Activated Pt. 10

"Look, I have a tan!"

Poppy tosses her towel at me; I still am stunned or I would have caught it.

They move off to get ready.

I call out, "Poppy, can you take a picture of me later in my modest suit so I can prove I got a tan?"

"Yes, kooky ninja."

Slight change of plan, I go with the modest 1-piece suit and get that picture of me posing with the beach in the background. Jen and Poppy are going to do some tanning but I want to swim in the Aegean Sea.

I pose for Poppy and proceed to tuck my hair in the swim cap. Before I changed, I made sure to put the highest SPF sunscreen on all over, I apply another layer when I get to the beach, I got my tan, I'm not risking it now, you are not welcome here Lobster Girl.

The girls setup on the beach and I store my towel, a less moderate suit and phone with them then walk down to the water's edge. The waves cover my feet, the temperature is in the mid-60s, I am looking for a good swim.

I take a moment to get my bearings, committing to memory the look of the beach where I am going in. One winter in High School I mixed up one parking lot with another and spent 20 minutes or so wandering before I realized my mistake.

The water is refreshing and clear, I pull down my goggles and start my swim. I stop a few minutes later and tread water so I can look back. I really need to pay better attention, I'm maybe a half mile off shore. I can see the island of Tragonisi and I can't resist swimming the rest of the way over, I'm swimming out into the Aegean Sea, I'm sure I will later wonder what I was thinking but I am full of energy and it seems to be calling to me. It is amazingly beautiful; I think we are going to see if our tour boat friends can bring us over. Poppy is going to go crazy talking pictures here.

I have a bad feeling, I'm so far out of sight if the girls try to find me, they won't and might panic. We can explore later; I'm going to head back. I see some monk seals on the beach, I didn't research them so I'm going to stay clear, I'm pretty sure they are harmless but I remember my lessons from my brief time in girl scouts - "Remember Sandy, nature is always trying to kill us, it isn't always good at it but if you remember this you are less likely to give it a chance." Sage wisdom.

I dive back into the water and drive across the way, getting my bearings toward the end so I can come out around where I left. Sure enough I see Jen, topless, straining to see me. She catches sight of me and I see her relax and go back to where she setup on the beach, either I will get a lecture when I meet up with them or she will play it off like she didn't notice I was missing.

Turns out she decides to play it cool, "Have a good swim?"

"Yes actually, the water is amazing. I saw some monk seals. I stayed clear though, I don't know how friendly they are. Where is Poppy?

"Um, she wanted to look down the beach. Actually, here she comes now." I'm peeling off my suit as she walks up, going to wear the 2-piece I brought down here although maybe not right away.

"Oh, so she turned up, eh? Where were you? We were worried!"

I smile, "I was fine, it was a good swim. We need to visit that island over there before we go, you are going to want your camera." I know how to detail Poppy; this is one of the best ways.

"Well, stay in sight next time. We worry you know." I give them both kisses on the cheek. We have another hour in the sun before we wanted to head to the archaeological museum of Mykonos, I setup my towel and reapply sunscreen. I will admit, my tan looks so good I'm worried about messing it up, I make certain I'm covered including enlisting the girls to reapply it in a few tactical places. I set my timer and soak in the sun.

The museum visit was fun, I enjoyed it plus it is fun to watch Poppy snapping her pictures, each a newly discovered potential masterpiece.

We stopped by a few local places to pick up dishes for tonight's dinner, Poppy's trick is to get something from a restaurant and present it like she is a cook, a skill developed growing up with a single parent. As we watched her work, I couldn't help but blurt out, "You sit on a throne of lies.". We were so impressed that first night when we got together, the magic trick ruined by seeing it behind the curtain.

At 7pm the guys arrived, bringing bottles of Retsina and Assyrtiko to go with the meal. Not that I am a drinker but part of my research was the age to buy drinks is 18 here. We talked once about it and the consensus is that none of us are that interested in drinking, at least not the alcohol part. I love a lot of the drinks but would be fine with the virgin version. Poppy says she got drunk once, made bad decisions, and didn't elaborate.

It was fun to see the newcomer Robert's reaction when I answered the door, all three of us decided to do with sundresses. Maybe Toby undersold us?

