Banished Pt. 09

That night, we'd left the cluster and headed west for a bit, before heading north...

So, the main water course should be a little way northwest of here, shouldn't it?

Would we be able to find it?

With the map module, finding out way back wouldn't be a problem, so maybe it would be worth a shot.

"Armor up," I said, and Bianca frowned, stomping her feet in protest again.

"But I don't want to train right now~," she whined, and I snickered, as I moved my hand to her face, and pinched her round cheeks affectionately.

"We're mixing our training with your reward," I said. "There's a special place that I want to take you."

"Special?" she asked. "Have any of the other girls gone there?"

I shook my head.

"I'm not one hundred percent sure I can find it, but we'll look; and when we get there, you can probably take a bath," I offered, and at this, her eyes quickly lit up.

"A bath? Like we did at the springs?"

"Something like that," I answered, and she nodded enthusiastically.

"Okay! Which armor do I need?"

I picked out the pieces for speed and endurance, as I had with Lucia, but this time I also opted for the pieces for strength and agility as well.

"Hey- how do I get this thing on?" she asked, holding up Lucia's tiny armor.

I inspected the thing for a bit, as there was no way to get the straps around Bianca's torso, until I noted that the straps could extend some way, and as soon as they were clasped in place, the armor began to reshape itself, and mold into that form fitted style that accentuated Bianca's bust.

She got the rest of her armor on without a hitch, and with that; we set off.

"So... a lot happened last night, huh?" she asked, and I snickered a little.

"That's an understatement, but yeah."

"Sorry I slept through it," she offered, and I shook my head.

"That's the thing about your training. I'm hoping it makes you really useful, but you're probably going to be sleeping through a lot, until we get your core-power up a bit."

"I guess... probably wouldn't have been much use anyway," she said, and I turned and eyed her a little as we moved through the woods at a steady pace.

"I dunno. You seemed to be plenty useful back there," I said, and she frowned.

"Oh please. Most of the useful people were sleeping off their post epic-battle weariness."

I shook my head.

"Fighters aren't the only things we need right now. When we have to fight, we have to fight; obviously. But figuring out how to live comfortably is the long-term goal."

"Skinning dead carcasses still doesn't feel like something that ranks all that high," she countered, and I snickered again.

"Well, I don't see any of the fighters off on a special retreat with their leader," I said, and she smiled a little.

"I guess."

"Besides; from what I've gathered, the fur we collected today might be useful in making us some more comfortable sleeping accommodations, and we might be able to trade it for some useful stuff too."

She smiled happily at this, and took my hand as we ran.

Eventually, we came to the place where Francesca and I had killed one of the geisterung the night before, and something occurred to me.

"Have you eaten today?" I asked, and Bianca nodded.

"When I woke up. I am feeling a little snackish though," Bianca replied, grinning cutely, as she eyed me, and I rolled my eyes at her.

I moved to the dead creature, and inspected it a bit.

It had been killed by a single piercing strike through the heart.

Probably Francesca's kill?

The meat, however, seemed pretty fine...

There were no odd smells to indicate that it'd begun to spoil or anything, even in the humid heat of the rainforest.

I withdrew my little dagger, and quickly sliced off a bit of meat from its hind legs.

"How are we gonna carry that?" Bianca asked, and I cast a quick look around as I considered the problem.

"I think I have an idea," I said, as I moved to one of the little bits of shrub that were growing thickly beneath one of the nearby trees.

I used my dagger to cut off a few broad leaves from the shrubs, and using the leaves, I wrapped the meat into a neat little parcel, then secured it with some vines.

"Wow. That's neat!" Bianca exclaimed.

I quickly cut off a bit more meat, wrapping them into several neat packages, and as we loaded up with as much as we could carry, we headed off again.

As I paused to get an idea of where to head, Bianca shot me a questioning look.

"Are we lost?" she asked, and I snickered.

"Pretty much, always."

She frowned.

"I thought you were taking me somewhere special?" she asked.

"I am. I've just gotta find it," I replied, and she pouted.

I spotted a hilly bit of land up ahead, and as we headed there, I managed to make out another small stream, like the one that ran near to our base camp, and I paused to study it.

The water was running from northeast to southwest...

