Black Pearls - Unity

"If you have a serious medical condition, you should get it attended to before serious harm happens to your body," Unity said.

"I've been here for over a hundred years! It's nothing new, and nothing life-threatening!" snapped Shella. Unity scooted back in alarm.

Shella took a few deep breaths to settle down, then said, "Okay, sorry about that. It's part of the curse thing, and I'm not too partial to explaining every last bit of it. It's...it's better if I show you what's goin' on."

Shella pulled up her pants, then scooted off the bed. Unity moved off the bed as well, and readjusted her outfit so that the x-top covered her nipples and the thong went over her pussy instead of to one side. Shella closed her eyes and focused. With a loud snap, the display of coral cracked into several parts. One huge chunk slid against the back wall, another slid towards the forward wall, and another chuck crawled up the window, leaving a section of greyish floorboard bare. With several more cracks and snaps of wood, sections of the floor near the coral display dropped several inches. Wood shifted and creaked, sometimes breaking, until a stairwell down was formed.

Unity raised an eyebrow and commented, "Your control of your ship is remarkable in some aspects."

"No snarky comments, please," growled Shella back. Shella proceeded down the stairway, with Unity following her, until she came to an ornate, but ancient, door. She placed her shoulder against it and shoved, forcing it open with a quick loud creak. Unity followed Shella inside the room.

This room was new to Unity. There was a massive ornate window at the back, with light from the glorious full moon flowing in and highlighting a large basin made out of stone. The large basin cast a blue light from out of it, but it wasn't the only one. Feathery coral, star-shaped anemone, and dull blue rock grew out of the wooden walls, and glowing sea organisms gave off a faint light, adding to the deep blue atmosphere. On the opposite side of the tall window, there was a set of carved doors, with worn gold inlays and faded blue and green paint covering a maritime scene.

Shella went to the dual doors and pushed them open, revealing a darkened room. Unity walked over to the room, and as she and Shella entered, blue-green coral lit up. A hall-like room was revealed in the light, with a faded red ribbon of a carpet stretching towards the opposite wall. There were four large treasure chests, each about two feet wide, and two to a side of a carpet, leading up to an old wooden pedestal covered with clambering coral. On that pedestal was a smaller treasure chest with golden inlays on it. Behind that, on the wall, was a circular pattern made out of coral, with ten cups arranged in a circle on that. In one of the cups sat an obsidian-black pearl slightly smaller than a golf ball.

Shella went over to the closest chest and flipped open the top. Almost pouring out of it wear smooth, perfectly round, milky-white pearls. "This is part of the whole deal," Shella said.

Unity bent over the chest, analyzing it. "There must be hundreds of pearls in this box alone! Should I assume that the other boxes are also filled with pearls?"

"Most of the way. I'll need to extend the room and add in two more chests if I go on with this crap," said Shella.

Unity placed a hand inside the chest and ran her fingers through it. "How do you get these pearls? Do they grow inside you?" she asked.

"Kinda," Shella said. "Depends on some things. It's kind of like that whole Dominate-Submissive thing. There's always a dominant and a submissive part of sex, from what I've experienced, and a pearl will grow inside the submissive one, if I'm involved with the act."

"Most of these white pearls come from me, actually. I pick up a lot of men, and they're always looking for sex. Some are from women. In the small box is a whole lot of colored pearls I got from women partners, and I'm tryin' to get some more black pearls," Shella continued.

"You have a pearl inside you right now?" asked Unity.

"Yup. You were the more active one at the start, so I got saddled with the pearl again. I don't think it could have gone with you, though. You've got no stomach for it to sit in."

Unity picked up a medium-sized pearl and rolled it between her fingers. "What is the value of these pearls to you?" she asked, silver face reflected in the pearl's shiny surface.

"White ones - don't give a fuck. Ones in the gold box - iffy. Don't touch the black pearl," Shella said.

"They are useless to you, then. However, they could be of use to me," Unity said with a smile creeping across her face.

Shella stared at Unity's mischievous grin. "Why do ye want my pearls? Money's kind of pointless here. There's nothing to buy."

"Oh, it's just that all my adult toys were taken from my body before I was dumped, and I do believe that starting to reconstruct that collection would be useful."

