The Assassin and the Sorceress Ch. 08

She stopped for a few moments to catch her breath. Her breathing had noticeably deepened and slowed down, though it was still heavy. Her mouth hung open, astonished: not only that her vagina had stuck and held fast, but that, against all rationale, it felt good!

"Oh my God..." she muttered to herself. "What the hell is happening to me? What is this?"

After catching her breath, and possibly her senses as well, she resumed the futile task of trying to pry herself free from the bedpost her vulva was completely, utterly, and hopelessly stuck to. She pulled hard for several seconds, until the pain was too much, then released. She repeated this cycle for a few minutes. Each time, her signs of arousal increased. Her breathing deepened, she moaned more frequently, I saw her clenching her thighs and rocking her hips. The need for giving her more doses of the arousal chemical had long passed. She was in full swing!

Before long, her tugging didn't seem to be intended to pull herself loose anymore. She was tugging just for how good it felt! Instead of just pulling herself straight away from the bedpost, she pulled at different angles. Sometimes she moved her hips around in a circle as she held tension, or she would press her vulva into the bedpost and rub it there before starting another pull. Her hands were back on her body now. She massaged her breasts, then pinched and played with her nipples as she continued to tug and yank with her pelvis.

I can't even describe how horny I was, watching Esther live through one of my own fantasies and seeing her actually enjoying it. I found myself having to check my own breathing so she couldn't hear me. Though I hated to bring my attention away from her, I focused the Oculus on the air around me, attempting to dampen any sound that might emanate from me. Esther was living one of my ultimate fantasies! I continued to watch, utterly enthralled!

Esther's ecstasy continued to grow and grow for a good twenty minutes before she couldn't take any more. One of her hands moved down to her vulva to massage herself and stimulate her clit more directly. She began to climax within moments! At last, she held in her breath and quivered for a good thirty seconds, before letting it all out in one loud gasp and finally relaxing.

Once she had recovered, the expression on her face changed from ecstasy to concern as she remembered that she was still stuck to her bed, and had no idea how to get free. I noticed her cum had dripped down her labia and had started to wet the top of the bedpost. Maybe that would be the key. I picked the part of her skin that appeared to be the wettest, and allowed a small amount of it to peel loose.

Esther noticed this, and her eyes lit up with hope! She began massaging her sex juices into the bonded spots of her skin. I released her a little more. Once the stuck ends of her lips had been fully coated, she started pulling up and backward away from the bedpost. Her lips stretched again. A tiny amount of her skin peeled free. She braced her hands against the bedpost on either side of where her lips were stuck and pushed off hard, grimacing. Her skin slowly continued to peel free. After a few seconds one of her lips finally popped lose, followed by the other soon after.

"Gah!" she gasped as she let her butt collapse onto the bed as she caught her breath and slowly came back to her senses. Her eyes showed a mixture of satisfaction, guilt, and terror. 'What have I done?' she seemed to be asking herself. She leaned over to grab her nightgown and slipped it on. After that, she merely sat there in complete disbelief, staring at that bedpost as if it were a snake.

...

For the next week, I checked up on Esther, my new obsession, nightly. I would watch her as she got ready for bed to see what she did. The next couple of nights nothing terribly exciting happened. She just went to bed without pleasuring herself or giving me much of a show at all, though she did eye her bedpost suspiciously a few times.

The third night, though, I found her masturbating again. I noticed her tugging on her vagina lips with her hands. I was intrigued to see she had learned a new technique due to my secret involvement. A few times she eyes her bedpost, as if seriously contemplating touching it, but in the end, she stayed away from it.

A few nights later, however, her curiosity had finally gotten the better of her fear. She was sitting right next to it, examining it motionlessly. Eventually, she worked up the courage to touch it. She tapped it as quickly as she could with the tip of her middle finger, as if testing something she feared might be hot. After a few taps, she dared touch it with two, then three fingers, then finally slid her palm over it. Nothing happened.