So, if I followed it upstream, then it should take me to the main waterway, shouldn't it?

We began to follow the little rivulet, but I found to my disappointment, that the little waterway seemed to have passed underground in its course, preventing me from following it directly to its source.

"Are you sure we aren't lost?" Bianca whined again, and I snickered.

"Well we certainly aren't found," I replied.

I quickly decided to just head north, since it seemed reasonable enough to assume from the direction that the little stream was headed in, that we would come across the waterway eventually if we did that, and sure enough, after another ten or so minutes of walking, the sound of water rushing along a larger course came to us from the distance.

"Is that a waterfall?" Bianca asked, and I bit my lip.

"I'm not sure," I said.

The waterfall should be much further downstream, I thought. Maybe that was just the river itself?

Though it did sound quite loud.

We moved in the direction of the sound, and when we finally came to the waterway, my stomach lurched, as the water was rushing dangerously along the river's stream, making it much too difficult to cross, much less bathe in.

"Am I supposed to bathe in there?" Bianca asked, shouting over the din, and I shook my head.

"Let's follow the path; there might be a little bend somewhere along the way, where the flow is less turbulent."

As we walked along the edge of the river, I spotted a bank on the opposite end where the water was shallow, with a bit of sandy deposit just beyond, and I frowned, as while it was exactly what I was looking for, crossing the river seemed to be impossible.

We continued along for a while, before finally, we found a similar bank on our side of the river, and Bianca dashed to the sand, and kicked off her leather sandals as she did, and quickly buried her toes.

"Aww, it feels all slimy and gross," she complained, and I snickered a little.

"Well, it's no beach. This is probably just the silt that it collects as it moves through the mountains."

She folded her hands and pouted, as I found a place to stash our stuff.

"I promised you a bath, not a beach," I said, and Bianca pouted again, before turning to study her armor.

"Is it safe for us to disarm here?" she asked.

"For you, yeah. But I should probably keep something on just in case," I replied.

Bianca wasted no time in unclasping her breastplate, and she quickly threw the pieces haphazardly to the side, together with the rest of her stuff, before making a beeline for the water.

"It's so fucking cold!" she yelled.

"Well, it is a river," I replied, and she frowned.

"You're going to have to warm me up," she shot, and I shrugged, as I moved to join her; but as soon as I stepped into the water, Bianca shot me a playful smirk, before lunging at me and catching me completely off guard.

She knocked me clean off my feet, sinking me into the freezing cold water, and as I emerged from the water, I shivered a little, and shot Bianca a wry look.

"You're being naughty," I scolded her, and she smirked.

"When you say it like that, you sound like an eighty-year old man. Are you gonna spank me, grandpa?"

"I might," I warned, and she began to wiggle her rear like a cat, readying to pounce again.

I pretended to let my guard down, and as I turned, I caught her lunging out of the corner of my eye, and this time, I caught her, and as I lifted her up by the waist, I shifted, to hold her in place with one hand, while with the other, I mercilessly attacked her ribs.

She screamed and cackled as I tickled her, begging me to stop, until finally, I relented, and dropped her unceremoniously onto her butt in the shallow water.

She turned, her arms folded crossly, but she quickly uncrossed her arms, as she scooped up some water and splashed it onto her face.

"Ugh... I thought I'd never get to bathe again after those baths back in that tree-town."

"Well, water might not be as much of a worry as I thought. There seem to be a lot of little streams running through here, and we also found a way to draw water out of the trees themselves," I explained.

Bianca smiled happily, then wiggled her butt as she nestled herself into place on the shallow bit of bank.

"I never did anything like this in my life," she explained.

"What? Bathed in a river? I'm not sure many of us would have..."

"No, I mean... bathed in anything that wasn't a shower or tub... or a swimming pool. You know, places with buildings and stuff."

"Water park?" I asked, and she shook her head.

"Never been to a beach either," she said, and I frowned.

"Hiking? Camping?" I pressed, and Bianca again, shook her head.

"The closest I've been to nature was the park between my old high school and the library; and Nate... I never went to the library."

I snickered at her a little, as I plopped down on the bank beside her.

The silt was much coarser than sand, and it got soggy in a way that sand didn't, making it feel mushy, though not quite like mud.

