means.

"Gonna borrow your waterskin to wash my mouth," he announced, before picking it up off her bag and taking a swig. He swished it around for quite a while, making sure to rinse as best he could, before spitting it back out into the tub. It wasn't morning dew fresh, but it was good enough.

"Oh, don't you worry. I know what I'm doing. We don't have any carrot seeds, so I'll just be pulling out. Super simple stuff!" Daersen said as he took his spot beside her again. This time, he didn't sit at conversational distance, he sat close, laying a hand on her thigh as he peered at her.

"Besides, your first time's all about learning. You're a sharp girl, you'll pick it up real quick."

"I am a quick learner, but this is a different field from the ones I normally dabble in!" Mei said, skin growing hotter as he rested a hand on her thigh, and she scrambled to flip through the pages to find the right one.

"Ah, okay, I appear to be fairly safe," she said, finding her chart. Snapping the book closed, she stacked it on top of her larger one and pushed both to the edge of the bed. Then she looked at Daersen, rather like a deer caught in lamplight.

"So. I suppose that settles that," she said, and scooted back until she was sitting in the center of the bed. She was a little tense from nerves and excitement, her mind racing, because this was well and truly an area that she had no idea what she was doing. Oh, she had plenty of technical, clinical knowledge! But the application was another story entirely, and the technical, clinical tab-A-slot-B approach seemed...like that probably wasn't how it worked in reality.

She fluffed a pillow and reclined back against it, knees together and hands on her belly and trying desperately hard to hide her nerves. "Well, then, Daersen. Teach me. I assume you're not going to just insert right out of the gates! I can tell you right now I'm not ready for that."

Daersen watched from the edge of the bed as Mei got herself comfortable, using that time to think about how he was going to break the ice here. There were plenty of places to start, all of them great for learners!

She laid back, and Daersen chuckled at her last few words.

"Oh, no! Wouldn't dream of it, you see..."

He crawled up to her until he loomed over her, arms placed firmly on either side of her  head. He placed a hand on her neck so he could feel her heat.

"The womanhood is a strange character. The owner could be all for it, but it'll still require some...persuasion."

He lowered himself so he could join their lips. Hopefully, once they actually started, Mei would lose some of that tension.

"Just relax. Don't worry about doing anything. You're the student, remember?"

Mei's returning kiss was tentative and chaste, just a mere meeting of lips, though her heart was pounding as he loomed above her. Still, he was frozen, because this was very far out of her area of expertise and she absolute hated feeling ignorant about anything! This included! Don't worry about doing anything? Well, she didn't want to be a boring partner, either, but she supposed all things considered, he was expecting her to be awkward.

And when the kiss broke and he spoke, awkward she was, indeed.

"Ah, yes, I may be new to this but as the owner of a vagina, I am aware of of the sorts of issues it can have. Trust me! Likewise, though I'm new to this, I'm not new to its various functions by any means. That is to say, I know I can climax--some women can't, or have a lot of trouble with that, you know! Of course, in this situation matters may be different, as there are a lot of variables when two or more people are in the equation, but--I don't know where I was going with that. I assume by persuasion you mean what's referred to as foreplay?"

Daersen nodded, giving her an encouraging smile.

"Yep. That's what I meant. Foreplay. As a side note, try not to talk too much, alright? Just let go..."

One of his hands traveled downwards, stopping to circle her navel with a finger. He went down to kiss her again, this time trying to get a deeper response out of her.

"You're doing good..."

This time Mei did respond, gasping in a breath and sucking in her belly as Daersen's fingers circled her navel. She squirmed, pleasantly ticklish, and anything she may have said was muffled by his kiss as a new kind of heat began to warm her blood.

She still felt horribly awkward, but she grabbed his shoulders reflexively and this time leaned into the kiss, finding she liked how his lips felt against hers.

Daersen let their bodies touch as he finally lowered himself all the way down, deepening their kiss and causing his chest to rest against hers. His hand remained at her navel for a few more moments, before it slid downwards, fingers parting as he tested her waters down below.

[Loool so many errors in my last post. Thank you, tablet. |: Thanks a lot.]

Mouth still pressed to his, Mei couldn't help but jump, exhaling sharply through her nose, when his hand slid even lower, past her navel and between her legs. Oh! Whoa! He was already headed way south! She hadn't really been expecting such a bold move so soon, which she supposed was silly, all things considered--but she wasn't all too sure what she expected or what the usual order of operations was.

Hips jerking a little and hands tightening on his shoulders, she opened her legs just enough to give his hand space to move, then broke the kiss with a gasping breath. Her mind was racing, and she wasn't exactly relaxed just yet, but the mere thought of where his hand was traveling, and the subsequent anticipation, was enough that she'd already begun to grow wet.

"O-oh my..."

Daersen chuckled a bit when Mei jumped. He found her skittishness to be pretty amusing, despite the implications of their act. He hadn't quite really dwelt on it (Perhaps the sewers had sucked the civilization out of him) but he was deflowering her here.

"Oh my is right. For somebody who's never made love before, you got moist real quick," he murmured, and this time, he moved to kiss her neck.

His fingers, which edged on the precipice of her folds, joined up. He ran them right down the middle of her sex, trying to gauge her responses.

"W-well," Mei gasped, her voice rising and breath hitching as he kissed her neck, her head tilting back and eyes squeezing shut as she wriggled beneath him. It was getting more and more difficult to keep still, and her entire body flushed with chills and warm tingles as his fingers caressed over her--and then moved further inward. For a moment, she almost lost her train of thought as his fingers slipped between her folds and stroked her from clit to entrance, and she reflexively squeezed her thighs together, trapping his hand there as her nails dug into his shoulders.

"A-ah...uh...as I said, I may be new to doing this with another person, but my body isn't entirely new to everything," she gasped against his neck. "I-I have touched myself, you know, a-and excitement certainly lends itself well to, ah, such things."

But despite her words, despite trying to maintain a clinical dialogue, she was blushing quite hotly and shivering with anticipation. She might not personally view sex as a big deal, but it was still an intimate act, and he was still touching her where no one else had touched, and Inima, he had barely done anything and already it felt good, having another body pressed to hers this way.

Daersen hissed as Mei's nails dug into his back. His skin wasn't the thickest, and the fact that he was a little bit on the thin side didn't help either. Sure, he had his muscles, but her nails were in an awkward place altogether.

Still, Daersen was no stranger to pain, so he was able to ignore it.

Since his hand was trapped between her legs, Daersen saw it fit to probe her with his middle finger as he resumed kissing her neck.

"You just let me know when you're ready for me, alright?"

With another gasp, Mei rolled her hips against Daersen's prodding finger, a little whimper escaping her. It was only his finger, and he wasn't yet penetrating her, but it was a teasing taste of things to come, and Inima but she was curious about what it would feel like to have him moving inside her. The entire experience was supposed to feel amazing, otherwise humans wouldn't be so obsessed with it for all the ages--and the sounds she'd heard coming from some of the rooms certainly confirmed that!--and climaxing on her own was wonderful. How much better would this be?

"I...I am not sure what denotes 'readiness' in this situation," she managed to get out between breaths, legs opening a little wider, knees bent and feet pressed against the bed.

"I do know I want you. Obviously! Otherwise I wouldn't be here! I admit--ah--I am...a bit nervous about the pain."

"Don't worry about, Mei..."

He curled his finger inside of her, testing her inner boundaries and getting a feel for the space he'd soon be entering. He brought his mouth back up to hers, hoping the kisses would help her relax more.

"It's only going to hurt in the beginning. Then you're going to feel real fucking good..."

"Ah!" Mei cried out in surprise and bucked her hips as his finger slid in and curled within her, her inner walls clamping down around him as she squirmed--because his curling finger was pressing against a rather sensitive spot she hadn't known she had. Or rather, a spot she hadn't read about, at least! Gasping, surprised at the sensation, she moved her hips against him, unable to hold still and wanting more, and soon her whimpers were muffled briefly against his mouth as he kissed her again.

When he mouth was free again, she panted out, "That feels amazing...I...oh...! I trust you, you're the expert here, I...nngh...goddess, whatever you're doing, that's...keep doing it a-and..." She cut off again, losing her train of thought as she clung to him hard and pressed her lips to his shoulder to muffle another cry.

"T-touch my clit. I get very wet after--haah!--after I climax. I...I know lubrication is very important!"

"Thanks for the pointer," Daersen muttered, and he kissed the side of her head, since her lips were inacessible to him.

Daersen slipped his finger out of Mei with new purpose, and he took his time when it came to finding her clit, teasing her with idleness. Then, as if he'd known where it was all along, he took it gently between two finger, gave it a nice squeeze, and then smothered it with his thumb while pressing down.

Mei writhed impatiently as he teased her, stroking her everywhere but where she wanted to be touched and building up anticipation, and if she had been a little apprehensive before, it was quite clear that she was loosening up already. Whereas before she had jolted at his touch, now she arched toward it, her legs shamelessly spread, and when he finally went to work she let out a shuddering cry.

She clutched at him, head thrown back, before she grabbed at his hair and kissed him hard, growing bolder in her passion and needing something to muffle her growing cries--because these rooms had thin walls! When she broke the kiss she was panting, chewing on her lip to bite back moans even as her hands tightened on him and toes curled.

"You...ah! You will have to...to do the thing with your finger a-again," she managed to gasp out, even as her hips twisted beneath him as his fingers worked their magic. "I-I'll need to make a note of--of that!"

"Mph!"

Daersen was caught off guard by Mei's sudden boldness. To be frank, he hadn't expected her to turn around that quickly! Still, he rolled with it quite passionately, taking her own head by the side as they laid together. After a fee moments, he broke their kiss, leaving a kiss on her chin as his mouth moved down to her breasts. He gave one of her nipples a short lick to let her know what was happening, and then started to suck and kiss it.

Using his dextrous fingers, he managed to accomplish both of Mei's "tasks", fingering her and playing with her clit af the same time.

Between that trifecta of sensations, Mei was done for.

A yelping cry left her when he managed to reach both sensitive spots, one inside, one out, as his mouth suckled at her breast. Gasping and moaning, she squirmed and arched as though trying to escape, but it was just the intensity of it making it impossible to hold still, and her not knowing what to do with herself. By this point, all apprehension had been thrown right out of the window as she let go and gave into the pleasure overwhelming her, making it hard to even think, much less speak!

