Nepenthea Pt. 01

Lauren stared, agog. Blinking, she tried to squeeze a thought through her mind's traffic-jam of amazement and confusion. "Uh... Uh... Chrysanthemums?"

Chrys chuckled, pointing a thumb at herself. "We already got one!"

"Oh! Uh... Daffodil?"

"Got one. A Daisy, too."

"Hmmm... Could I be a calendula?"

Chrys smiled, turning back to her attentive crew. "Guys, this is Calendula! She's a candidate for Auntie-caste. I guess since you're all drained, it's the perfect time for a quick census. Hands up- if she were a member, who would be willing to have sex with her?" Lauren did a double-take as every man raise their hand. "Not bad. Okay, how many of you would actually enjoy sex with her?" With a shrug, three men lowered their hands.

Apologetic, one of them said, "She's not my type, but I've got a friend I bet would really dig her!"

"Thanks, H.B., but that might not be necessary. Okay, who of you would make an effort and personal sacrifice and risk harm to yourself for just the chance of having sex with her?" As hands fell away, Lauren was unbelieving at the sight of two hands still in the air.

"Really?" Chrys asked, "Cinchfly, I would've guessed, but Antwasp? I wouldn't have expected!"

"Ah," Antwasp said, grinning broadly, "She looks like a taller version of this English teacher I had in high school, I... well, you know..." he bobbed up and down in excitement.

"Haha, I can imagine! Alright, the two of you get started on a quick screening, the rest of you, let's hit the showers!"

A cheer rang out as the whole crowd migrated through a door opposite where Lauren stood, except for Cinchfly and Antwasp, who walked straight over to her, and H.B., who went straight to Archie.

"Archie," he said, "I'd feel bad if I didn't at least try to bring Apis over here..."

"Apis? Oooh, hey," Archie stroked his chin, looking Lauren up and down, "That's not a bad idea! Yeah, any idea if he's free?"

"I'll find out!" H.B. chirped as he ran off.

"Calendula," Antwasp said with a bow, bringing her attention back, "Archie already got you to agree to cooperate, right? You're still waiting for orders, right?"

Suddenly aware of being in her underwear before two naked men, Lauren's face radiated as she nodded.

Antwasp turned to Cinchfly, "We've both done this before. Any preference?"

"I call shotgun!" Cinchfly beamed as he moved behind Lauren. Lauren turned to watch him walk behind her, but Antwasp put his hand on her cheek and turned her to face him.

"Here are your first orders. Are you ready?" Her voice frozen in her throat, she nodded. He grinned. "Good. I want you... to just hold still, and enjoy yourself."

Before Lauren could question anything, they both knelt down and descended on her hips like a gift on Christmas morning, their strong hands ripping through her pantyhose and breaking the gusset of her panties. She gasped, but was to surprised to react as Cinchfly squeezed her butt cheeks and pulled them apart, diving in tongue-first as Antwasp grabbed her knees, holding them open as he shoved his face in her now-bare crotch with the glee of a hog in a trough.

"Oh! Ahn, ah!" Lauren had long ago abandoned the hope of sexual fulfillment, and was completely unprepared for a wave of strange pleasure flooding from her pelvis. She covered her chest, not knowing what to do or say amid the cheerful slurps and smacks below her. She blurted out, "Ah! Ah, s- s- sorry! Sorry! I'm sorry for making you do this!"

The two men paused. Antwasp looked up at her with wide-eyed surprise before he broke out laughing with a wide grin, his tongue never leaving her clitoris. For the rest of her life, Lauren would remember the bizarre, unmistakable sensation of being laughed at by a man with his tongue in her anus.

"You're apoloyaihing?" Antwasp asked, pronouncing his 'p's against her vulvae, "Aww, you're adorable!"

Lauren struggled to answer with someone earnestly probing her butthole. "I... I don't know why they're making you do this, if you're getting punished too, I'm sorry for my part in it..."

"Pun- punishement?" Antwasp cocked an eyebrow, "Do you think we don't want to do this?"

"Ahn, ah, ah, I, I don't know, why would you? Isn't it disgusting? My husband would never had done something like this!"

He squinted up at her, uncertain. "How long were you married?"

"T- twenty-two years..."

Antwasp pulled himself from her crotch to look at her in shock. Cinchfly didn't even slow down. "Wh- Twenty two years?" Antwasp said, aghast, "Your husband never went down on you in twenty-two years?" In that situation, with a total stranger doing something her husband never had, her heart twisted at a strange angle to see the look of pity on Antwasp's face as he said, "Aw, that's such a pity!"

"It'th a huckin' crine, ith what it ith," Cinchfly corrected, never interrupting his tongue-on-duty.

"Look, Calendula," Antwasp said to Lauren as he looked in her eyes, "You're a long way from your husband, and your job, and anything else you have to worry about, so just focus on feeling good, okay?" He closed his eyes and smiled, throwing himself back into her moistening gulch.

Archie walked up beside Lauren. "She was ordered to get herself cleaned up before coming. How'd she do?"