She was shifting around uncomfortably as she sat, likely a sign she was getting aroused. A few moments later, she pulled up her nightgown and began fingering herself, all while looking at her bedpost.

She tugged on her lips with her fingers a couple of times, and then finally found the courage to try it again. She got up, took a deep breath, and straddled it. There was a moment's hesitation, then she touched her vaginal lips to her magic bedpost.

I did things exactly the same way as the last time. As soon as she felt herself clinging to it, she gasped happily. Her fear of the thing seemed to have subsided completely, but I suppose this time she figured she knew how to get herself free. It ended about the same as the last time.

...

Esther had liked it! She had actually liked it! I was prouder of myself than I can describe! More importantly, there was now somebody who seemed to share my kink! Maybe there was a way we could enjoy that kink together, if only I could get her to admit to what had happened to her. Maybe I could even reveal my magic abilities to her, and it could be our little secret. It would have been nice to have someone I can share my magic and other secrets with!

Esther was getting harder and harder to find as the days grew shorter, but I soon managed to find her outside of her house tending to her family's sheep. The pen wasn't huge, so they had to buy feed to keep them happy, however as demand for wool grew as the air cooled, they would have had no problem turning a profit.

"Esther, there you are!" I called to her.

"Oh, hey, Morgana! Good to see you again! It's been a couple weeks. Help me with our sheep and we can catch up!"

We made small talk like we usually did, and it was nice to see that she had missed my company as much as I did hers. She was her usual happy self. If she had been affected by the impossible thing that had happened to her, it didn't show one bit. I had no idea how to bring up what I wanted in conversation. Of course, I couldn't just ask her 'Hey, have you ever had your labia randomly get stuck to something?' I would just have to wait for her to allude to any strange occurrences.

Before much time had passed, Esther and I finished tending to the animals.

"Well, I need to get inside and start preparing supper. Thanks so much for keeping me company!"

"I could help with that, too, if you want."

"I certainly wouldn't mind, but don't you need to help your family prepare dinner?"

"Actually, my parents are feeling ill tonight. It's nothing dire, but neither of them feels like eating. I'm on my own tonight."

"Well, I'd be glad to have you as a guest! And I'm sure my father and mother would love to have a guest as well!"

"I can go fetch some of the ingredients we were going to cook."

"No, no! We have plenty! After all your help, I'm sure you will have earned it!"

I followed her inside, and I was impressed by their home! Though it was only one floor, there were multiple rooms, and those rooms were separated by sturdy, wooden walls. There were separate cooking and dining areas, each with its own hearth! Her parents' bedroom was almost as big as my entire house! Esther's bedroom and the one her brothers used to share weren't quite so big, but were certainly bigger than mine! Our house consisted only of a single main room. The second floor was more of a rickety loft that had been added after the fact, and there were areas of my cramped bedroom where I had to crouch due to the slanting roof.

I knew that Esther was the last of three siblings by several years. Her parents had conceived her relatively late in their lives. Her older brothers were already married and raising families of their own, while Esther was left to care for her aging parents. Therefore, when I offered to stand in for her mother, she graciously accepted my offer. Within minutes, she had retired to her room to enjoy a well-earned rest. That left Esther and me alone.

Helping out with food preparation was a task I knew well. Esther and I went about preparing a stew while we chatted. However, the conversation didn't go anywhere near where I wanted it to. But leave it to fate to provide what you need, in stark contrast to what you may wish for. We made small talk for a few more minutes, when, after a brief pause, Esther finally hit me with a question I wasn't prepared for.

"Morgana, what's gotten into you lately?" That had come completely out of the blue. If anything, we had been talking about had led up to it, I was none the wiser.

"What? What are you talking about?"

"You've been so distant. You're not the girl I spent my precious leisure time with over the summer anymore. It's nice to have you back, and I mean that. But you show up all of a sudden, saying you won't be having dinner with your parents tonight just because they're ill. I don't believe that."

"They are ill. Probably ate something spoiled, and they should be fine soon. What's not to believe?"