"Y-yes, right there! Just like that!" she whimpered between heated breaths, grabbing at Daersen's hair and rolling her hips into his hand in time to his motions, her body knowing exactly what to do even if she didn't. That familiar, glorious tension was quickly building, evident in the tiny tremors making her shiver and pulse around his finger, and it was building quicker than anything she'd experienced. She sucked in a breath and held on tight, letting out a sudden cry.

"O-oh, Inima, I-I'm close, I'm--!"

Anything she may have said after that cut off as she let out a sharp, sobbing whimper and curled into him, trembling from head to toe.

Daersen sunk his finger into her with finality, keeping it in there and even wriggling it as Mei hit her climax. He smiled, and straightened up off of her. He maneuvered his knees so that they kept her legs spread wide open, and rested his palms on her sides. His cock came to rest lightly against her folds, patiently waiting for its moment.

He grinned down at her, and began using both his hands to fondle her breasts.

"So, scholar. How was your first real orgasm?"

When Mei could speak again, she let out a breathless laugh and flopped back against the bed. Her heart was pounding and her body was flushed with heat, still wonderfully sensitive all over. Which was partially why she jolted again when he adjusted himself so his cock came to rest against her, because the contact sent a flash of pleasure through her--the other reason being it brought her back to the moment. She glanced down between them, sucking in a breath at the sight of his erect cock resting between her spread legs, and flushed a darker shade.

It looked much larger now.

"Well...my other ones weren't fake. This was hardly my first real climax," she said with a wry smile, looking up at Daersen and biting her lip as he played with her breasts. "I have given myself plenty over the years, ever since I learned I could. If you mean how was my first one given to me by another person, however, it was fantastic. Now, if you would just stay right there..."

She started to squirm a little, stretching an arm out to the side as she tried to reach her book.

Daersen raised an eyebrow, and followed her hand with his eyes as she reached over to the book. He wanted to stop her, but at the same time, he didn't quite know how much this all meant to her.

So, rather than complain, he leaned to the side slightly and got her book for her, and held it out for her to take.

"Just make it quick, alright?"

Taking the book, she flipped it open to a page--one of her many pages concerning human anatomy, complete with sketches ranging from skeletons to muscle structures to basic nudes. She didn't have time for a drawing, so she reached for a stick of charcoal, also tossed to the side on the bed, and made a few quick notations concerning genitalia--she hadn't realized penises grew, for she'd only seen them in their flaccid state. Once finished, she closed the book and pushed both it and her writing stick aside.

"There, just a few notes, because I'm not sure I'm capable of the focus required for drawing at the moment. Now, where were we?"

"Well, we were just about to get on to the best part," Daersen said, and he oriented himself for entry. He glanced down at his runway, and then back at Mei, deciding to lock eyes with her. He rubbed his tip against her, teasing her just a little bit more and getting his member all nice and wet.

Mei sucked in a breath as he began to rub against her, her hips twitching beneath him and legs tightening in anticipating--though with the way he was positioned, it was impossible to close them. She shivered and grabbed onto his arms, glancing down between them again to watch.

"Right," she said. "Just be careful, now."

"Okay, just..."

Daersen sighed. Mei wasn't the only one who had to prepare themselves. This was a pretty delicate operation for him as well!

"You're going to want me to stop, once I start, but it's very important that we get the initial bit over as quickly as possible. So even if you tell me to, I'm not going to stop until it's all the way in, alright?"

"Uhhhh..."

THAT gave Mei pause, making her snap a worried look up at him that took her straight out of the moment. "Er, no, that's...not really alright, actually? I need to know you'll slow down or stop if I don't like it. You could really hurt me here, so I need you to be gentle."

"OH! Uh, or that. Yeah, sorry. It's been a while for me...I didn't meant it like that..."

Nice going there, Daersen. Just had to open that dumb mouth of yours...

He nodded his head, and cupped one of her cheeks in his hand. He smiled sheepishly.

"You're not the only one who's nervous here."

Mei let out a breath, because if he had said anything else, she would have been out of that room so fast. She wanted this experience, truly, and she knew it could be painful for some women (though not all, because bodies were different, and she wasn't sure what her own body could take), but she didn't think it was really fair that pain should be expected. Nor did she think it a good idea at all to just ram it in! The mere thought of that was enough to make her cringe!

Maybe that was one of the reasons so many felt pain in the first place!

With a relieved sigh, she nodded. "Just be gentle," she repeated, and arched a little against him to rub their bodies together, breath hitching at the sensation. "Slow and gentle."

There were people, she knew, who liked pain. She was definitely not one of those people!

"Funny. Never thought I would be the one to kill the mood..." Daersen muttered, even as Mei pressed up against him. He kissed her again, to try and wipe away the awkwardness of his last few words.

"All right, here we go."

He'd lingered at her entrance for far too long, and to be frank, he was more than ready for this. He wrapped her up in his arms, holding her oh so intimately as he began to make his way in, slowly and gently.

...Well. That was yet another set of words one didn't usually want to hear when they were naked beneath another person, much more for the first time. "Never thought I would be the one to kill the mood"? So was he saying she was a mood-killer...?

Mei's eyes cracked open, even while he kissed her, and she gasped when she felt him start to push against her--but, unfortunately, she had tensed up again, and that short dip in hurt. She winced and jerked her hips sharply, so he bumped against the junction of her inner thigh instead, and pulled back from the kiss.

"Wait...are you upset?"

Daersen lost a bit of his stride when Mei bumped him out of alignment, and he looked at her curiously.

"No, I'm fine," Daersen said, chuckling a bit breathlessly. Did he really have to explain everything to her? He brushed a bit of her hair off to the side, his smile turning into a lopsided grin. Despite" the awkwardness, he was trying to keep things relaxed.

"It was just a joke. Must've been pretty bad..."

He glanced downwards, and then back up at Mei.

"Let's just...stay focused, alright? You need to try and loosen up."

"Oh! Sorry," Mei said, and let out a breathless laugh of her own. "Of course it was. My apologies, I'm just a little nervous..."

Taking a deep breath in and out, she let herself relax again, now that that was cleared up. And she leaned up into him for another kiss, running her hands through his hair, and hoped that would be a good enough distraction from what was about to occur down below.

Daersen laughed along with her, and allowed himself to be swept away by the kiss. Not one for letting a potential distraction go to waste, Daersen began to push in again.

"Mngh!" Mei whimpered against his mouth as he once again began to push in, and though she was more relaxed, it was still a tight fit. There was a little sharp pain as the head sank into her and she began to stretch around him, but it wasn't as much as she had feared. Blessedly, she was slick with desire which made the going easier, too, and so she bit down on his lip and clutched hard to him, her thighs squeezing against his legs.

"I-it's okay, keep going," she panted against his mouth, eyes clenched shut as she braced herself against it.

Daersen shuddered as well as he began to enter, finding the sheer tightness of her sex to be both immensely pleasurable yet uncomfortable at the same time. Bolstered by her words, however, he kept going, and the passion with whic hhe kissed her increased twofold.

"That's it..." He mumbled.

"You're doing great, Mei..."

"A-am I? I'm not doing any--ah!"

Mei squealed against Daersen's lips as he sank in even deeper, filling her inch by inch, and she scrabbled at his shoulders and writhed beneath him, her squirming only working to take him in more. Oh, it hurt, sure, but it was a strange sort of pain, one mingled oddly with pleasure as he stroked places not even his finger had reached, for though she was small and tight her body was ready for this--and so was she. And what discomfort there was was diminished by not only the pleasure, but by fascination, that this was what it was like.

"O-oh goddess! Is that all of you?"

"All of me? Uh..."

Daersen glanced to the spot they were joined. He was only about a quarter of the way in! Given, he wasn't the biggest when it came to girth, but he had length on his side, and in that category, he was certainly above average.

"...NNnnoope. Plenty of dick left," he snorted, before he stole another kiss from her.

"Believe me, though. You're gonna love it."

With that, he resumed pushing in. Mei's vagina wasn't resisting as much as he thought it would. She was definitely opening up for him much faster than expected!

"It...nngh...it doesn't feel as bad as I thought," Mei admitted breathlessly, though her face had gone quite red when he said there was plenty still outside her! Goddess! To her right then, he felt impossibly large already. How much more could she fit?!

"It actually...ah!...it actually feels kind of good?" She shivered, her body tensing a bit as he resumed pushing in, her sex tightening around him even as her hands squeezed his shoulders. "O-ow! It hurts a little, though. It's...it's weird. But not that bad. I've heard both good stories and bad stories, you know. Am I bleeding? They say that's a possibility, i-if you tear. I'm sorry if I am, I don't really want to bleed on you, out of my control though that may be. Oh goddess...what if it gets on the sheets? These aren't really our sheets to sta--ah! Stain!"

She cried out again, torn somewhere between wincing and moaning, her hips twitching as he slid in and her heart pounding.

"It doesn't matter. It's an inn, Mei. They were going to wash the sheets anyways..." Daersen said as he stopped pushing in for just a moment, in order to slip his hand down between them. It came back up, and he had a tinge of red on his finger tips. As if to show that it was alright, he wiped his fingers off on the sheets to the side of them.

"It's alright. It's just a natural part of losing your virginity," Daersen said, and got right back to work.

The short pause allowed Mei to catch her breath and adjust to his size, and when she saw the blood, she winced. Of course, like most women, she was used to blood coming out of her. She just wasn't used to bleeding because she'd torn! "Y-yes...I know that, but--!"

Mei's words cut off with another squeal as he resumed his work, her head tossed back and eyes clenched shut.

Now that he had made significant progress, Daersen was comfortable with moving a bit quicker. Mei was slick, so it made the process significantly easier for him as well. He was already halfway in, and it'd be much easier sailing from there on out.

"F-fuck..." Daersen gasped, and he clutched tighter to her, finding himself unable to do anything else but kiss her again.

"W-what? What's wrong?" Mei asked through a gasp against his mouth, cracking her eyes open to look at him. Goddess, she felt stuffed; was that all of him, yet?

"Nothing, just...Gods above, you feel amazing..."

He was just about to say something else, when he suddenly stopped. He gently rocked his hips to the side, just to make sure. Yep. He was in all the way now.