From behind her, Lauren saw Cinchfly shoot forward a fist with a delighted thumbs-up as he kept humming contentedly between her cheeks. Archie laughed. "I knew you'd be happy, dude, you're easy to please. Antwasp, what do you thing?"

Antwasp held his face against Lauren's slit as he turned his head, pressing his cheek against her sex as he answered. "She clearly took the order seriously. Her hygiene is at least as good as our standard, she doesn't need to take any courses."

Lauren panted, the unaccustomed pleasure pushing her to the brink of what she could contain. "Ah, I'm... I'm sorry... I've been so nervous, I'm... ah... I'm so sweaty, I'm sorry..."

"Yeah, you are," Antwasp chuckled, pressing the length of his tongue against her vagina, working his jaw against her flesh with unrestrained vigor.

"Oh, ah, ahn... ah! Ah!" Antwasp's strong grip contained the violent shake of her knees, and Cinchfly held her whole weight, like a chair that kneaded the flesh of her ass. Getting dizzy, Lauren steadied herself, putting one hand on Antwasp's head and the other on Cinchfly's. Something hot and tingly swelled up inside her, higher and higher. She grasped fistfuls of their hair, gripping onto them, feeling guilty that she was hurting them, but they didn't seem to notice.

"Ah, ah, ah, ah! Ah! Ah! Ah! Oh! Oh my God! Oh God I'm... I'm... Oooooh I'm cumming I'm cumming I'm cumming cumming cumming cumming cummmmmmmAAAAAH!" She arched her spine and threw her head back, her whole body shivering as colors splashed across her vision.

The two men went still. They paused, waiting, as Lauren panted, not interacting with her at all until she looked down into Antwasp's eyes. Pulling his lips from her vulvae with a smack, he smiled with a pleased grunt, then closed his eyes and leaned forward. In unison, the two men kissed Lauren, one just below her navel and the other just under the base of her spine, then pressed their foreheads against the spots they had kissed. In one voice, both of them said, "I am grateful." They rose to their feet and began walking to the showers. Antwasp looked over his shoulder and smiled back at Lauren, saying, "I hope you decide to stay!"

Lauren had no idea what to say, completely caught off-guard by everything she'd experience since she'd arrived. She didn't have a chance to process anything before, walking through the door she'd came through, strode a massive, muscular, towering man in his early twenties with black, wavy hair and cinnamon-colored skin.

"Hey Apis!" Archie called out with a smile.

"Hey Archie!" He hailed with a friendly wave, "What's up? I heard there's someone you wanted me to-" his voice cut off when he caught sight of Lauren. He stared at her, stunned, with wide eyes and slack jaw. "I- is- are you Calendula?"

"I... yes, I think so," Lauren answered. She waited in silence through several moments of Apis' amazed gaze, before asking, "Uh, why are you looking at me like that?"

"Because," Archie answered, smiling with his eyes closed, "You look exactly like his mother."

"She does not!" Apis shouted in defiance. He turned to Lauren and explained, "You're younger than her, and you're much more attractive, and... well... yeah, I guess..." His voice trailed off. Never taking his eyes off her, he strode up to her, staring down at her from more than a head above her. "...Did you really tell them they can hurt you?"

A survival response sent a jolt of panic through Lauren's whole frame. Wide-eyed, she skittered away from Apis, her voice flittering as she dashed for the door and into the hall. "No! Oh God, oh, I'm afraid! Please, no, don't let him hurt m-"

"No! Wait! PLEASE!" Lauren's survival instincts were screaming at her to run, but some other instinct, something stronger, picked up on something in Apis' voice, the shade of some emotion she hadn't heard since her children were young. She came back and peeked through the door, uncertain. Apis was on his knees, his eyes brimming with tears. "I- you- I- my- my mother didn't want me. I was an accident. My father left before I was born. She blamed me. She blamed me for everything. She took out everything on me, all her frustration, like I was just a punching bag, like... she never loved me. I heard, they told me you were scared to come, but you did it to protect your children... that you were willing to let them hurt you, to protect your children, I... I couldn't... I... please... p... kkshh..." Tears streaming down his face, he bowed his head and let his shoulders slump, looking more pitiful and defeated than should be possible for such an imposing man. His voice sounded like some precious piece of fabric being torn over and over as he said, "Please tell me I'm a good boy. Please. You don't have to mean it, it's okay if you don't mean it, just... just let me hear it... just a little bit... please..."

"Awwww..." It had felt like a long car ride to reach that place, a long time for Lauren to be alone with her thoughts, to imagine all the terrible punishments that would be inflicted on her. She had a long time to prepare herself, to shut herself down and disassociate, to make herself hard and cold and heavy like a stone, that whatever torments they had planned for her would just flow over her like a river. She was completely caught off guard by such child-like vulnerability, and the stone split like a sprouting seed. She scurried up to Apis and cradled his head in her hands. "Of course you're a good boy! Look at you, you're so strong and handsome, how could anyone not be so proud of such a good boy?" She wiped his tears with her thumb while she ruffled his hair, and he looked up at her like she was a fireworks display, like some catastrophic scheduling error put Chinese New Year on the 4th of July and Lauren's face was a night sky blooming with unbelievable color and light.