Dinner is fine, we talk about Athens, Ohio and Raleigh. They go back home to boring Ohio in May and are mixed about it; Ohio is boring but it is home. Jen decides to test how well their language skills are, I'm not the only show off in our group. The boys are decent, apparently, they have been studying since last summer and do not believe Jen picked up her level of skill in November. The truth is she picked it up after binging with Rosetta stone, probably in a day.

After dinner we retire to the common area, to continue to talk. The boys find that each of us has picked one to sit with, no boys on one side and girls on the other. I picked Robert, Jen with Toby and Poppy is almost sitting on Ben's lap. We continue to talk and each of us is broadcasting serious signals, at one point Poppy actually makes the first move. She probably whispered to Ben something about her room because without comment the two of them head there.

"Maybe we pick up talking later, I kind of want to lie down." I stand up and take a step, when Robert doesn't immediately follow, I reach down and take his hand and lead him to my room. I hear Jen giggling as she and Toby head for hers.

I get Robert alone in my room, push him gently onto the bed and start to kiss him. "Did Toby and Ben mention my rules?" I hope so, I just want to get into this without delay.

"Rules?" Drat!

"No roughness, I am a black belt in taekwondo it will not end well. No rude talk, it bothers me. That's it." I resume kissing him, that doesn't seem to have ruined the mood. He seems to understand so I pull off my dress and kick off my shoes, he assists with his pants, shirt and boxers. I roll us over, let him be on top. He doesn't waste any time and enters me, he's not bad, solid rhythm, I am surprised when he rolls us over so I am now on top. Like all rides this one is going to end and soon, I sense he is close and decide to have some fun by rolling him on top to finish. He is up to the challenge and picks up without hesitation if for only a few seconds. We both go stiff and I let out a moan, not Poppy loud but I don't need to hold back. He rolls off of me and I reach over to get some tissues.

"I liked the rolling, nice touch."

"Well, I was sort of hoping I could last longer for you but you are a handful."

"I have been told that once or twice. You think you can go again?"

I might cause a heart attack. "I don't know, maybe."

I reach over and hand him the lube from my nightstand, I'm not sure I want to be subtle tonight. His eyes go wide.

"I... um... let me see."

Toby, I don't think you prepared him, I need to ask him later.

I ease down and take him in the mouth, I really need to practice this part, no better time than now. I know we got some mad skills; I try to concentrate on getting him hard and it seems to be working. He's running his fingers through my hair, I like that. I think he is ready; I don't want to keep going, I would hate to waste this on a blowjob. I pull off him with a pop, apparently that is considered sexy. I get on my hands and knees on the bed, hard to send a clearer signal. I hear the bottle open and it squirt, I let out a little giggle.

He places his hand on my ass and I feel his dick lining up. He starts to push forward against me until he's in, I can't help it, I am loud tonight and let out a loud moan. This must be his first time, I assure him I'm good and he can pound away, "You don't need to hold back."

I'm not 100% sure he believed me, a solid showing but I think he was holding back a little, worried I would be hurt. Maybe I shouldn't start off sex threatening injury, going to have to workshop that one. There is one good thing about doing this second, they don't climax as fast the second time. I feel my climax rising before his, he could sneak it by me but I have become quite good reading people especially those inside me. It hits me quite hard and I feel the echo reflecting back at me when he unloads inside me. I reach over to get more tissue and slump forward on to my front. He's soon lying next to me on his back, I turn on to my side to look at him, he's looking at my tits.

"Thank you, you are very good. I'm going to take a shower before going back out, you are welcome to join me."

He takes inventory of his own condition; a shower is a very good idea. "Can we wait a moment; I sort of need a little rest."

I laugh at that. I get up and put my dress away, I pull out shorts and tank top for after the shower. As I am pulling out the clothes, I hear a loud scream I am very familiar, Robert looks concerned and I just say "Poppy" with a smile. He starts to sit up; I know I have an advantage but these guys need to eat more protein. I walk in and start the shower and get the right temperature and encourage Robert to join me. We have fun but I think we hit his limit; my sexy soapy body is encouraging him but not enough. Maybe before they call it a night I can give him a blowjob?