"There it is. I'm in you to the hilt..."

Once he stopped yet again, Mei let out a panted gasp and relaxed back against the pillows, running her hands through her hair as she tried to catch her breath. They hadn't really done much, and already that felt like hard work! Closing her eyes, she let herself take in the sensation of him--though it was difficult to hold still as, instinctively, she wanted to move, which was made all the worse when he shifted his hips and made her clench.

"That wasn't so bad," she finally said after a pause, and peered up at him, eyes wide with wonder. "Goddess, you feel big."

Daersen's cheeks darkened at that. Their whole situation was so lewd, yet there was something about the way she said it that was able to make Daersen (of all people!) blush.

He grinned rather widely at her, and spread her legs just a bit more.

"Well, I am pretty big..."

Daersen reached over to the side, and grabbed her book.

"Anything you want to write down before we get started, Mei?"

Mei bit back a moan when Daersen further spread her legs and he went in just a bit deeper. She flushed with heat and desire and flexed experimentally around him, her hips wriggling side to side just the smallest bit as she tested his fit--and as she grew impatient. It was still a little uncomfortable, and she knew she'd be quite sore when they were done, but curiosity and his promises that it would get even better had her craving everything he had to show her tonight.

"I...what?" It took her a moment to realize he was speaking to her, and she blinked up at him--and saw the book she held. And though part of her wanted to say yes, the other part was screaming a resounding no!

And it was that which left her lips.

"Oh, goddess, no!" she gasped, and squirmed a little more, restless now that the worst was over and eager to continue, and it made all the worse by the fact that she was pinned beneath him, a captive to his whims. "I mean, not yet! I, ah...I believe I need to gather a little more research data first before committing anything to parchment. Please, by all means, continue. You're the teacher, and I have much still to learn, no?"

Daersen couldn't help but laugh, the heaving motion of his chest causing him to push in against her even more, if only for a brief moment. He set the book down next to them, and nodded.

"Well, I'm pretty lucky to have a pupil as diligent as yourself..."

He grasped her hips firmly, and shook some of his hair out of his face. Despite the fact that he was clean shabed, he hadn't cut his hair, so it was a tad bit long.

Then, without ceremony, he started to move. He went slow at first, in case it would still hurt for her.

"Ohhh..." Mei breathed when, finally, he began to move. He was slow and gentle still, which was good because while stillness had given her a reprieve, she found out she was more sore than she'd thought when he actually started to thrust. But more than that, it was just a strange sensation at first, which came with a strange realization--that he was inside her. Men and women had been doing it since the dawn of time, but it was new for her, and she couldn't help but wonder how the first people who had ever done it figured it out! Because really, it was a pretty absurd act when one thought about it!

For a moment she laid there, sucking in her breath and letting out quiet whimpers, her hands gripping his arms for purchase. But soon that initial sense of strangeness wore off, and though the discomfort didn't exactly diminish, it did start to feel better, and then legitimately good, and soon her expression changed from one of tight concentration as she focused on his movement to one sudden surprise, her eyes widening at one point when he slid back in and her fingers tightening on his arms.

"A-ah...oh...goodness..." she squeaked, her lips parted as another moan escaped her, and she lifted her hips experimentally to meet him--and gasped at the delicious result. "Oh...oh...! Oh...wow...you're right, this...this is starting to feel really good..."

"Isn't it just the best?" Daersen whispered as he leaned forwards again to kiss her. Gods, he couldn't remember the last time he had sex! It was rather refreshing, to say the least. He broke the kiss after a few smooches, and straightened back up again. He passed his hands over Mei's legs, marveling at her softness as he let himself be lost in her velvety walls.

"And it's going to get better, too."

He began to pick up the pace, slowly edging towards a "normal" speed.

Some part of Mei still couldn't believe she was doing this. Doing this with a complete stranger! And yet, she had no regrets, and it seemed fitting. She had never indulged back in Thanatos simply because she didn't yet want children--and the pressure to bear children was even more intense when you were Temple caste. The other castes might be more lax and take precautions against pregnancy, but Mei had decided it best to hold off until she was ready for that responsibility, though her peers had teased her now and then for that. After all, virginity wasn't sacred; if anything, remaining one was strange, and where the stigma lay.

If anything, she felt like a burden had been lifted.

Mei kissed him fiercely as his thrusts grew quicker, her breaths growing shorter and cries growing louder, if muffled against his mouth. But when he broke the kiss, straightened, and went right back at it--well, then there was nothing to keep her quiet, and it was becoming quickly apparent that just as she was loud in most areas of her life, the bedroom was no exception.

She cried out under his faster pace, her small breasts bouncing with the movement. She twisted beneath him and grabbed at a pillow with one hand, her legs squeezing against him, and soon her sharp cries and needy moans were filling the room--and no doubt disturbing anyone next door.

"Oh my Inima, you weren't joking!" she moaned, back arched and toes curled into the sheets as her hips rolled against him, gripping the pillow in a death grip so she didn't mark up his arms. "Oh goddess, oh goddess, yes! Keep going...keep going...! You're starting to feel reallyreally good--ah! Jeez!"

"And it's just going to get better!" Daersen said with a grin, savoring every thrust, every little response Mei gave him. He was, however, concerned with the noise levels she was producing. He pitched forwards again to silence Mei with his lips. He clutched her head, keeping himself propped up by his elbows as he introduced his tongue to her mouth for a solid minute.

When he was done with that, he paused his thrusting and leaned back up.

"Turn over onto your hands and knees for me, won't you?"

Mouth trapped under Daersen's lips, Mei's moans and cries were stifled--at least for the moment--and her kiss was rather sloppy, for she could hardly focus on kissing while she was savoring the vivid new sensations of fucking. His tongue surprised her, for that was also new, but she was too swept up in the moment to think about it much as she slid her tongue along his and tasted him, her eyes tightly shut with building pleasure and the barest reminder of pain.

And then, suddenly, he stopped.

With a ragged gasp, she stared up at him, about to ask if that was it--but then he spoke.

And her face burned a darker shade, her eyes widening. Nodding breathlessly, eager to learn what he had in mind, she rolled over. He slipped out in the process, and she rose up onto her hands and knees.

Looking over her shoulder at him, her hair sliding off her back to hang down loosely, she peered at him through hooded eyelids. "Like this?"

Daersen watched her assume the new position, and he only grinned wider. He shuffled closer on his knees, and he gripped her soft ass rather zealously.

"Oh yeah...Juuuuuuust like this... It ain't the classiest position, but it's better than what we were doing before."

He spread her cheeks, and penetrated her all over again, breathing shakily as he went in effortlessly this time around. He held himself in without moving, and ground against her for a bit as he adjusted himself.

Finally, he resumed fucking her. For Mei, this new position would allow her to better feel his power.

Better, indeed.

It hurt a little when Daersen pushed in again, for Mei was quite sore from being stretched, but aside from a small flinch and sharp yelp, it was soon forgotten as he slid home from a new angle. It felt like he'd sank in even deeper this time, and there was a new, wonderful pressure against a rather sensitive spot inside her, and as he ground against her she let out a low moan, fingers curled into the sheets, and rocked back into him. It felt utterly lewd to be taken like this, like a dog, and her face was surely on fire, but when he finally started to move--

Goddess, she didn't care!

Their neighbors probably did, though, as she began to cry out in earnest as he rocked her, bodies slapping wetly together with the force of it, harder and deeper than before as his cock hit just the right spot and each thrust sent an electric jolt of pleasure clear to her toes. She clawed helplessly at the sheets, her cries rising to screams, and the power of it nearly bowled her over as her trembling arms gave out. She fell forward onto her elbows and buried her face into a pillow, her ass still raised and legs spreading a bit wider for him.

It might not be classy, but it felt mind-blowing.

"Oh my GODDESS! You're...oh! You're so good!" she sobbed. "Where you're--ah! Where you're hitting, it's...it's perfect! Oh Inima, I...I...I need my book!"

"Book? H-Ah...Heh, no book for you..." Daersen playfully growled. He stretched his arms forwards to grab onto her elbows. Although he didn't really need to pin her arms down (seeing as she was pretty much helpless anyways!), the dominant contact could potentially thrill her even more.

"You gotta make it through the lesson, first!"

Daersen, although much better at keeping his pleasure silent, was just barely hanging onto it all by a thread. Mei was small, and she was so deliciously tight, that Daersen found it a miracle he hadn't devolved into yelping and moaning as well!

He unhanded one of her elbows, and gripped her ass with that free hand, giving him more control over her motions.

Before Mei could try to reach for the book herself, Daersen grabbed her elbows, and soon she truly was helpless as he pinned her. Oh, dear! Thrill her it did as she could do little else but enjoy herself, trapped beneath him and a captive to pleasure. She squirmed uselessly, tugging at her arms and turning her face to the side so she could breathe, instead of burying her face into the pillow, and once again her sharp, ragged cries filled the air with each thrust into her.

"Oh! Yes, goddess, oh my goodness, Daersen!" she squealed, hardly able to breathe from the intensity of it all. And when he released one of her arms, she just barely had sense enough to flail and grab at her book stubbornly, because she was on a mission before she lost her thought--because her train of thought was definitely slipping as the pleasure built and grew, and he could no doubt feel that in the way she trembled and the way her sex tightened around him.

"Ah, no! I-I'm gonna lose my thought!" she cried, but couldn't get a good grip on the book, for her fingers felt clumsy, and it was difficult to think, and she let out another shrieking cry. "Ahh! Harder, Daersen! I...Inima, help me, I think I'm close!"

And that was the precise moment a loud banging came at the door. "Everything alright in there?"

Daersen didn't stop fucking her when somebody came knocking at the door. However, he did slow down, which might give Mei the chance she desperately needed to write down her thoughts. He looked back at the door, a frown on his face.

"Yes! Everything is juuuust fine!" He called back, and looked back down at Mei.

"I think we're getting too intense, we might have to quiet down a bit," he whispered.

With a gasp as Daersen slowed, Mei grabbed the book and pulled it toward her, flipping it open one-handed to the right page, since her other arm was still trapped. She grabbed the charcoal with the same hand, and then began to quickly scribble her thoughts. It was still difficult, though, even with his slower motions, because goddess did it feel good.