"No, it's not that. The story checks out. You're too smart to give me a story with holes in it. I still don't believe it. Call it a woman's intuition. You didn't come here because you had nowhere else to be. You came to visit me, specifically, for a reason. I don't know what that reason is, but I want you to know that we're friends, and we don't have to keep secrets from each other. Did something happen at home?"

"What? No. Nothing like that. You know my family's far from perfect, but there haven't been any fights lately, if that's what you're asking."

"Okay, maybe not. That was just a stab in the dark. But something's going on. I don't know what, but I can tell. You're closed off again. Like you... you know... used to be. Every time I see you, you're frowning. You look at your feet when you walk. Something weighing on you. I don't like it. I like the you I came to know over the summer. You're bold, you're witty, you're not afraid to speak you mind, never worrying about people judging you for showing your true self. And not afraid to help out a friend. No, really, I mean that. When you helped me explain to Gaius that I wasn't interested in him, that meant a lot to me."

"I think you slapping him had something to do with that, too!"

"True, but that wasn't all. I know you and Magda talked to him afterward. He can be an ass, yes, but I know he's a decent fellow at heart. He just needs to have things explained to him, and in no uncertain terms. My slap might have gotten the point across, but maybe not the reason behind it. That's where you came in. That way, he could stay my friend."

I figured the real reason Gaius suddenly left her alone was because I offered to fuck him in her stead. But I had been there when Magdalene had a brief conversation with him, explaining how he had come off too strong, and had ignored all signs of disinterest from her.

"I think I was just following Magdalene's example."

"So? Aren't we all a product of how we were raised and who we associate with? But that's just my point. I think having a group of people to call your friends helped develop you into a better person than what you were. Gaius learned a harsh lesson, but thanks you and her he was able to learn it and better himself. Matthew opened up a little. He can carry on a conversation with more people than just his sister now. Speaking of her, Magdalene learned to lighten up a little. She's agreeable to a fault, but somehow still manages to have a stick up her ass. You were the one that helped to dislodge that stick, helped her to realize that breaking the rules a little isn't always a terrible thing. And as far as what I gained out of these friendships, it's hard for me to say. I think I got bolder. I don't know if I would have slapped Gaius if it had been just him and me. Not that it was the best way I could have dealt with him, but before meeting you I think I would have just put up with him. I would have let him do what he wanted, because I didn't have the nerve to tell him not to. And putting up with his advances and being unable to speak up and tell him 'no' would have made me feel even more powerless and subservient. Oddly, it was having the courage to get naked in front of everyone, to shave my lady parts like I've always wanted to, to show off my body without shame that gave me that courage. I know, it's strange, but showing off my naked body actually made me less of a tramp. I think it's because it gave me the confidence it takes to say 'no.' And that was your influence."

Esther sighed, realizing how off on a tangent she had gotten. "But what I'm trying to say is that we all helped each other become better people. That's why that friendship of ours was so magical. All of our better qualities rubbed off on each other. But..." Esther paused. She seemed to know what she wanted to say next, but not how to say it.

"But?"

"Now that we aren't meeting up so regularly anymore, I think you are regressing back to what you were before we all joined forces."

I tensed up. I knew this wouldn't be fun to hear. It might even hurt. And though it took courage, I forced myself to ask her to continue.

"And what was I before?"

"I don't know, maybe aloof? Closed off? Maybe even cold?"

"Aloof? Cold? Have I been cold to anyone lately?"

"Maybe not on purpose. The few times I have seen you recently, you were very quiet. Not the bold, well-spoken woman I came to love, certainly. And it's not your fault. Something's eating you. And it's more than the fact that summer's ending. Like I said, I think you came here tonight for a reason. If there's anything you need to tell somebody about, anything difficult going on in your life, I want you to know that I'm here for you. You've done enough for me already, so it's the least I can do."

I don't know how she got me to talk about it, but she did. In a few minutes, I was telling her about what had bothered me. I told her about Rebecca suddenly scorning me like I were the Devil himself, about Orson and some of my childhood bullies starting to pick on me again. I told her about Susan getting confrontational with me about Gaius. I told her how those early years of my life had been nearly traumatic with every one of the other kids my age deciding to hate me. And now that a few of them were up to their old games again, the fear of returning to that former state of practical exile had me terrified nearly to the point of crippling me.

