Welldark B1 Ch. 04

"Wow," Arlethe poured hot water into her cup. "That's the most pretentious way I've ever heard someone say: 'I know a bunch of useless shit'."

"You forgot the 'that may save my life one day' part."

Esther's reaction to our little back and forth was to take her tea and make her way back to her room. I would have been fine to let her go without a word, after such a successful morning, some alone time was warranted. "Karitas?" she addressed me after she was out of the kitchen.

"Yes?"

"I will be using the pool in roughly thirty minutes. You are invited to join me," she said with a soft smile playing around her lips. Then she resumed her walk and sipped her tea.

"Yes!" I exclaimed enthusiastically, cleared my throat, and then added, "I mean, I'll make time."

There was an amused silence that was only interrupted when we heard the sound of Esther's door falling close. "You are so satan-damned horny," Arlethia giggled, clearly entertained by my behaviour. "So, what made the overpowered time-lady a cranky bitch yesterday?"

"She was hungry," I gave the short and factual answer.

"Huh, so ya were right. Good for you," Arlethia had understood my hunch when I had bought all of the ingredients yesterday. "Hungry girls can be pretty cray-cray. Not usually that cray-cray, but pretty cray-cray regardless."

"Dear Father in heaven," I groaned, causing Arlethia to jump as if I had just poked her with an ice cube, "I do hate that saying... cray-cray... what's wrong with crazy? It's not even quicker to say."

"Yeah, sure get offended by some colloquial bullshit but invoke the presence of the celestial douche with a demoness around that's fine," Arlethia complained and sipped on her coffee. "Anyway, what's the situation? I want all the juicy details, gimme!" I did owe her for yesterday, so I told her about all of the newest developments. "So, let me summarize: not only are you clearly attracted to each other on a physical basis, you seem to hit off on characters as well. A: you're a lucky bastard. B: why aren't you together yet?"

"It's been three days since we met," I reminded her in a dry tone. I considered a third coffee and decided against it. Only because I would have had to boil water again, to be perfectly honest.

"And? Love knows no time, my dude," the succubus told me.

"Love also knows no mercy," I retorted. "It's a thing that often starts fickle and can tear whole worlds apart when not cultivated carefully. That Esther and I decide to actually know each other first is a decision we have to make." I sighed and scratched the back of my head. "Although I wished I could get a bit more physical with her already. As you correctly turned out, I am one horny beast... where is Willt by the way?"

"Sleeping," the succubus wiggled her bum a bit, spade tipped tail waving behind her, as she continued to down the boiling hot coffee. "Unlike you, he has someone who gets physical with him."

"Unlike me, he is also a limp guy," I said both as a jest and to defend my honour. "He should work out more. Having no stamina to perform in the morning doesn't sound sustainable for the future of our lifestyle."

"Well, ya know, I kept him occupied but he went back to sleep, ya know?" Arlethia gave me a devilish grin.

"Then how are you here right and now and well-reste-... Ah. Right. Succubus. Semen demon. Got it," I realized my mistake rather quickly and looked down on her almost empty cup. "What do you even need caffeine for then?"

"I like my milk with coffee," sex fiend purred.

"Fair enough, I guess," the details of a succubus needs weren't completely clear to me. One would think my own past experiences with having had, if short, relationships with some would have cleared things up, but no. Perhaps I had never really asked either. "Just don't fuck his sleep schedule too hard." Arlethet giggled at my formulation. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to change into swimwear."

"No promises," the redskinned demoness said. "Also, come by our room later. We should do the whole schedule planning."

"Sure thing. In two hours sound good?"

"Nah, push it back to noon. We're heading to the city again," she licked her dark red, full lips. "After I help Willt with morning business."

"Yeah, yeah, just lord your relationship over me," I playfully complained while walking away. "Later."

___________________________

Esther was already in the pool, by the time I arrived. I had spent the entirety of the waiting time wondering how exactly she would look in her swimsuit. I had seen her buy it, so I knew the variety already, but seeing a loose article of clothing didn't compare to the way it would stretch around her body.