She was still furiously writing when Daersen dismissed the speaker and told her they might need to quiet down.

"Mmf...not sure I can do that," she panted, still writing, if sloppily with several careless mistakes. "It's like, when you do this...ah...I can't control myself. Like you fill every part of me and...haa...it's so intense, it's unbelievable. Goddess, to think I've been missing out on this..."

"Yeah, it's pretty eye-opening..." Daersen agreed, and reached under her to hold onto her breasts, squeezing them and playing his thumbs over her nipples.

"Here, let me quiet you up the old fashioned way."

He pulled her up so her back was pressed to his chest. He held her there by her breasts and smothered her mouth with a kiss, even as he began to lance up into her with yet another new angle.

Mei moaned when he grabbed her breasts, squirming all the more, and needless to say, it only distracted her more and made the going tougher--

And then outright impossible when he pulled her backwards against him, making her drop the charcoal and smear a bit of her work in the process. Wriggling against him, she tried to reach for her things.

"H-hey! I wasn't done ye--mmmrph!"

He cut her off with a kiss, and soon her book was forgotten as he drove up into her. She screamed against his mouth and grabbed at his hands even as he rocked her, and soon she was helping with the work as she bounced against him in time to his movements. She had to break the kiss, though, for the angle her head was twisted at was hurting her neck, and once her lips were free she had no control of herself as she cried out to the ceiling and clutched hard at his arms.

Daersen pulled Mei into him even more, lowering his head to kiss her neck as he took her over and over again.

He placed a hand over her mouth in an attempt to try and control her wild screaming, and clasped the other one on her abdomen. His face remained buried in her neck, swept up in the sheer heat of it all.

"Just like that, Mei. Keep bouncing like that!"

Daersen's hand over her mouth muffled much of her screaming, but it didn't stop it--if anything, it only made the experience more intense, and soon Mei's throat was raw with her cries and sobbing moans. She continued to ride him wildly, impaling herself on him again and again, and when that became too much work she rocked her hips on him instead--and let out a gasping cry as that changed the experience completely as he bumped and rubbed against wonderfully sensitive places deep inside her that soon had her trembling and tightening around him.

She was painfully close, fast approaching that precipice as the pressure rose and built, wonderful, pleasurable heat spreading from her groin to her toes, but she couldn't cry out to tell him that--

But she could communicate in a different, more direct way.

Reaching down boldly, she grabbed the hand he'd rested on her belly and slid it down between her legs, urging him to stroke her while she gyrated and ground against him, and she wasn't long for the world after that. For suddenly she let out a sobbing scream and her body went tense, her sex spasming around him, and she grabbed his arm and curled forward as the pleasure crashed over her and left her breathless and unable to move.

While Mei was in the throes of her climax, Daersen was merciless. Although he slowed down to allow her some form of respite, his thrusts were still purposeful and deep, if not spaced farther apart. Needless to say, continuing while Mei's walls tried to suck his very soul out from his cock was the end for him as well.

She curled forwards, but Daersen immediately pulled her back towards him as he pulled out, his seed shooting vertically up onto her abdomen as he leaned back slightly.

With that final move, Daersen's knees gave out, and he fully toppled backwards, with Mei still resting on his chest.

"Holy shit..."

Mei collapsed back against Daersen, chest rising and falling with her quick, frantic breaths as her body tried to normalize. For a few moments, she didn't want to move. She felt tired, in an absolutely sated way, and her body still felt flushed with pleasure and contentment. She felt like she could lay there forever.

Finally, though, she thought she might not want to crush Daersen (even though she was small and weighed basically nothing!), and so she shifted off of him and stretched out on her back beside him. There she lay, aware of a stickiness on her belly and chest, and aware of a growing ache in her thighs and between her legs, but she closed her eyes and took a deep breath, letting it out slowly.

"...Tell me we can do that again," she finally said.

Daersen's hands groped at the air when Mei rolled off of him, but they quickly settled back down. He placed one hand on his chest, and put the other one around Mei. At her question, he rolled his head to look at her, eyes a bit wider than normal.

"Again?

He smiled, and looked back up at the ceiling.

"Probably not tonight. With all the noise we make, they'll kick us out for sure... But if you wanna fuck in the future, you just gotta ask, Mei. For now, though--"

Daersen stretched a bit, and kissed Mei's temple.

"--we should probably wash off."

"...Indeed," Mei said, giving a pointed glance down at her belly. "Ah, to think we got all clean, just so we could get dirty! Not that I am upset about that, quite the opposite! I think, however, that I vastly underestimated the mess such activities created. I knew there would be some mess, considering the exchange of bodily fluids and sweat from exertion, but goodness!"

Curiously, she ran a finger through the semen and examined it on her fingertips.

"Very interesting..."

Wiping it off onto the sheets, she sat up with a small grunt. "Inima is surely displeased with me today, but I'm sure She'll forgive me. I'm far from the only woman who's taken such measures, I'm sure. Besides, I could hardly conduct research in Her name if I had a child to worry about."

"Just the right kind of thinking. I'm sure o'l Inima doesn't mind. I mean, if everybody had kids every time they fucked, I'm pretty sure things wouldn't work out as smoothly."

Daersen sat up with Mei, and stretched his back. Sliding off the bed, he wasted no time in dipping himself into the lukewarm bath that was still in the room. He scrunched up his face, not uncomfortable, yet not comfortable at the same time.

He looked over to Mei, and grinned.

"Won't you join me? We can't exactly fuck again, but it don't stop us from having a little fun while we wash off."

Hm. He had a point. Not every encounter resulted in children anyway, and if it did, the world would have no space to live! Surely Inima realized that? It made logical sense--but for now, Mei wasn't going to tie herself into knots over every little bit of spiritual law she'd broken, because she was sure she'd done plenty wrong during her travels! One couldn't be expected to remember it all! Humans were imperfect!

...She told herself, while still worrying a bit.

But as Daersen invited her to the bath, she rose and eagerly slid in across from him. Well, if she'd already broken a rule, why stop now? It hardly mattered when the damage was done! And besides, she felt gross and needed to wash.

Splashing water onto herself to wash her belly, she gave Daersen a curious look. "Oh? Do explain."

 Daersen grinned, and motioned towards himself. Believe it or not, he was still coming to terms with all this! Just a few hours ago, he was living in the sewers, and now... Well... Banging a thanati chick was definitely an improvement.

"We got mouths and hands, don't we? Come a little closer, take a seat on Teacher's lap. I'll show you."

Mei wasted no time. With a slight sloshing of water, Mei plunked herself sideways into Daersen's lap, her legs draped over one of his.

"I'm pretty sure I know what you mean now, but a demonstration would certainly be wonderful."

"Don't worry. My curriculum's pretty hands-on," Daersen said as he brushed some of her hair out of the way. He kissed her, one hand caressing her thigh while the other held her back for support.

"Excelle--mmph!" Mei cut off when he kissed her, and while she might normally hate being interrupted, she didn't mind in this case! She leaned into him, one arm looped around his shoulders as she kissed him back, making up for what she lacked in experience and technique with enthusiasm. She trailed her fingers up and down his back, tracing idle patterns, as pleasant goosebumps rose along her skin beneath his caresses.

Daersen was quite passionate in his ministrations, making sure Mei never had a dull moment as he kissed and caressed her. He groped around at the bottom of the tub for the sponge, and he held it up out of the water once he found it.

"Put your back against me."

It took a moment for Mei to register Daersen's words, and when she did, she nodded breathlessly. She pulled away from Daersen only long enough to rotate her body, sliding down between his legs and turning until her back was pressed to his chest.

She rested her elbows on his knees like the armrests of a throne, and had to bend her knees up since the bath was too small to stretch her legs out all the way. "Going to bathe me?" she asked, darting a look at the sponge.

"I am," Daersen said, kissing the side of her neck.

He slowly dragged the sponge up her abdomen, stopping just below her breasts, and then brought it back down, going low beneath the water's surface.

He brought it back up again, this time a bit quicker.

"You opposed to it?"

"Inima, no," Mei sighed, tilting her head to the side as he kissed her neck, before she sucked in her belly reflexively as the sponge ran over her skin. She chewed her bottom lip, trying hard not to squirm, wishing he would go just a little higher and anticipating every touch. And it certainly didn't help that she could feel his cock against her back.

"Not at all. That feels really good...by all means, continue!"

Daersen chuckled, but he squirmed a bit as he found his cock pinned between them. He reached down beneath the water and adjusted Mei at the same time so his member was beneath her and poking outwards, coming to rest against her pussy.

He made no mention of this, however, and made no indication that she should do something. He continued to wash her, sponge edging further upwards with each pass until he finally made it to her breasts. He ran the sponge across her nipples real slow, caressing her belly with his free hand.

"You know, I had an idea..."

"Y-yeah?" Mei said, her breathing uneven now as the sponge ran over her nipples so delightfully slow and hardened under his touch, even as she was hyper-aware of just where his cock was. She shifted a little and felt it slip against her, and her hands tightened a little on his knees, her skin growing hotter. Considering what they had only just done, her imagination was already going a million miles a minute.

"What's...what's your idea?"

"Well, I'm not doing much here in Arca. Not much of a life, really, living in the sewers and all that," Daersen started.

He kissed her shoulder, and his hand slipped below the water, fingers ghosting over her inner thigh without giving her what she expected or wanted. The sponge moved between her breasts, and he gave it a good squeeze to let out some water, letting the cool liquid run down her body.

"You got an opening for a travel partner?"

"Oh, I..." Mei twitched, her breath catching for a second as his fingers slid along her inner thigh, her body aching with anticipation. She let her breath out shakily, shivering as the water ran down her belly.

"I haven't really had a traveling partner, no. I've been doing this alone all this time, actually! Friends were too busy with their own things to accompany me, and so many people here are...er...unfriendly toward Thanati. In layman's terms, they're bigots. So I've been alone, and that was fine! It meant I could go at my own pace without someone holding me up buuut..."

She peered over her shoulder at Daersen. "That's also not to say I object to company, but understand I am on a bit of a schedule! And if you grow bored or need to return to your own life, I won't be offended if you leave."