"Why?" I finished. "Why did everybody in Ash just decide to hate me like that? Why did nobody want to associate with me, except those who enjoyed pushing me and calling me names?"

"Kids can be mean, it's true. But adults? I though adults put all that stuff behind them when they get older. Maybe not all of them, and I can't really say more than that."

"But why me? What was it about me that I had to be the butt of all their jokes?"

"It's hard to say. I mean, I never really spent a lot of time with you before this summer, but in a place as small as Ash, you can't help but know at least a little bit about everyone. There was always something a little different about you."

"I've always known I was different. But how was I different? What did I do wrong?"

"If you'd allow me to speak honestly to you...? As a friend?"

"I suppose. Sure. I can't fault you for telling me the truth."

"Well... there have always been some odd ways to your manners. Like, oh, its really hard to put into words. But a few things... you never make eye contact with the people you talk to, for one. Even when we were bathing in the creek, you seem to look down or to the side, but I guess we all just got used to that and realized you didn't mean anything by it. Another, sometimes it's almost impossible to tell when you are telling a joke or being serous. You have a very monotone way of speaking, and maybe to some people it sounds... insincere? And going from that, you also seemed to have no idea when other people were being serious or making a joke, even if it was obvious to everyone else. It's like you understood only the literal words people were saying, and couldn't pick up on things like body language or tone. I don't know, maybe you tended to miss those things because you don't like to look at people when you talk to them."

"Okay," I answered. "I guess that makes sense. I can see myself doing those things, sure. Taking things too literal and not making eye contact enough. I don't know, that doesn't seem to explain why people would hate me as much as they have."

"Well... and again speaking honestly to you as a friend? Is that okay?"

"Yes, that's fine."

"There's one more thing, and I think this is the real reason. It's that when you do talk to people, you can just come off as a know-it-all."

"Why is knowing stuff bad?"

"This is hard to explain, but it's like, well, you don't use all those smarts of yours to help people solve their problems or anything like that. You just use it to showcase your intellect, like you're trying to make everyone else feel stupid. A lot of what you say in conversations is just... overly pedantic."

"Overly pedantic? Does that mean one can be appropriately pedantic?"

Esther stopped and stared at me, her face a mixture of anger and perplexity. Only then did I realize the irony of what I had just said.

"This is exactly what I'm talking about," she said at last. "I can't tell if you were actually saying that, or if you were going for some self-depreciating humor. And even if it was a joke, picking apart people's word choice when you know full well what they're trying to say doesn't make for light-hearted banter. People take things like that as an insult. The difference is I know you well enough by now that I know you meant well. And maybe you think you're trying to help people get better or smarter, but you only have to help people if there's a need or if they ask for it. Correcting small mistakes that don't really matter isn't going to make anyone feel grateful to you."

I tried to think of something to say, but I was dumbfounded. For one, I knew she was right. Also, what I had said had not been intended as a joke at all. I had just wanted to add something to the conversation, and for some reason that was what my mind came up with. I felt as embarrassed as if I had just walked into a post that everyone but me had seen. And how did I know the next thing out of my mouth wouldn't be just as stupid?

Thankfully for me, Esther filled in the silence. "Look it's no secret that people shut you out. And because you feel like you're being shut out, maybe you feel the need to prove your worth to everyone. And your worth is your intelligence, so you showcase that all the harder. Each problem makes the other one worse. It's a spiral."

"I see. And... I'm sorry for saying that."

"Well, I think you started doing that less around all of us. And that's because you knew you didn't need to try to impress us. And I'm worried about you now that we aren't meeting up regularly. I could be wrong here, but I think you are starting to feel unwanted again, and I'm worried that will make you slip back to where you were before all this. You're a good woman, Morgana, and you deserve better than that. I just want you to know that all of us are still your friends.