I was not disappointed.

"There you are," Esther greeted me, standing in the shallow end of the pool. Her swimsuit covered the entirety of her torso, hiding even the majority of her shoulders and the entirety of her back. Despite this, I was treated to a slight bit of cleavage. The size of her breasts stubbornly stretched the material at the front. It wasn't a suggestive gap by any measure, at least not by design. Only the fact that her body was that sexy made the fundamentally conservative swimsuit indecent. "Wait a moment."

The wet neoprene glistened in the summer sun, as she moved towards the nearest ladder. Every movement was a delicious jiggle. The swimsuit fit her so perfectly, it looked painted on. Yet it didn't have the same holding power as a bra and so her chest was all I could stare at. Until she turned her back to me and started climbing the metal steps of the latter, that was.

Her chest may have been completely hidden, but the same could not be said for her ass. The firm twin mounds of her bubble butt were halfway exposed, with more coming into view as the swimsuit dug in during her way out of the pool. Her bare legs were almost as sensuous as the curve of her figure. Long, with thighs that were thick from muscle and just the right degree of fat to prevent them from being overly toned. As a man of culture, I wished to be squished between them, while keeping my tongue occupied in certain ways.

She turned towards me and my eyes got stuck on her midriff. It was as close to naked as was possible with non-transparent clothes on. With every movement, I saw the subtle shifting of her muscles. She was athletic in all the pleasing ways. The flat stomach, her arms and her legs, they all showed that she took her sport seriously.

This was all I could have hoped to see and more.

"Catch," Esther suddenly shouted and tossed something at me. I was only halfway done ogling. Well, no, I would never be truly done ogling. She had such an enticing form, lean, curvy, soft and thick in all the right places. Regardless, I had to react to the projectile coming at me.

Esther hadn't launched it at me in the slow arch usually employed to get something to a friend. Instead, she had chucked it at me like a professional baseball player. The projectile was accelerated at something above a hundred kilometres per hour. That it didn't go any faster was more due to its shape than a lack of strength on Esther's part.

I raised my right hand in front of my chest and caught the object effortlessly. Sure, the impact dug into my hand, but it was nothing an Astral Body and superhuman strength couldn't handle. I looked down and quickly identified the object to be a simple stopwatch. "Why would you even own this?" I wondered out loud. "An Ashod can keep track just as well as this."

"I prefer to keep my devices separate and specialized," Esther explained, while fixing her ponytail. She had replaced the usual white string with a more water resilient scrunchie. Once she was sure everything was in order, she pointed at one of the jumping platforms. "Are you willing to compete, Karitas?"

I looked over the pool. By its dimensions, it worked well for a competitive exercise. At twenty-five metres long, it was the shortest of the officially used pools, but it wasn't like that was the only irregularity. The shallow end of the pool, albeit still over one-and-a-half-metres deep, didn't allow for deep diving. Not that a private challenge required things being up to code.

"I am game," I responded, but didn't move a step from where I was standing - a few steps behind the starting platforms. "How do we play?"

"50 metres. We compare how long we take to arrive back at the point of origin," the time-bending lady of my desires responded, taking the two steps up the little podium. Her entire body was displayed for me to salivate over. She turned her upper body to look at me, giving me a view of her magnificent chest and ass at the same time. "You will not be able to properly discern when I touch the wall from there."

"I know, I'll be taking my place in a second," I responded fixated on her ass. Between boob and butt, my answer was both. Certain situations elevated one over the other, temporarily. "However, as it strikes me, my lady of clockwork, is that me standing here upon the start of this race will grant me a sight I'm unable to repeat until you agree to be mine and mine alone in this ravaged world."

She narrowed her eyes. "You are hiding things in these extrapolated sentences of yours. It bothers me, albeit only mildly," she pointed out.