"Well, I don't really have a life to return to, and it doesn't get any more dull than sitting on a street corner every day and begging for coins. I think I'll be just fine, Mei. I've got nowhere else to be..." he whispered. His fingers edged ever closer to what she wanted him to touch, but they always stopped just short or went around. He deposited a large kiss on her neck, smiling.

"Besides, I get the feeling you'll like my lesson plan."

Mei was having a harder and harder time paying attention to the words coming out of Daersen's mouth. But she got the gist of it! He was fine with such an arrangement, and she wasn't opposed to the company. He was interesting enough, and that was pretty much all she required to be friends with a person! That he was attractive and good in bed was a bonus!

"Um...yes..." Mei said, for lack of having more words, as she started to squirm a little restlessly. He was so close! Did he just intend on teasing her? "What...what is on the syllabus?"

"Oh, plenty of lessons. All hands-on, too. We're gonna be doing a section on foreplay, oral..."

Finally, he touched her where she wanted, tentatively gliding his fingers against her clit. As well ,he brought the rough sponge up against her neck.

Mei drew in a shuddering breath when finally, finally he began to stroke her, and her hips jerked a little as his fingers brought with them a jolt of pleasure. She pressed back against Daersen's chest, shivering, and bit down on her lip even as she fought the urge to squirm. He was touching just the right spot, and she didn't want to squirm and have him lose his place!

"That...that sounds wonderful," she managed to get out between gulped breaths. "I always was a kinesthetic learner."

Daersen nodded.

It wasn't long before his fingers slipped back into her, probing her insides for that sensitive spot. All the while, he attended to her neck and shoulders with his mouth.

His cock was there, too. Laying just in front of Mei's pussy, tempting her to ask for it.

By the time Daersen slipped his fingers inside her, Mei was practically aching for it. She gasped, letting out a whimpering moan, and dropped her head back against Daersen's shoulder with a shuddering breath as her legs trembled and hips squirmed. And all the while she was aware of his cock pressed against her, so close, while remembering how it had felt to have more than just fingers filling her.

Her whimpers soon turned restless, desperate, her hands tight on his knees. "You...nngh...! You sure we can't have a second go?"

"Well, I know I said no the first time, but..."

He slipped his fingers out of her, taking his cock and rubbing the tip against her entrance.

"Damn me if I'm not tempted..."

He teased her with a couple of pushes, hands taking up her breasts from behind.

"You gotta promise me you'll try to be as quiet as possible, though. Can you do that?"

"I-I can try," Mei gasped, forcing the words out as a whisper as though trying to prove that she could do it--even though she wasn't so sure. How could anyone stay quiet when they were experiencing such an overwhelming, amazing flood of sensations? It was a daunting thought, but she was always up for a challenge, and always open to testing her own limits!

For science.

Her breath caught in her throat as he pushed teasingly against her but didn't enter, and she held her breath for a couple heartbeats and swallowed hard to hold in her moan even as she lifted up more onto her knees so she could get him properly aligned. "Only one way to find out, right?" she said, and bit her lip in anticipation.

Daersen went still, pursing his lips. He feigned deep thought, resting his chin on Mei's shoulder as he stared up at the ceiling. Suddenly, he smiled.

"Yep, suppose so."

He crossed his hands over her belly to weigh her down onto him. He hoped he could get away with going in a bit faster this time, now that she'd be more... accommodating.

Mei had been about ready to promise to keep quiet when, abruptly, he pulled her down--and Mei let out a sharp, breathless cry as he slipped right in even as she gripped him like a vice. It hurt a little, for she was still sore from their first round, but now that she knew what to expect, she hadn't tensed up this time. She slid right down onto him until he was in her to the hilt, hands flying to his arms to hold on for dear life as she shuddered with pleasure and flexed around him.

"Ohh, Inima!" she breathed and, unable to hold still, she rotated her hips, gasping as even that little motion had him moving within her. "You feel so good..."

Daersen chuckled, taking up by her breasts again as he slowly started to move. He couldn't get the full thrusts out, given the positioning, but the thrusts he did get off were voracious in their delivery. He wanted to experience her all over again!

He had a few years of dry spell to work out, anyways.

"You too, Mei... You too..."

With Mei on top like that, she soon found that it was up to her to do the bulk of the work. It was a little awkward figuring out how to move, and to figure out what felt best, but she settled on a rocking, grinding motion at first until she found a rhythm that felt good, and she had to clap a hand over her mouth to uphold her end of the deal as between her grinding and his thrusting, she soon wanted to howl.

And when that motion became too much work, she finally leaned forward, one hand gripping his legs for support, and started experimenting with thrusting down onto him--which also gave him a nice view of the action as she moved. She whimpered, tightening her hand around her mouth, her breath coming out in short bursts through her nose as her moans caught in her throat.

Daersen made a soft noise of his own, sinking down into the water a bit so he could thrust up higher. He clapped his hands right onto Mei's ass, grinning. After kneading the asscheeks for a bit, he slipped his hand around to her front, toying with her clit slowly even as she bounced up and down.

As soon as he started to stroke her clit, Mei went stock still aside from her squirming and shuddering, completely losing her ability to multitask. It was an intense combination, the pleasure from her clit combined with the pleasure of their fucking, and all her willpower and focus went to keeping herself from screaming.

Still the cries escaped her throat, muffled behind her hand, and she grabbed the rim of the tub in a shaky hand for purchase, knuckles white and eyes clenched shut.

Daersen realized that he may have been laying on a bit too thick, and he eased up on her, taking his hand away from her clit and returning it to her side. his thrusts also slowed down, and he leaned forwards to pop a kiss onto her neck.

"Turn around to face me. I want to see those eyes of yours..."

W-what? He was stopping? Mei's eyes shot open and she had been about ready to ask what was up, especially when his skilled ministrations had her so rapidly building toward release, but then he spoke and she let out a shaky breath.

She certainly wasn't going to object to that!

Lifting up briefly, she turned around and straddled him, a knee on either side of him. She guided him back into her with her fingers, and whimpered as he filled her yet again.

"Y...you like my eyes?"

"Oh, they're like amethysts..."

He cupped her head, and kissed her again, this time more passionately than before. He was trying to slow things down and heat them up.

Mei kissed him back, hands on his shoulders and chest pressed to his. For the moment, she didn't move, pulling from the kiss to grin at him.

"Well, they are the same color," she said. "Which I always thought was, frankly, awesome. Amethysts are one of the most powerful gems, spiritually speaking. Very good for meditation and soul-speaking, I've heard, and excellent for dreaming! Even healing. My favorite gem, actually, and not just because I'm biased and vain about that or anything." She paused. "What's your favorite gem? I'm quite knowledgeable about all their different properties."

She said it in all seriousness, as though she didn't currently have a cock inside her.

Daersen's brow furrowed, as if he was seriously pondering the question. He began to move, slowly, so as to not distract too much from their conversation. Of course, he found her casualness all too amusing, given the situation, but with her, he couldn't even be annoyed by it.

He liked talking to her!

"It's a tie, actually. Between amethyst and tourmaline."

"Tourmaline! Another excellent choice, and yet another powerful healing--ah!" Mei's hands tightened on his shoulders, her thighs squeezing him a bit tighter as he began to move. "Ah, healing properties. What kind of tourmaline is...erm...is the question..."

She gasped, having a hard time keeping still now, her body wanting nothing more than to move and milk as much pleasure from this as she could. And far be it for her to deny herself what was only natural! Breath hitching, she began to roll her hips, slowly, in small, circular grinding motions that had her squeezing him as the tension rolled through her.

"Lots of different varieties," she went on. "Each color has...has different...things...oh dear..."

Well, she never claimed she could be eloquent while doing this.

"Well..."

Daersen paused as Mei began to move, biting his lip to stay quiet. His hands slid up Mei's back, tracing lines up her spine as he brought her in for another slow kiss. He was content to let her go at her own pace.

"... I like the red ones, green ones, and the ones that come out with multiple colors. There's something that's just so intense about them..."

"I...I like the green ones, with the white and pink center," Mei gasped out, and let her head drop down to rest her forehead against his shoulder as she clutched him tighter. Goosebumps rose beneath his fingers as Daersen stroked her back, and her spine arched beneath his hands in response, her body pressing harder against him.

"I-it's said...said that it balances masculine and feminine energies...and clears up doubts. They're--oh! They're very rare, though."

"It sounds beautiful..."

He began to move again, this time gently conflicting with Mei's small movements to make them have as much impact as possible.

"I once saw a red and yellow tourmaline. Gods..."

A loud cry escaped Mei as he began to move, and she wrapped her arms around his neck and began to rise and fall atop him, her face pressed to his shoulder and her breath coming out in hot bursts.

"Th-that sounds gorgeous," she whimpered. "My favorite st-stone is black opal...it's like a sunset during a storm..."

"Oh, those"re just..."

He moaned a bit, before cupping Mei's face and kissing her quite fiercely.

"The best. Per chance, do you know what your next destination is?"

"Errr...no..." Mei admitted after struggling for her thoughts, before her lips met his again. She pulled back with a small smack and buried her face against his shoulder again so her cries were muffled against his skin.

"M-maybe North, through Ser--ah! Serendipity!" she moans, squirming atop him restlessly. "Th-the mountains...they are said to be very--oh gods. Very interesting! Oh, goodness, Daersen, can you...can you move more?"

Daersen started moving, as per Mei's request, sinking downwards into the tub a bit more so he could buck his hips up higher.

"You know, there was... Ah... There was a lady who passed through here with a strange looking gentleman. She told me that ant-people lived up in those mountains..."

He chewed his lip, biting back a few more grunts and moans.

"They seemed like--oh, fuck. They seemed like odd folk. Wizardy types..."

"A-ant people?" Mei squeaked, her words punctuated by unsteady breaths and whimpering moans as she struggled hard just to speak. Much less think! She began to move with him, trying to gauge his rhythm and time the motions of her hips with his with only marginal success as he bounced her, the water sloshing about the tub and spilling over the edge.

"Te--ah! Tell me about them! The ant people! Which mountai--" She curled into him more, panting. "Which mountain range? Oh, Inima, I--my book! Wait, no, it'd get wet! Ah! Pause a moment!"

Whether it was patience, aloofness, or just affection that allowed him to do this, nobody knew, but Daersen actually brought himself to a stop, giving Mei as much time as she needed. Before she could go anywhere or say anything else, though, he stole another kiss from her.