"Ooo-kay. I ain't got a clue whatcha talkin' about," said Shella. "Tell you what: I'm going to let you have access to my pearls, and see what you come up with later. If you touch that black pearl, I will find a way to hurt you." With that, Shella stood up and walked out of the treasure hall. She walked up to her bed, stripped herself of her shirt and flag, and lay down to get some sleep.

Sleep was surprisingly tricky for Shella. The ship kept on creaking in odd ways. Sometimes, it creaked longingly, other times, creaking like someone stepping on a warped floorboard. One particularly weird time, it creaked squee-sqa-squee-sqa, like someone bouncing on a bed particularly fast. After it had creaked like that for several prolonged minutes, there was a long creak, like a satisfied sigh. Shella had no idea what the hell could be going on for a ship to creak like that. Eventually, she fell asleep, letting the night pass silently.

* * *

When Shella awoke, Unity wasn't in her bedroom, though she had left the stairway intact. Shella shrugged, redressed herself, and wandered out on to the deck. The canister Unity had arrived in was still there, infuriatingly enough. It just seemed out of place to Shella. It was a smooth metal can on top of an old worn sailing ship. They were not two things that went together.

However, Unity wasn't on the deck of the ship. Given that the ship had set the journey back a day, that meant that it was now 5 days left together. Unity had been on board for 4 days already, so that meant that she'd been here for 9 days. That was worryingly close to the limit Shella had experienced when it came to how long other people could stay on board without pain to her. Hopefully, the ship wouldn't pull any more nasty pranks on Shella. Speaking of which...

Shella looked up at the steering wheel. It was back, but that was only to be expected out of a shape-changing ship. She looked further up at the masts, and was pleasantly surprised. The masts had straightened themselves back into shape. Shella wondered if the ship had decided to go back to the shortest path after all.

Shella heard a door creak open, and looked down to see Unity closing the door that led to the lower deck carrying a small cloth sack. Unity looked around, and smiled warmly to the pseudo-captain.

"So, what'd you make from my pearls?" asked Shella as she walked over to Unity.

"This," Unity said, and pulled out a string of pearls from the sack. A necklace? No, that wasn't it. It didn't have a latch at the ends. Instead, on one end, it ended cleanly with a small pearl, maybe a centimeter wide, and the other end had a hoop made of string with decorative coral on it. As it went from small pearl to hoop, Shella saw that the pearls got larger and larger, until they ended at a pearl 3 inches in diameter. The hoop wasn't large enough for a wrist to fit through, but too wide for a finger. As far as decorative items went, it was strange, and must have been based off of something from Unity's world.

"So, uh, what is it?" Shella asked, completely stumped.

Unity giggled and jangled the pearl string around. "You've never seen one? For all your sexual partners, you have never seen something like this and used it for its intended purpose?" she asked in return.

"No. Ain't got a clue. Remember here, I'm the cursed pirate, you're the sex thingy," grumped Shella.

"It's a set of anal beads. They aid in pleasure during sexual intercourse," Unity informed.

Shella was familiar with those terms, even if she had never encountered one, and her eyebrows raised in surprise. "Can I see it?" Shella asked.

Unity handed over the string to Shella, and she raked it over with her eyes. No cut lines, held together by string but there were no gaps between pearls, and it seemed incredibly strong. It was one hell of a piece of work, in Shella's eyes. "How'd ya make it?" she asked, curiosity burning.

"I got help," said Unity. "Lilith is surprisingly nice, and she is very knowledgable."

Shella had to process that one. "You mean, my ship helped you make this."

"Yes!" said Unity. "I'm surprised she hasn't revealed herself to you. I simply asked and she was there."

"Wait...so about those creaking noises last night..." Shella pondered out loud.

"Lilith has pent-up sexual frustrations, and I helped that issue as payment for her help," Unity calmly said.

Shella's mind did a quick double take. Unity, who said she was artificial, had sex with her ship, theSea Lilith, which was also an artificial. Never before had such a strange encounter taken place near her. "I think I need to sit down," mumbled Shella, laying against a railing.

"May I have the anal beads back?" asked Unity. Shella obliged and reached out the hand holding them. "You know, you should treat your partner better."

Shella just raised her head to look at Unity.

"Not your sexual partner, of course," Unity continued to lecture, "but your ship. She's as alive as you or I. She's just never talked to you because she's kind of scared of you."