"What I want to say often takes winding paths as my mouth catches up with my brain. Sometimes that makes what I say bloated, sometimes I use exactly as many words as are required," I retorted, still refusing to move. To tease her a little bit, and because it was the truth, I added, "Whatever greater truths you think evade you, I'm certain they will one day be revealed to you - for better or for worse."

Esther turned completely, raising one of her elegantly swung eyebrows. "Would you explain yourself if I asked?"

I realized that the teasing had perhaps gone a little bit too far. Now I had to earnestly think for a second if she could handle what I could reveal to her. 'Welldark exists to reveal things at a safe pace,' I thought and therefore shook my head, "No, sorry."

"What if it were for a bet?" she asked, gesturing fluidly towards the still body of water behind her. "Whoever swims faster may ask of the other a single thing, deed or truth, would that make you willing to talk?"

"No," I responded immediately. "Perhaps you already know IT, but then you wouldn't need to ask. It's not on me to unveil things pertaining to the Dimensional Truth. Such things can be damaging, as you should know."

"A lake's depth can be quite deceptive," she suddenly quoted what I had said when she had moved into the mansion. "Light breaks on the surface and even if the upper layers might be translucent, the bed might be hidden in a muddy cloud. It's unwise to make guesses about depth while only swimming on the surface." She stopped for a moment. "I wondered how much that esoteric statement truly applied to you, good Karitas. It may be that the knowledge of many Nightmares dwells in you."

The way she said that made it clear that she knew things. Not as much as me, but more than young people of the Dimensional Truth should.

"Enough on the dangers of knowing - a simple competition for sport, then," Esther announced and averted her gaze. She bent forwards into the jumping position, her ass spreading and spilling out of her swimsuit. A heart shaped work of art that I would have wanted to do a vast variety of things too.

"We can still bet something less important or more touchy!" I hastily suggested. Betting for favours was all fine with me, only the particular subject had caused me to immediately deny the offer.

"Aside from knowledge, you cannot promise me a thing I could not have whenever I chose to," Esther declared, holding her position. It was an acute observation. In this current dance of romance we were having, I was the chasing participant. All physical things she could want from me, she could get the moment she decided to. That was the power I gave her over me, by declaring so openly what I wanted. "Tell me when to start."

With a sigh, I resigned to this being, most likely, just another ogling session. 'Why did I have to fall for a woman with a brain bigger than a walnut and a working set of standards?' I complained to myself, thinking of girls I had known that had been a lot easier to court into the sheets. Which had also all been rather short-lived and insufferably shallow relationships. 'Kinda answered my own question there,' I added, then did as was asked. "Alright." I said, burning the picture of her pushed out ass into my memory. "Ready! Set! GO!"

Esther leapt off of the platform and dove under the clear surface in wonderful form. The initial momentum carried her forwards for quite a bit, then she broke through the surface and smoothly transitioned into a crawl effortlessly upon reaching the surface. Within less than a dozen seconds, she had reached the other side of the pool.

Pushing herself off the opposite wall, she once more covered a good amount of distance underwater. All of them were basic things for competitive swimming, but impressively executed regardless.

"Eighteen seconds," I remarked when she was back, sparing myself the decimals. "Well, done."

Esther grabbed the nearby ladder and came out of the pool. "Not my best time," she stated in neither a boastful nor annoyed fashion. Just a fact she wanted to share, evidently, but easily misinterpreted for her lack of clear tone. "It will suffice for this competition. Your turn."

As I handed over the stopwatch, my eyes got stuck on the way the dripped from her hair. Its natural wildness was mostly tamed while soaked, but a couple of strands remained rebellious enough to stick out. One such laid across her face. A dew slowly formed at the tip and then fell part her lips and into her cleavage. I had to stop myself there.

"Alright," I said and rolled my shoulders to warm them up and keep the blood from gathering in places that would have increased water resistance. I didn't want to doom myself before even getting into the pool. I walked to the platform, took the two steps up and bent down into position. The slightly slanted podium was the ideal jump-off point. It wasn't all that helpful when it came to balance, however.