"I thought you'd married one of those, 'honeymoons in Aruba' type guys," I said, and she frowned.

"He took me to Paris for our honeymoon," she said. "I thought it was gonna be the best thing in the world, but we didn't really do much; I never even got to see the Eiffel tower or anything. All he did was take me out to a few fancy restaurants, before he'd take me back to the hotel room and rip off whatever slutty dress he picked out for me that night, then fuck me until he came."

"How romantic," I said, and she frowned.

"I hated it so much," she said. "You know, people always act like sex is really great, and they seem to go absolutely crazy over the stuff I do... but I don't really like it."

"You don't like what? Doing stuff for others?"

"No, that's fun. It turns me on; when I really wanna do it, I mean. I just don't think I actually like when anyone does anything to me," she clarified, and I studied her.

"Is this the husband experience speaking, or are we working with more than that."

"More," she said. "I had sex with six guys before my husband."

"High schoolers?" I asked, and she nodded.

"Maybe you're not working with the best of experiences there," I offered, and she shook her head.

"No... I really just don't think I'm into it," she said, and I snickered again.

"It's like, a universally accepted thing, that sex feels good," I countered. "Maybe you just need a more caring partner."

Her eyes flicked to me, and she smiled a little.

"Was that an offer?" she asked, and I shrugged.

"I'd say you've earned it, if you ask for it."

She frowned, before scooting over to me, and resting her head against my chest.

"I wanna cuddle with you, and if you want, I'll give you one of my special mind-blowing blowjobs; but I don't want anything in return, I think. Just this place by your side."

I shook my head in response.

"You know, there are a lot of studies that show that non-reciprocal sex is highly detrimental to women in heterosexual, binary pairings."

"Wow. Does that come with a translation?"

"You aren't likely to be happy, statistically speaking, if you're giving me blowjobs, and getting nothing in return."

She frowned.

"I'm not sure if I'm happy giving you nothing, either," she said, and I chuckled again, as I slumped down onto my back, and stared off into the canopy above.

"Is that because you're still thinking that it's the only way you can assure yourself of a place by my side?" I asked, and she shrugged.

"I dunno. You made me a promise, and so far, you've kept it... I know I complained about the skinning thing, but it felt nice doing something, and having people talk to me like I was part of the group. Maybe I just want to show my appreciation?"

She placed a hand on my chest, as she rested against me, lightly, and she shifted a little, to let me sneak a hand around her hip, as I pulled her closer, and caressed her side gently.

"I don't want you to ever show your appreciation for anything that I do for you, using sex," I said, and she shot me a dubious look.

"What? How else am I supposed to, then?"

I chuckled, as I returned my gaze to the canopy above.

"You're a smart girl, Bianca. I'm sure you'll figure it out."

"Maybe I'm not as smart as you think I am," she said, a forlorn expression on her face, and she withdrew from me and folded her knees into her chest the way she did whenever she seemed down.

"I think you are," I countered, and she frowned.

"Then why don't I get this?"

She flopped onto the ground, and stretched her legs out, and kicked them around in the shallow water beyond the bank, and I giggled at the childlike response.

"It's not that you're too stupid to get it. You've just been socialized into a state of accepting sex as a bargaining tool, or means of exchange for something... whether that something is material, status, or whatever. And you aren't necessarily wrong; it is used like that, and quite pervasively too. I just don't want it to have that meaning between us."

"Between us, huh? What do you want it to mean between us, then?"

I bit my lip, then locked my eyes onto hers.

"The purest expression of affection and closeness," I replied. "A state in which reciprocation ceases to exist as a concept. Where your desires, my desires, and the feeling of pleasure all meld together into one singular, shared, experience."

"So, you want us to be lovers?" she asked, and I shook my head.

"I don't want anything. But if we're ever going to have sex, it's that. Or nothing."

She frowned.

"I'm not sure I can ever give you that," she said, turning away again as she did, and I studied her.

Her anxiety over intimacy reminded me a lot of Cameron... even Casey.

There were a lot of fairly broken people in this group, weren't there?

Come to think of it, my own experience with intimacy back on earth had been one filled with abuse, manipulation, and secrecy.