"Alright, consider me paused."

He put his arms behind his head, and relaxed against the tub.

Mei sat still atop him for a few moments as she caught her breath, but finally she slipped off of him and rose to her feet. "Just one second!"

She stepped from the tub and dripped water as she headed back for the bed. She dried her hands off onto the blankets, then grabbed her book and charcoal, spread the book open to a blank page, and leaned forward onto the bed as she began to scribble furiously. "Quick, what else can you tell me about them?"

For a few moments, Daersen thought she couldn't muster up the will to get up off of him, but he was pretty impressed when she did so. Now, he didn't think he was some kind of sex machine or anything, but he'd gotten the impression that Mei just couldn't get enough of him.

"I don't know much, only what the lady told me. Looked like she was trying to spread the information around, y'know? Warn people? I don't know. Anyways..."

He turned to face her, quite unsubtly eying her wet form.

"Supposedly, there's these ant people or something in the thunderblacks. Ancient race, been here longer than humanity. Pretty advanced too, from what she told me. They said they were gonna go talk to 'em or something. The guy who was with her, he was an odd-looking sort. Definitely not human, uh... He said it would be the biggest discovery in human history."

Scribble, scribble, scribble--pause!

Mei looked up from her writing. "Biggest discovery in human history? Really? Sweet Inima! Then there's no time to lose! How long ago was this? They may have already gotten a good head start on us, in which case we must redouble our efforts! We have to get there before they do if we're to make that discovery first--and I fully intend on doing that! This is the chance of a llifetime! Probably quite literally! I'm not sure what the odds are or the statistics of such a thing happening but I'm sure I could calculate something, given enough time, which we don't have!"

As she spoke, she closed her book, put her charcoal away, and started to grab up her clothes.

Woah, wait a second!

Dumbfounded, Daersen watched her just completely brush off whatever they'd been doing and start getting dressed. He wanted to object, but part of him knew that'd be completely pointless. She seemed pretty set on finding these supposed "ant people." Besides, they'd already fucked once tonight.

Shrugging, he stood up and out of the tub.

"Alright, but I'm about to give you another lesson before we leave," he said as he walked up next to her and began to gather his own things.

He slapped his hand onto her ass and firmly grabbed on.

"I'll let it go this time, but once you start something, you gotta finish it, my pupil."

It was the slap that brought Mei down from her wild flights of fancy, and she jumped with a small squeak and looked at him in wide-eyed surprise.

What was he...?

Oh.

OH!

...Whoops. She had...totally just left him hanging there, hadn't she?

With a sheepish laugh, she shrugged and dropped her clothes onto the bed, then hopped up onto it. "Well, you can go ahead and finish if you like, just be quick about it! We've got miles to make up!"

With a victorious grin, Daersen dropped his clothing as well, and clambered up onto the bed behind Mei, turning her over onto her belly and lowering himself down above her.

"You're a crazy girl, Mei. I like it."

He penetrated her quicker this time, and he just got right back into the rhythm.

Mei squealed in surprise when he flipped her onto her belly, and cried out anew when he plunged right in, taking her from behind and going deeper in this position than before. Pinned to the bed, she clawed at the sheets and squirmed wildly beneath him, turning her head to the side so it wasn't pressed into the blankets.

Well, she had told him to be quick about it!

"Cr-crazy? Ah! No, no, I'm actually completely--" She cut off with a cry, turning her face into the blankets to muffle the sound. "--Sane!"

Daersen relished the new position, gripping Mei's hips tightly as his pelvis came crashing against her ass again and again.

Mei screamed, totally breaking her end of the deal, but oh dear Inima was he taking her hard, pounding into her hard enough she could hear their skin slapping together as each thrust drove deep, hitting all new spots. Hands curled up in the sheets, she ended up pulling them right off the bed until they were balled up under her, and all she had left to grab onto was the side of the mattress. The rough new pace and added depth hurt a little bit, because she was still sore and achy, but the pleasure was intense enough that she could blissfully ignore it as her cries echoed through the room as she writhed wildly beneath him.

"Hush, you!" Daersen chuckled, and he reached out in front of her and clasped his hand over her mouth, trying to hush her up. After a bit more of this rough, brisk pace, he slowed down. His thrusts still retained their depth and force, but his pace diminished, and he took his hand off of her mouth.

"So, that little moon chart or whatever, did it say I could finish up inside you? I really don't feel like making any more mess than we already did..."

His breathing was getting quicker.

"I need an answer, and quick..."

Mei's screams were muffled by his hand, and by the time he slowed down and pulled it away, she was gasping for breath. Still, even his slow pace was wonderful, and she arched her back as much as she could, lifting her ass higher and whimpering at the sensation.

"Wh...what? Oh, uh...ah! Well, it's...it's never safe to do that, but--nngh!--but...now is safest. But you still shouldn't! Unless we can--unless we can get something for it..."

"Yeah, I know an apothecary..."

Mei pitched her ass upwards, and Daersen didn't hesitate to grip her cheeks and spread her wider. His hand shot down, and he gripped the back of her head for support, getting more aggressive as he neared his climax.

"Ah! Ah, goddess! Fine! We'll--haa! We'll just visit them!" Mei squealed as his hand on her head pushed her face into the bed, and she buried her face into the sheets and practically sobbed with pleasure. She was going to feel this later, that was for certain, as he got rougher and her sex ached each time he impaled her, and no doubt she was bleeding anew, but she hardly cared. For each powerful thrust, hitting her at just the right angle, was bringing her closer and closer to her own release--though she was not nearly as close to hers as Daersen was to his.

Finally, Daersen came to a crashing halt, delivering a powerful thrust to accompany each spurt of warmth into Mei's depths. He bent over her, somewhat losing himself as his thrusts died down. However, that wasn't the end for Mei.

If Daersen's climax didn't bring Mei to come, he'd start to work her clit beneath his fingers, trying to keep the score even.

Mei gasped, clutching at the bedsheets and squirming, when Daersen's motions suddenly changed. She felt him pulse within her even as he thrust powerfully, a fascinating sensation that only heightened her own pleasure, and she felt a strange heat deep inside her. Had he just...was that...?

She had no more time to think on it, because he wasn't done, and soon his fingers were on her clit and she was trying out anew, hips jerking and rolling against his hand as she panted and whimpered and, abruptly, let out a sharp, piercing cry and began to shudder and tremble with a powerful release of her own.

"There we go..." Daersen muttered, reveling in Mei's last few throes before he pulled out. He wanted to stay upright. He did, really, but he found energy only to flop on the bed next to Mei, gazing into her face.

"So, not bad for your first time in the sack, huh?"

Daersen wasn't the only one to collapse, for Mei just sort of flopped right where she was, arms stretched out over the bed and face pressed into the blankets as she just breathed. She felt like she could just fall asleep right then and there, like her bones had been sucked out of her body to leave her there, limp and boneless and relaxed and satisfied, her body all warm and flushed and tingling with the aftereffects of pleasure.

It was a wonderful feeling. Exhausting, but wonderful.

And sore. Really sore. Now that she was no longer distracted by pleasure, she could feel all the aches, especially the burning one between her legs. Sitting was not going to be fun.

"That was..." Mei sucked in a breath, trying to form the words. "Enlightening."

"Enlightenment's a pretty good word to describe it," Daersen mumbled, managing to roll over onto his belly to get an arm around Mei.

He pressed a kiss to the side of her head, and rested his face on the bed.

"So, when're we leaving?"

"OH!" Mei gasped, and lifted her head abruptly. "The ant people! Ah! Why did you let me laze about, you should have gotten me up and moving! We have to leave at once!"

And with that said, she rolled away from Daersen and to her feet, snatching up her clothing. And she was about to start throwing it all on when--

She gasped abruptly as gravity did it's thing, semen trickling down her inner thigh. "Oh dear...ah...we do need to take care of this first, however. Where is your apothecary? Goddess! I always thought it just...stayed up in there. How strange."

Daersen closed his eyes tight, and exhaled through his nose. This crazy girl never took a break!

He rolled onto his back, groaned out a complaint, and sat straight up, wincing as his back complained.

He slid off of the bed, and searched for his old robe.

"He's across the street, a few houses down. He owes me a favor, so getting the stuff shouldn't be a problem."

He grabbed the towel from the bathtub and handed it over to Mei, in case she wanted to use it to wipe down.

Mei snatched up the towel and wiped herself off, and when she thought it was all under control--or good enough for now!--she tossed the towel back onto the bed. Hm. Perhaps that method had been less messy for Daersen, but she thought it had created quite the mess for her! And she had to use the towel again when she realized it wasn't quite done leaking out.

Oh, well! She supposed there was no neat way to have sex.

She winced a little as she dabbed herself clean, now thoroughly able to feel how bloody sore she was, and checked herself for bleeding. It wasn't so bad, just some spotting, but that was still going to be a pain. Too bad she hadn't thought to pack a sarong instead of just pants!

"Oof. Well, we should visit him at once," she said, and relinquished the towel once more. "Ow. You did quite the number on me, Daersen."

"I did?" Daersen asked sheepishly, and he put a hand on her abdomen. He frowned, and rubbed her there as if it'd soothe the pain.

"Sorry. You did say to be quick about it, and... well I'm pretty quick about things."

He started to get his clothing back onto himself, pausing only to speak.

"You don't need help walking, do you?"

"Oh, no, I'll be fine!" Mei said as she started to gather up her own clothes. "My legs work just fine!" Even if her thighs were sore! "It's what's between them that's achy. Not necessarily in a bad way. I regret nothing."

She pulled on her shirt and stepped into her loose, cut-off pants. "I'm sure it's just something one's body adjusts to. It's just our session was quite...vigorous."

"Well, if you're not doing it vigorously, you're doing it wrong," Daersen said, and shot Mei a wink.

"Besides, you'll get used to it. I'll make sure our sessions are frequent enough."

Mei laughed at that, and sat gingerly on the bed so she could put on her sandals and properly lace them.

"Well, good! Though we'll have to be more careful, after this apothecary visit." She paused, frowning. "Do you think the gods watch everyone all the time? I'm afraid I don't recall anything about that from the scriptures, and I feel like I'll be needing to research that extensively upon my return home."

Daersen shrugged.