He may not be up for sex but he makes up for it with attention to me, especially the tits, I am not surprised at that they are amazing I keep getting told.

We dry off and he puts his clothes back on, I change into my shorts, the nice dress made a good first impression, I'm expecting we're done with that.

We walk back out and apparently Ben and Poppy are sitting out by the pool looking at the stars, I can't think of a better way to end the evening, there are enough chairs out here for all of us when Jen and Toby are through.

I look up at the stars and feel a little of the calmness I get from running, there is far less light pollution and it is so beautiful. I'm willing to bet Poppy made that connection and is trying to come up with her own 'starry night', probably my favorite van Gogh piece, if I ever go to New York I want to see that.

We hear Jen and Toby join us, nobody is talking, we're just taking in the beauty of the stars. This was a very good evening.

The guys break the silence, while they would love to stay longer, they are flying back to Athens mid-day tomorrow and need to get ready. Before they leave, I pull Toby aside to talk to him.

"I'm really glad you came up to me on the beach the other day."

"You are amazing Sandy, all 3 of you are. I am so glad we met you. Maybe this is weird but I really liked us all enjoying the stars just now, we have been here all week and never looked up."

"Funny you should say that, I was thinking that was really good too."

They head out and I skip down to the laptop and turn on the microphone on Toby's phone.

"I'm never telling anyone about this night, they will not believe it."

"If my life flashes in front of my eyes I will die with the biggest grin on my face."

"I don't want to go back to boring Ohio. Can we get them to drop us off in North Carolina."

"Toby, Toby, Toby" they chant.

I turn off the speaker.

"Can we get a block on that for our phones?"

"Already did Jen, protected from me and pretty much any earthly power. Arcturus, being the exception, there is no way gave me tech that can't be circumvented."

"All that in the little cylinder?"

"Yep, and before you ask, I understand none of it, only what it can do. I haven't even figured out how it gets power to run."

"Well, that is super useful, I expected you would make something ninja-related when you were talking about tech from Arcturus."

"Poppy dear, the hacker part comes before the ninja in 'sexy hacker ninja', built-in priorities."

We all hug, tomorrow we don't have much planned, maybe some site seeing. I was going to bring one of the girls with me to see our tour boat friends and see if they can bring us to the island, they did suggest they would take us on a tour. Oh, I realized it has to be Jen, darn language barrier. I start to think about a universal translator, it might be possible. I'll put that on the future projects list.

The three of us ran down to the port the next day, while Poppy was filling the memory cards with future masterpieces Jen and I tracked down the crew of the Neptune's grace, although that had to be translated for me. It turns out they would love to although apparently Andreas and Christos, won't be around, only Hector and Alexi. 11am tomorrow they will take us over to Tragonisi for the afternoon. I looked up the seals, they are harmless unless defending their young, still going to give them a little space.

Hector guides us on board, the ship is small but we're not going far, apparently Jen tells me they want to go around the long way so to the island. It doesn't matter to me but it is music to Poppy, I made sure to put a few spare memory cards into my fanny pack. It's practical, don't judge me.

This was a very expensive trip but I haven't regretted a cent of it. The look on Calliope's face as she takes the pictures is worth it alone and we certainly have had a lot more fun than that. I checked cloud storage this morning, we are closing in on 2000 pictures. I started making inquiries about selling some pictures to their tourism department, I'm sure it isn't the first person to try and sell their vacation pictures but I'm sure if I can get them to look they will be hooked.

Our tour gets us to the island after noon, and we spend a few hours. Aside from visitors the island is unoccupied which is probably good for the seals. I have a soft spot for them but I remember they are wild animals no matter how much I want to hug them. Sadly, as the afternoon gets later Hector informs us, through Jen, that we need to get going.

Poppy is still exploring, I thought ahead on this, my cylinder has been configured to give us cell coverage and since the island isn't so far from our home base, I can just call her to come back, she says she'll be back in 15. The guys want to get going, they will wait but they are impatient, Jen drops to her knees in front of Alexi and I match that with Hector. They realize what is coming and are a lot less impatient. We are finished up before Poppy returns, smiles on both of our guides are we load up the ship.

"Did I miss something?"

"Nope, we were just waiting for you to get back."