I guess it just didn't wound me in quite the same way that it did to normal people.

Hell, it even gave me a clearer lens through which to see the scars that people carried around in their hearts, didn't it?

As I relaxed in the water, my mind went to Miriam.

Her hypnosis could probably help Bianca get past her own anxieties about letting someone past her defenses, couldn't it?

Though, resorting to that sort of manipulation would hardly go down well, if discovered.

Besides, this was a good opportunity to see if I could help someone navigate their own trauma through patience and proper care.

It would probably be good practice too, and help to establish a much closer bond between us.

As Bianca sulked, making little trails in the sand with her fingers as she enjoyed the water flowing carelessly across her lower body, I stood up, and made my way over to our supplies.

I scanned the area for some bits of wood that I could use to make a little makeshift spit, as well some drier sticks, and kindling for a fire.

I had with me a little supply pack from the camp that contained the 'spark seed' so getting a fire going shouldn't be difficult, and as I set to work, I caught Bianca's eyes on me.

Getting the fire going was simple enough, but roasting the meat proved to be a task in itself, as my attempts at making some kind of spit over which to keep the meat in place proved quite the failure.

I'm so not cut out for this life, I thought.

I ended up resorting to making some skewers with my dagger, and sticking them through the meat, and holding them over the flame.

Getting the meat to cook evenly seemed quite problematic, and the roasting process itself ended up taking much longer than I'd expected.

Remind me to learn how to cook when I get back, I thought to myself.

"That looks kinda dry," Bianca noted, and I nodded.

"The meat is really lean, but I've got no oil or anything to rub on it."

"Try water?" she suggested, and I frowned, as she took one of the sticks from me, and drizzled a bit of water on it, and as the water sizzled, and the meat continued to cook, I noted that it did seem a little less stiff and dry.

"You do much cooking for the husband?" I asked, and she shook her head.

"I didn't do anything, really. Maybe a little cleaning, but he didn't want his glorified fuck toy to be tired when her services were required," she said.

"So, how did you spend your time?" I asked.

"Sometimes I went shopping; that was fun. I got to buy a lot of stuff, then I'd plan my outfits, try them on, see what works and what doesn't. The good-ish stuff went up on social media. The really good stuff, he'd rip off of me, and fuck my brains out."

"Hn~. You ever get into fashion? Designing stuff?"

She shook her head.

"Don't have to when you can buy the perfect thing whenever you see it. I honestly never thought I'd get bored of clothes, but eventually I did."

"Then what happened when you ran out of outfits to get ripped off of you?"

"He'd work late. Probably see someone else, who knows?"

"You knew that he was cheating?" I asked, and she shook her head.

"I had no proof. But I knew his moods. When he wasn't getting any, he was irritable, quick to anger. So, when he wasn't like that, but we hadn't done anything in a while, that just seemed like the logical conclusion."

We ended the conversation there, as the meat seemed to be more or less fit for consumption, so we sat on a little rock on the river's edge, and ate.

"Had enough of the water?" I asked, and Bianca thought about it.

"Do we have to head back?"

"Eventually? Yeah; but I think we can hang around a bit," I said, and she nodded.

We were silent for a while, when a new thought occurred to me.

"What do you want out of this relationship?" I asked, and Bianca turned to me, a slightly dazed expression, as she considered the sudden question.

"With you?" she asked, and I nodded. "I dunno. You seem like the person who has the best grasp on things. I figure you can keep me safe, especially if I make it worth your while."

"Well, I'm going to do that whether we're intimate or not. So, is that all you really want?"

She frowned.

"I dunno. There's a little bit of status that comes with standing at your side. I guess it looks kind of nice, so maybe that too?"

I snickered a little.

"And I guess you've figured that you can't stand there unless you're indispensable to me in some way, huh..."

"Well, that is a fact," she said.

"So, what happens when you come across someone in a, let's say, higher leadership position?"

"What do you mean?"

"Our group isn't going to be the only one out here. I've come across other adventurers. People way beyond our level. If you spot a chance to move up the ladder... let's say a prince, or some kind of noble?"

She frowned again.

"There's no guarantee that they'd be any different from my husband. You treat me well... and besides, I'm not the kind of girl that just chases every guy who can offer her something better."