"Well, way I've come to see it, is that if you don't draw too much attention to yourselves, the gods don't really care. If what you did isn't too crazy, then how the heck is a god, who watches over the entire world, going to notice something that small? They're happening literally all the time."

"Hmm. True. But a goddess who created all life...that's a level of power beyond human comprehension..." Mei heaved a sigh. "I will just have to research it more intensively."

She stood and tapped the toes of her sandals against the floor to adjust her feet in them better. "In any case, I'm ready whenever you are! We shouldn't delay, we have much to do today!"

"Well, maybe these ant people you're so keen on finding will have something that could help you," Daersen said, getting his own shoes on and going towards the door. He motioned for her to follow him as he stepped outside.

"So, are we like... Partners now or something?"

"Hm?" Mei cocked her head curiously as she followed him, lightly nudging the door shut behind her with her foot.

"You mean like partners in crime? Well, not crime, though I've heard that's the colloquial term! But replace 'crime' with scholarship and adventure and exploration, and yes! I suppose that is what were are for the time being!"

Daersen wanted to add "Sex" to that list, but he remembered that for Mei, sex was  probably in the same category as "scholarship".

"Sweet. Never really had a partner before."

"Really?" Mei asked, turning her head to give him an inquisitive look. "Always been a lone wolf?"

"I've never been truly alone," Daersen said. As if it had never left, Prince clambered up onto Daersen's shoulders from the ground. Where the oversized albino rat was hidden, nobody knew. But he always had a habit of keeping nearby.

"I think of myself more as a pack leader."

Mei startled at the sight of Prince, having forgotten about him, and eyed him curiously. "Can you talk to them?"

"It's not really talk, it's more like..."

Daersen made some hand gestures, an unsure look on his face.

"I want them to do something, and they do it."

"Oh. Well, then, that is still like being alone! Even if you're around a lot of them, if you can't carry on a conversation, that just makes you alone surrounded by creatures. I don't think it's the same, talking to animals in a one-way conversation versus talking to people. That still seems like it would get incredibly lonely," Mei said.

"Though I have heard of beast-speakers who can actually have two-way conversations with their animal friends. How fascinating would that be, learning about the world through their eyes? What must they know that we don't? Why, I even heard that one beast-speaker was able to discover that dogs can't actually see the full range of color we can. They really only see yellows, violets, and blues. How fascinating is that?"

"Yellows, violets, and blues, huh?" Daersen said, taking his eyes off of Mei so he could descend the stairs to the first floor of the inn.

"That explains why huntsmen dress so garish, or at least have these bright sashes."

"Yes, precisely!" Mei said, and looked to Prince. "Just imagine what you could learn from that one if you could understand each other!"

"Well, we sort of can understand each other. It's like intuition."

Daersen held out an arm, and Prince scurried onto his wrist, peering at Mei with his ruby eyes.

"I think he likes you."

"Think so?" Mei asked as she peered at Prince, and after a pause she gave Daersen an inquisitive look. "Can I touch him? Or do you think he'll bite?"

As a reply to that, Daersen reached out and put a hand on Mei's shoulder. Prince scampered across Daersen's arm, and tentatively stepped onto Mei's shoulder.

"I think you can touch him."

Oh sweet Inima he was on her shoulder!

But though many people naturally felt revulsion when faced with rodents (and rightfully so, as many carried disease), Mei only felt fascination. She loved animals, and hadn't yet met one she was afraid of--well, one that didn't want to eat her, that is, for of course she feared any that showed aggression. It was a well known fact among her comrades, for she had wound up the designated Spider Wrangler of her group. Where others screamed and tried to smash them with their shoes, or were too petrified to even do that, Mei was the one who calmly scooped them into a box (or her hand, if they weren't dangerous) and relocated them to safety.

Now she turned her head to get a look at Prince, and slowly raised a hand to him, holding her palm out for him to smell and investigate. "Hi, prince," she said with a smile. "You're very pretty. Very appropriately named!"

Prince investigated her fingers, propping up on his hind legs to take one of her fingers into his front paws and hold it in place so he could sniff it it.

Then, he just walked into the crook of her neck and laid down, right on her collarbone. He wouldn't fall from there, as long as Mei didn't do anything brash like jumping or sprinting.

"He likes you," Daersen said, and he grinned.

"I like him!" Mei whispered--whispered, because she didn't want to be too loud in Prince's ears, with where he was laying and all, and because she felt that if she spoke, it would come out as an excited squeal. "He's adorable!"

And it just felt neat to be accepted and approved of!

She reached up gently and stroked along his back, grinning like a fool. For a sewer rat, she found him surprisingly clean. "I love his little twitchy whiskers. They're like a cat's, aren't they? Helping them judge space?"

"Yep. Use 'em to communicate, too. It's how they move so efficiently in packs, even though the members are tightly packed."

Prince reveled in the attention, and he snuggled up against her more and more. They hit the first floor, and Daersen looked to Mei.

"Alright, then. Where to, partner?"

Nodding at Daersen's words, Mei filed that information away and was pondering more questions when his own question snapped her back.

She looked over at him, blinking blankly for a moment, and then snapped back to the present. "Oh! Where to? I think before we do anything we need to visit that apothecary! Remember, no babies," she said, waggling a finger. "Maybe if we wind up doing that again you shouldn't...you know..."

"Well, yeah I know I shouldn't, but I didn't want to release all over the sheets. People have to clean those, you know? It's good to be considerate."

They hit the bottom floor, and Daersen pulled his hood up. He might've been clean, but his robes still looked like  leper's, in the sense that they were a tad bit ratty and patchwork.

"Apothecary it is," Daersen said, and he held out an arm to Mei. Prince leaped onto Daersen's shoulder and snuggled up into the ruffles of his robe.

Mei was a little sad to see Prince go, for rats were fascinating creatures, but she linked her arm with Daersen's just the same as they strode out through the inn. They got some strange looks, but Mei was oblivious to them. After all, they looked like quite the strange pair, a young, pretty Thanati girl with a strange guy in ratty clothes that looked like he'd...

Well, like he'd crawled out of a sewer.

"And the apothecary, they'll be able to provide more supplies for future...adventures?" she asked as they walked.

"Definitely. He owes me a favor, so he should be able to stock us up pretty well," Daersen said.

He looked down at his robes, and his nose wrinkled.

"Gonna have to get some new robes while we're on the road, too."

"Yeeeah," Mei said, giving his robes a once over. "Hate to say it, but you look an awful lot like a low life in those! Or like a guy who just crawled out of a sewer! Say, what are you gonna do about your home? And all those rats? Are you just gonna leave everything there? Won't Prince miss all his friends?"

"Me? Just crawled out of the sewers?" He said, mock indignation on his face.

"Preposterous."

He laughed, and he picked Prince up off of his shoulder and held him in his hands. He whispered a few things to him, and then let Prince go.

"Thanks for the reminder, though. Prince'll get the rats and roaches to keep my place tidy while I'm out."

That was such a bizarre statement. Get the rats and roaches to keep his place tidy.

With a shake of her head, Mei looked around at the bustling streets around them and held tighter to her bag of things, knowing good and well that it would be all too easy for a thief to snatch it away if she wasn't careful. And she would be happy to lose anything else, but her book was priceless!

"So where's this apothecary guy live?" Mei asked.

"Just down the road from here," Daersen said, and he motioned down the street. He started walking.

"If you look hard enough, you can always find an apothecary spittin' distance away from an inn. Adventurer types are always passing through inns."

"And I suppose inns WOULD need that sort of thing handy, considering what people get up to in them." And at that, Mei shot Daersen a knowing look and a sly wink.

"Yeah, and it's not always for educational purposes, either," Daersen said, giving Mei a wink right back.

They walked for around a minute before they came to an apothecary's shop tucked in between two larger buildings. Unlike the fancier ones, this one didn't really bother covering up the strong smell of herbs with natural fragrances. Apart from the smell, there was only a plain sign that read "Apothecary" mounted onto the door.

"Give me a second, I'll be right out," Daersen said, and he went inside.

"You got it!" Mei said, and took to leaning against the building as she waited. To fill the time, she took out her book and added some notes, taking in the Serenian scenery around her.

Daersen was in the apothecary's shop for around six minutes. When he came out, he smelled of herbs, and he had two containers in his hands. One was a tiny ceramic pot on a string, only big enough to hold around six grams of whatever was in it, and a small brown bag that rustled as he moved it.

He held the sack out to Mei.

"Here you go. Wild carrot seeds," Daersen said.

"She said to eat four. There's... more in there for the future," Daersen said, giving Mei a sly grin. He put the ceramic pot in his pocket.

Mei was quick to reach into the bag and pop four seeds in her mouth, crunching them up and swallowing them quickly. Then she glanced down into the bag--and arched both eyebrows. More seeds, indeed! There was enough there for...well...

A lot of occasions.

Looking back over at Daersen, she nodded at the little pot. "What's that?"

"Uh, some kind of herb," Daersen said.

"I told the apothecary I was skipping town, so she gave me a going away present. We're pretty good friends," he said.

"I don't know what it is. Leaves, of some sort. she said that if you burned them and inhaled the fumes, it was good for relaxing."

"Oh, so like an incense then," Mei said with a nod. "Sounds like a nice woman! She wasn't too weirded out by your request? Then again, if you two go back, she's probably well used to that."

Mei nodded, mostly to herself. "You seem to know a lot about that sort of thing, after all!"

Daersen had a chance to be humble, but he didn't take it. Hey, if his sexy sex-student wanted to believe he was some sort of master, then let her!

"We had a fling once or twice, yeah," Daersen said.

"It didn't really work out past that, but we're still friends."

"Oh, that's good you were able to end it on amicable terms," Mei said with a nod, before she pointed to the mountains.

"Well, if that's all, we really should be going! Daylight's a-wasting, and I wanna make some good time today!"

"Yeah. She looked pretty phased to see me go," Daersen said, and he looked to Mei.

"Alright, then.  Let's go. If you see any fresh robes for sale, let me know. I reckon I could spend the last of my begging money on one."

"It probably wouldn't be a bad idea. At the very least, cleaner robes will also be less smelly, and smelly things attract animals. We don't really want that when we get to the mountains," Mei said with a firm nod. "There's all sorts of things there that would be happy to eat a person. Wolves, bears...though neither eat humans normally, they're still opportunistic creatures and we would be wandering into their domain."