Shella gave another look at Unity. "So you're saying that I, who have been here a hundred-plus years, with a curse slightly beyond that, have never once talked to my ship, while you, who've been here something like 4 days, has managed to seduce it."

Unity's head titled to the side in thought, and then she said, "Yes, approximately that."

Shella jumped up. "Are you aware how bullshit that is? You couldn't even seduce a nymphomaniac, not to mention she shouldn't trust you because you're new, plus you'll be leaving soon, plus I got here first!" she yelled.

"If you are mad at what happened, then I apologize. However, I did get to talk to her at great length. She is shy. She is afraid to talk to living beings. She is starved for attention. She also loves you, perhaps idiotically. She talked to me because she knew that I was like her, an artificial being, and knew what it means to be an object," said Unity, as serene as mechanically possible. "She would love to talk to you. You were the first thing in her life ever. She lets you restructure her main body. However, you have proved to be violent against the ship. You have almost absolute command over a being that you call a prison. She wants to help you obtain your goal, and live a life full of adventure outside of the Pleasure World. So, please, be nice."

Shella stared at Unity again, then winced as a bolt of pain shocked her body from her belly. "Yeah, yeah, love to do that, blah blah blah. But honestly, I got a pearl growing inside me, and it ain't doing any favors for my temperament," growled Shella. "Now pardon me as I stagger off to my quarters."

Shella walked towards the set of double doors leading to her room. Behind her, she heard Unity say, "Do not expect my company tonight." Mumbling, Shella shut the door behind her.

Shella flopped down on her bed, then immediately started cursing just about everything that had happened. She had just woken up. She could still see the sun floating above the horizon. And she just condemned herself to her bedroom. Without Unity. It wasn't long before she threw a pillow in rage and sat up. Shella had to admit it, she didn't want to contact the ship. It was just an object! Why should it be alive? Magical, yes. Living and as bright as she was? No. Just, no.

But she should, if to at least make Unity happier. Wait, why make Unity happy again? Shella staunchly refused to believe herself to be a romantic, especially in as random a situation as this. She's here, Unity is here also. Random happenstance. But the problem was that the pearl was linked to Unity. It wouldn't grow if she wasn't involved somehow, and Shella needed to get this one to be a black pearl.

Shella lay back on the bed, face-up, and covered her hands with her face. This was a fine mess she had put herself in.

* * *

The day passed, and night had begun to fall. Shella opened her door silently, slipped out to the darkened deck, and closed the door. There was still enough light for her to see Unity sitting on the deck near a railing. Bare-foot, she padded over to where Unity sat. Behind her, clusters of yellow-glowing sea-life sprung up in clusters on the masts and railings.

Next to Unity, a flower-like coral cluster grew into existence. She noted it, then turned around to see Shella. Shella thought Unity would grimace, or chide her, or something like that, but Unity didn't. She smiled. "You changed clothing. It looks good," commented Unity.

Shella had abandoned her usual attire, pirate flag and all, and changed into a green sleeveless floor-length dress. The emerald satin-like material clung to her body, hugging her breasts, hips, and legs. She didn't normally wear such a thing, it was restrictive in more ways than one, but she felt the need for a change of cloth. "Yeah, I needed a change of pace," said Shella. She sat down next to Unity, feet slipping out from the dress.

"No shoes?" asked Unity.

"Don't have anything that'd work, and they'd never fit," replied Shella. She looked at her feet. They were surprisingly large, kind of like flippers, broad, webbed, with sharp claws at the end. Basically the bane of shoe-wearing. She looked over at Unity's feet. They were thin and small, though they seemed to be natural high-heeled shoes, turning into a point at the end. The two women's feet were polar opposites.

The sea was dark and calm, the sky was purple, and with the sun behind them, the two women, one cursed, the other an object, gazed into the twilight. Shella broke the silence. "Have you been sitting out here the entire day?" she asked.

"Have you spent the entire day locked up inside your room?" returned Unity.

Shella gave a snort. "Hey, I changed clothes. I don't normally do anything but pirate."

"I also talked to Lilith some more," said Unity. Shella said nothing.

"Are you lonely?" Unity asked. Shella remained silent.

"Lilith told me that you suffer serious pain if someone stays on the ship more than a week and a half. She told me it isn't her fault. It is your curse's fault," Unit said.

"Does this have to be about theSea Lilith?" Shella asked.