"C... can... can..." Apis stuttered, clearly bound by a lot of fear and discomfort but pressed by even stronger need, "Can I please put my head in your lap? Just for a little bit, just a while?"

"Sure, okay," she nodded, her face soft and understanding as she led Apis by the hand over to the pile of cushions. She knelt down on a spot where he had room to rest on padding. Apis was panting hard and moving slowly, like every inch between them was some terrifying challenge he had to fight and overcome. He pressed his face to her thighs, rubbing his cheek against the tattered remains of her pantyhose. His thick arms wrapped around her hips and pressed into her with frightening strength. "It's okay, you're fine, just relax... that's a good boy," she cooed as she ran her fingers through his hair. She felt his whole body shiver. Lauren had never had any particular ambition for power or control in her life, but the experience of being able to make this frightening bear of a man tremble with just a touch was intoxicating. She stroked his hair and hummed affectionately, the rest of the world lost to her. Apis' panting slowed to heaving, then to steady breaths, and within moments he was snoring.

Lauren snapped back to reality at the sound of a choking sputter. She looked towards the showers and saw Chrys emerge, dressed in a plain, dull-colored frock that, on her, looked obscenely modest. She wiped up the water dribbling down her chin as she stared with the kind of amazement that was out-of-place for someone with a whole stable of cockubines. "Is that Apis?" She whispered, surprised. Confused, Lauren nodded, and Chrys tip-toed over, staring down at Apis. "Is he asleep? On your lap?"

"Uh, does he not do this with everyone?"

"Does- what?" Chrys put a hand to her head as she stared down at Apis. "Callie, he's been here for over a year and he's never even let me touch him! I don't think he's made physical contact with a woman outside of the Free Use Quad!"

"Really?" Lauren was surprised, "I mean, I guess that makes sense, considering his relationship with his mother-"

Chrys' steel bottle hit the floor, along with her jaw. Apis kept snoring. Chrys grabbed her own hair with both hands. "He told you about his mother?! Every time anyone even talks about parents, he leaves the room! He never talks about his childhood, he's tight-lipped as a clam! Fucking holy sh- Callie," Chrys knelt down by Lauren's cushion, looking pleadingly into her eyes, "Callie please join us. We rarely initiate people past child-bearing years, but you're clearly very gifted, you can do so much good here!"

"What? What could I be good for? I'm an old woman with a failed marriage, I've got no place in this... this... what, some kind of hip resort? Is this some kind of retreat for millionaires or something?"

"Retreat?" Chrys leaned forward to stare into Lauren's eyes. "Callie, let me tell you what Archie told me when I first came here. 'This isn't a museum for putting perfect souls on display, it's a hospital for wounded souls to get the healing they need.'" She pointed down at Apis, snoozing blissfully. "You did him more good in five minutes than any of us have been able to do in a year. Please, Callie. There are so many hurt souls, and so much need for help, and it looks like this is something you're really good at."

"Good at?" Lauren shook her head, confused, "At what? What do you people even do here?"

Chrys smiled. "Put him down and come with me, I wanna show you something."

With a little effort and a delicate touch, Lauren pulled Apis' sleeping arms off her and lowered his head onto the cushion without waking him. She followed Chrys but gestured back, saying, "Is he going to be okay?"

Chrys smiled back and said, "That depends on you, doesn't it? C'mon."

Confused, Lauren trailed after Chrys. Her bra the only intact clothing left on, the shreds of her panties hung from their waistband fluttering in the breeze that felt so chill against the dampness between her legs where the pantyhose had been torn away. They came to a glass door, which Chrys opened to reveal what lay behind the building.

Lauren looked out at the scene. "What... what..." Before her was a beautiful landscape, simple and modest, with a small, sunny pond, a few trees, other buildings, and the general look of a quiet country college campus. There were few people, but obviously this area was a home to more than a few other members. Across the yard, two elegant-looking women in their sixties were laughing and chatting, all the while teaming up for a blowjob on a naked teenage man sitting on the table between them, who was moaning and twisting in ecstasy. By the lake, four slim girls in a row were sitting hip-to-hip and admiring the sun on the water, as they sat on top of an older man who was lying on the grass beneath them, his face beaming with intoxicated satisfaction. A small group of men chatting together walked up to a beautiful naked woman who lay in a reclining lawn chair with her legs wide open and her knees as high as her ribs. The men greeted her as they passed by. One of them said something to her, and she gave a brief reply. The rest of the group walked off, waving to the one who had broken from the group, going back to chatting as he climbed on top of the woman.

"What..." Lauren gasped, "What is this place? Where are we?"

Chrys put a hand on Lauren's shoulder, admiring the view. "Callie, let me have the honor to say... welcome... to Nepenthea."

"Nepenthea," Calendula repeated, wonder in her voice.