She rubbed her chin as they walked, thinking out loud. "I know there are dragons in the Thunderblacks. I wonder if they ever migrate to the Wester Highlands? I would love to see a dragon one day. Have you ever seen one?"

"I have not. I know to run for cover when you see one though," Daersen said.

He put his hands in his pockets.

"Animals shouldn't be too much of an issue, dirty clothes or not. If it don't skitter or live in the sewers, it doesn't tend to like me all that much. It's like they all think I'm bad news or something."

"Huh."

Mei shot a look at Daersen, eyebrow raised. "Why would they think that?"

"Like I said, I don't know," Daersen said.

"Things like bugs, pests or scavengers don't have an issue with me. But bigger animals like cats, dogs, and even horses tend to just want to steer clear of me. I think it's sorta linked with my other power."

Mei blinked. "Your other power?"

"I..."

Daersen's hands tightened a bit, and for the first time, he looked nervous around her.

"... I can decay things. Plants, stone, even metal. If I focus really hard, and can touch it... yeah."

He winced a bit, as if worried she'd turn him away for this knowledge.

"ENTROPYMANCY!" Mei blurted out with a snap of her fingers, her face bright and eyes shining.

She clapped her hands together and beamed up at him, rocking on her heels. "You're an entropymancer! Very interesting! That was a skill I thought exclusive to Thanati! In fact, I haven't encountered anyone with the gift since leaving home! How very fascinating! Are you aware of how valuable a skill that is? That entropymancy, in the very talented, can even be honed to affect luck? Oh, I must take note of this, pardon me!"

And she pulled out her book, flipped to an already full page, and jotted down a quick note. "How much of your lineage do you know? Do you have a Thanati ancestor perchance? Or does your blood run Serenian all the way through?"

Daersen jumped at Mei's sudden eagerness, and he stammered some nonsense words out in between Mei's excited speaking.

Once she quieted down, he snapped out of his surprise and found his tongue.

"Uhh, no Thanati, no. Serenian through and through," Daersen said. He met Mei's eyes.

"Nobody in my family's ever been a mage, though. As far as I know, I'm the first."

"Interesting, interesting..." Mei murmured, and she scribbled more furiously in the margins of the page. "First in the line to possess magical talent, no Thanati ancestry, pure Serenian. Very interesting! That's not unheard of either, of course. A bloodline can go generations and generations before suddenly producing a mage, which begs the question of what is magic, anyway? How is it even inherited? Is it blood? Is it nature? What? One of the great mysteries of the world, I suppose! Personally, I hypothesize that it's some combination of both. Either way--"

She clapped Daersen on the shoulder. "You have a rare gift in these parts! Congratulations!"

Daersen just looked at her.

"Uh... thanks," he said, and he smiled at her. He put his arm around her waist as they walked.

"I can't actually do other magic, though. I mean, I wish I could cast some spells."

"That's okay! With a gift like that, you don't need other magic. Magic like that is powerful enough! Inima!"

Mei looked up at him as they walked, peering up into his face. "You have no idea how special a gift you have, do you?"

"Uh, no," Daersen said.

"Well, I mean I do, but you seem to know more about this stuff than I do, so why don't you tell me?"

"It's just a reallyreallyreally valuable gift!" Mei said, expression shocked. She couldn't believe he didn't know this! "You can influence luck! Chance! You could make a killing gambling, for one! Or just in general turn the tides in your favor in a sticky situation, if you learned how to tap into it. It's all about decay, but the decay of probability! So you just have to figure out how to channel that and work it in your favor!"

She shook her head, still beaming. "Now, don't ask me how to do that. I'm a scholar, not a mage, and while I know plenty of magical theory, I'm afraid I couldn't really teach you about its application. That's best left to an actual mage. But I do know that, were you in Thanatos, your ability would be one highly sought after, and there would be a number of teachers around happy to snap you up."

"Gambling?"

Daersen looked puzzled. He'd applied his gift in several minor cases, whether it was to slightly spoil food in order to cultivate a population of rats to keep his home safe or to leave marks in the sewer walls for navigational purposes.

But to influence luck itself?

"Yeah, that all sounds like super advanced stuff. Don't think I'd ever learn it on my own..."

"Well, if you stick around me long enough, perhaps you can come to Thanatos with me!" Mei said with a smile and a nod. "There are tons of teachers there. Granted, you're foreign and pasty so you'll stand out like a sore thumb, but I'm sure once they know your talents they can forgive you those flaws! I could recommend you to several right off the top of my head, and I know you'd be in great hands there!"

"I'll have you know that I have very good complexion for a sewer dweller," Daersen teased. He looked like he was going to say something else, but then he spotted a clothing store.

"Give me a moment," he said, and he left her standing there as he walked into the store.

He was gone for around six or eight minutes when he returned, wearing a moderately well-crafted pair of pants, cloth shirt, and animal hide overcoat to protect from the elements.

"How do I look?"

He looked...monumentally better. The bath had cleaned him up until his skin was squeaky and polished, his hair shining rather than greasy, and without clothes he had been rather handsome. The ratty clothes diminished that some, but with a fresh set of clean, untattered clothes...

He looked, frankly, great.

Mei's eyebrows rose and she took a step closer, walking a circle around him as she examined him. She plucked at his coat. "You look fantastic," she said honestly, and smiled up at him. "Like a commoner rather than a beggar!"

"Wow, I look like a commoner?" Daersen said, voice high with teasing surprise.

"Such high praise. You'll make me blush, Mei," he said, and he put his hands on her hips. After a few moments consideration, he leaned in to leave a kiss on her lips. He motioned to the road.

"Shall we?"

Mei grinned at that, snickering to herself, and linked her arm with his. "Just teasing. You look great! The hide is a fantastic touch. What kind of animal was that? It has a nice pattern. Anyway, lead the way, sir! You know these parts, I'm just the learner."

"Alright, come along," Daersen started, and he gave Mei's back a pat as he started walking down the road.

"Thunderblacks're quite the ways from here. You got money for supplies? I think we're alright for now, but we're going to have to resupply a few times along the way. Not to mention we might have to trek up the mountains..."

Oh. Money. Supplies. That was indeed a thing.

With a small frown, Mei opened her bag and peeked inside at her meager rations. It wasn't much; just enough to snack on while she wandered around the city, and she had planned to be in Arca for a good week or two, exploring the sights, maybe visiting the mage's college and seeing if they would let her tour it, and most importantly: doing odd jobs to earn enough money to travel to her next destination. She definitely wasn't prepared for an expedition in the mountains, and she'd used up a great deal of her coin getting to Arca. More than she'd anticipated, actually.

She counted out her coins. "I have...enough for a few nights in an inn, and meals to go with it, I think," she said. "I'd planned on working to earn more. I hadn't planned on a mountain trip, after all! And I'm afraid I'm not too familiar with the conversion rates here, and how much things cost. I have Serenian money, but...I've mostly been showing merchants what I have and letting them figure it out for me."

Which, unbeknownst to her, meant that many a merchant had been taking more than the cost of their service from her, preying on her ignorance. She probably should have figured the math and conversion rates out for herself long ago, but math had never been a subject of interest for her, especially when there were more interesting things to focus on!

She lifted her coin purse from her bag and opened it for him to see. "What do you think?"

Daersen took the coin purse, weighing it in his hand before he opened it to look inside. It didn't seem all that heavier than his own coin purse, which didn't reflect too positively on Mei's situation.

"You'd be right. If we stick to single-room inns and only grab the necessities, this should keep us afloat for a week or so. But it's a few day's trek to the next town over."

He stepped closer to her and gave her a lopsided smile as he put her coin purse back onto her belt. He put a hand on her hip.

"But with the little money that I've saved up, maybe we can get as far as Adela, where the Thunderblacks are."

"'Maybe' doesn't sound too confident," Mei said and pursed her lips, finger tapping her chin. "'Maybe' is just a possibility. A prediction. It doesn't take into account other factors like currency exchanges or unforeseen obstacles and delays. What we need is a cushion, so we can travel comfortably and account for any variables."

Snapping a look back up at Daersen, she pointed a finger at him. "You know Serendipity far better than I. What's the best way to earn coin quickly? Is it culturally acceptable or feasible to offer to do odd jobs in exchange for food and board? If so, that could potentially cut down on inn stays, especially if a town lacks an inn. Hmm. We may also travel across wide swathes of land that have no dwellings, so we may want to think about acquiring camping gear."

Daersen gave a non-commital shrug.

"There's always someone who needs something. The only thing I can't guarantee is whether people will pay in coin or food."

As he spoke, Mei would be able to see a brown moth fly from the foliage on the sides of the road, hover near Daersen as it flitted around, and then land on his shoulder. He didn't seem to notice or care.

"I wouldn't count on it in Arca, anyways. We're better off looking for work in the next town, places where there might not be enough people to get everything done. Arca's got too many people, nobody's going to hire a foreigner and a pauper."

Mei reached out on reflex and shooed the moth away, speaking as she did so. "Then shall we take this to the road? Live dangerously and take our chances with random strangers in another town? I'm fine with that if you are! It's basically what I was already doing, just a little more so."

Daersen jerked a bit when Mei disturbed the moth, and only then noticed the creature when it fluttered off of his shoulder and into his view. It flitted about before coming to rest on his other shoulder, and Daersen gave Mei a smirk. He looked to the moth.

"Go on, buddy. Lady's not a fan of you."

And just like that, it took off and flew back into the forest. He looked back to her and his smirk widened.

"Hey, if that's your method of doing things, then I guess it's worked for you so far. Should be even easier with the two of us. Besides..."

He gave her a wink.

"I know a couple of tricks that can get us some coin."

"Oooh, like what?" Mei said, perking up with interest, her usual stream of chattiness halted by curiosity.

Unable to help himself, Daersen smirked a little and leaned in to whisper to her like she was his partner in crime. Still, a slight blush showed through his outward confidence. She was just a little more than a stranger, sure, but he found her stunningly attractive, and couldn't help but to let his thoughts wander with recent events so fresh in his mind.

"You'd be surprised how good rats are at finding lost shiny things," he said, and pulled back from her. He was still grinning.