I don't think she believes me.

Saturday we were done tanning, time for our last full day of activities, we had signed up for a tour of Delos and the historic ruins there. The mythical birthplace of Artemis and her brother Apollo, the ruins date back over 2000 years. We spend a couple hours in a tour group exploring, this time a formal tour seemed to be the most effective way to explore.

Sunday we all got up early, including Jen, to clean up and pack, I make sure my techomagic cylinder goes in the suitcase before almost anything else. I arranged to have the ATV picked up at the airport so we load up and head over to start our long journey back. The small plane to Athens was short if not comfortable, we have almost 2 hours before the flight back to the states. I check in at the gate and when I return to the girls, I announce I seem to have talked them into an upgrade. Surprised me as much as them, maybe we'll be able to get some rest on the flight back. When we came over there was no chance of that, too excited, missing home doesn't have the same effect on your ability to sleep.

First class is amazing, you have your own little personal area. I have no idea how the others made out but I was out maybe 10 minutes after takeoff. I can reasonably guess that Jen was out before we even took off. It was early in the morning when we arrived in New York for our connecting flight home to Raliegh. I go to the gate desk and try to get us an upgrade, I almost scored too. It came down to not having enough seats in business class, I wasn't going to banish one of us while the others lived the good life so I passed on it.

As expected, we were getting off the plane around 9am. Poppy could go back and nap the rest of the day but Jen and I had classes. I could blow mine off but Jen wouldn't, even without the boost she has been on the dean's list since first semester. She doesn't skip classes even if she knows the material cold. We get our Uber after collecting our bags, thrilled there is no issues with their return trip. We drop off Jen at her class and I bring the bags to the dorm, I can handle being a few minutes late to a class I could probably teach at this point. I give Poppy a peck on the cheek after unloading, the Uber is taking her home from here. I'm coming by later to show her how to access the pictures on her big screen TV. I'm already planning on how to setup a smaller version for when she visits Mom and Dad to check up on the house.

After classes I run into my project team, strangely I have their attention.

"Sandy got a tan?"

"Yes Tina, if you want, we can relax this week, maybe share some spring break stories, we are at least 3 weeks ahead of schedule. Have I mentioned how awesome you all are?"

"We're not canceling the meetings?"

"No, but we have been killing ourselves on both projects, maybe we relax a little Michael." I think I get why he asked, the two of us have been enjoying some time after the work sessions, no work session, no hanging out with me.

"Tomorrow night let's meet up at Tuffy's Diner instead of the library, I'll buy dinner. Michael, we'll figure out how we'll handle Wednesday but I figure we need a week more of rest before we resume."

I know Michael and Tina just hung around here, probably Joe too but they deserve a little downtime, we're crushing these projects. I see team A's in our future. I text Mike later that maybe we do something more fun on Wednesday, just the two of us. Mini golf?

I make my way back to the room when it starts to hit me. By the time I get to the elevator I'm running on auto pilot. I get in the room and I can see Jen and Alex cuddling in bed. Walk over to the bed, letting my backpack slide to the ground, and end up face down on the bed.

"Sandy dear, we can see up your skirt."

I wave my arm at them, my message is I am too tired to care.

"Jen, I'm going to run to get some lunch, want to go with me?"

"I would love to but I think I will sleep for a bit, I'll get something for dinner. Any chance you are coming by after your afternoon class?"

"For a chance to cuddle with you? Wild horses wouldn't keep me away."

I hear Alex moving and then the door opens and closes.

"Sandy, are you asleep yet?" That is a silly question.

"No, I met with my project group, I am so exhausted, I'll settle down in a moment." I'm a little excited to get together with Mike but I feel my fatigue pushing it down.

"Come here for a second?" Why, why, why?

I get up, and go over to her bed and sit down. She reaches over and takes off my sneakers and socks, shoving them towards my bed, she pulls off my shirt and skirt. I know I'm just sitting there naked. I feel the warmth of her pulling me under the covers, I love her so much. My thoughts calm and that was the only thing keeping me awake.

"Arcturus, can I speak to you?" this part amazes me, I am just sitting in front of my PC typing into notepad, and I am talking to what is probably the most powerful force on the planet.