"Well, I view it as my most pressing concern," said Unity. "I have around 4 days left, not including what little is left of today, and I would like you to be able to see Lilith before then."

"I've been meaning to ask," began Shella. "How the hell did you fuck a ship?"

Unity shrugged. "The normal way," she replied.

Shella had to stifle a laugh. "The normal way? I'm sorry, but from what I know, this ship ain't got no pussy, ass, or mouth."

"Lilith can manifest herself as humanoid. That is also what I mean by being able to see Lilith before I leave," said Unity.

Shella sighed and leaned back. "Yeah, well, I also got a goal I need to get done before you leave. I need the pearl to grow more, and it'll only grow with you involved."

"I am still holding true to my words of this morning, Shella. I will not join you in sex tonight," Unity said.

"Fine, fine." Shella remembered something. Unity's canister was still on deck. "Hey, your can," she began, "What should we do with it? It's too big to carry around, and I don't want it on my - on theSea Lilith."

Unity twisted around to look at the metal cylinder. The large silver can was completely alien to the worn wooden ship. It was an odd juxtaposition, like a redwood in a desert. Unity returned to staring out to sea to think about it.

After a while, she finally said, "I do not need it. I have nothing in it. I do not want it."

"Can we dump it off the side?" Shella asked.

Unity seemed taken aback. "Wouldn't it do something terrible to the environment?" she asked.

"Worst comes to worst, a merman gets a new sleeping pod," Shella said. "Seriously, it don't matter if we dump it off the edge."

"Let me think about it," said Unity. "I will inform you on the last day of our voyage."

"It's getting late, I'm going to bed. See you tomorrow," said Shella, before standing up and walking back to her quarters. She closed the doors behind her and slid out of her dress. Her skin exposed to the cool night air, Shella felt, well, she did feel alone. She'd snubbed her ship, and gotten snubbed by someone who could help her out of this place in return.

She needed a distraction. Shella commanded glowing coral to glow around her bed, like a lamp in a room, and crawled on to it. She pressed her hands to her smooth round breasts, and tried to imagine. Something to make her nipples go hard, something to make her pussy ache, something to make her want to moan.

Shella's thumbs gently caressed her nipples, circling the areola gently. Little waves of familiarness were sending their way into her body. She could already feel herself heating up, just slightly, at this level. It'd be better with someone else, sure, but she had to make do with what she had.

Her hands rubbed her breasts, then one of them slid down her smooth belly, pausing briefly over her navel, then gliding over her hairless snatch. A lone finger gently poked at the pink petals, finding the entrance slightly open and moist. Her upper hand kept its focus on her dark brown nipple, rubbing it in spirals and occasionally pinching it. Her lower hand kept the focus going up and down, slowly tracing the pink slit. She could feel it open ever so slightly more, become more ready for impaling, feel her clit stiffen up and harden.

Shella's legs splayed open slightly, an easier access position, and tried pushing harder. She sighed with content as that familiar stroking feeling enveloped her sensitive flower and flowed from there. Her thumb flicked the red bean, and she smiled as the warmth flowed through her.

Her fingers pushed inwards, diving into the folds of sensitive flesh, rubbing in a good touch. She felt her middle finger slide past the lips, into the tunnel easily, an entire finger searching for that spot inside her body. She added in her ring finger, widening her spread. Her breath became shallow as she picked up speed, short, tiny moans escaping her sometimes. Her hand clutched at her breast, squeezing and crushing the hard nipple.

Her fingers dived in and out faster and faster, her palm crushing her clit and stroking it every time she moved her fingers. Shella could feel the pleasure inside, a numb pleasure welling up and ready to take over her mind. Diving in, stroking out, Shella's hands were her masters, groping the best spots to add to that tower of pleasure in her head, ready to fall over. With several loud staccato groans, her mind exploded. Numbness overtook her every thought, a blank happy haze the result of orgasm. She gently slid her wet fingers out of her body, and drifted to sleep.

* * *

Shella awoke with a painful groan. She'd been another dream, but she couldn't remember it. She just knew she felt like she had been punched in the stomach. Damn, she needed to get this pearl out of her as fast as possible, and as big as possible. She slid the sheet off herself, and stood up. In front of her, both the dress and her normal clothes were folded and neatly placed. Shella half-smiled. Someone had come in during the night while she was sleeping.