Which was my excuse for failing to hold my ground when I felt a sudden sting on my left asscheek. I tilted forwards, spanked by a considerably powerful woman, and took a graceless dive. Semi-cold water enveloped me. For a moment, I flailed around, confused where up and down was. Once I got that sorted, I pushed myself off the tiled pool floor and burst through the surface. I had to free my eyes of my white hair, as I turned around and shouted. "What was that about?!"

Esther showed me an expression I hadn't seen on her yet. A mischievous little smile, almost devilish in its balance between mockery and cuteness. The giggle that preceded her answer was almost enough to forgive her. "Your continued gazes are flattering, but an act of revenge seemed in order."

I hadn't taken her for the type. Hell, I still didn't think she was the type. The way she stood there and just watched for my reaction indicated inexperience with situations like the one she had just caused. As she had told I was making her discover new sides of herself, I shouldn't have been fully surprised. Regardless of that, this called for payback.

"Revenge..." I grumbled, overexaggerating my rage, and closed my eyes. "I will give you revenge..." Astral Capacity poured out of my soul and into the world. I needed to think with crystal clarity, mark a certain spot and concentrate on it. When I opened my eyes again, I was right behind Esther. She was already in the process of turning around, but the element of surprise was on my side. I tackled her. Both arms wrapped around her waist, I took both of us over the edge of the pool and falling back down into the water.

What followed was a playfight taking place mostly underwater, with the occasional break through the surface to snap for fresh air. Limbs were grabbed, kicks exchanged, and grapples broken, as we competed over who ended up in the dominant position. The answer, in this case, was me. With two moves that were more luck and instinct than proper planning, I managed to grab both of her wrists and push her against the wall. Keeping her armscrossed and pinned, I had her before me in all her beauty.

In the chaos, she had lost her scrunchy, her wet hair now open and sticking to all of her gorgeous head. The strand across her face had been joined by a few more, unifying into a streak of black. I really had to wonder how long it must have taken her every morning to take this naturally discordant, wavy and chaotic sea and transform it into something that looked actually orderly. Left alone, it clearly would have settled in a style opposite of her character.

Breathing heavily from the exhaustion and the recent lack of oxygen, we looked at each other. There was very little space between us. I felt her breasts brush against my chest with every controlled expansion of her lungs. Her legs were parted around mine, albeit only in the sense that she was standing with her feet parallel to mine.

My eyes darted down for a moment, to her parted lips, the sensuous red enticing me. "Yet again, you caught me," the movements of her mouth were as sultry as the voice they formed, tilting her head a little bit as if she could find an answer to a question if she looked from a different angle. "What would you like to do most, right now?"

"Same answer as the last few times, even if I can only say it honestly right now." I relaxed my grip on her. "Make you mine." I let go and we got a little distance between us. The conversation simply stopped there, so I slipped into a more humorous topic, "Look, if you want to touch my butt, I want to be recompensated at an interest rate of-"

"You teleported," Esther interjected, more curious about my powers.

"Yes, you already saw I can do that," I retorted, finding that to be a rather dull thing to talk about. Teleporting was by far the least interesting part of my powers. However, her piercing gaze made it clear she thought otherwise. "It's really not that interesting. I stand here, then I stand elsewhere. It's not even that much faster than running. Plus, closing my eyes in the middle of combat is risky."

"Perhaps you should not shut your eyes then, Karitas?" she asked in a tone so serious that I couldn't possibly look at it as a joke.

"If it was that easy...," I responded slowly. Too slow, I realized, when she tilted her head just a little further. "What makes you think it's possible?"

"The time you spend with closed eyes seems voluntary. Admittedly, I know little about the different working of body-bound Artefacts," she dropped the topic there, apparently unwilling to make further statements about things she had little education on. She briefly dove under the surface and retrieved her scrunchie. "Let us continue with our competition."

'Well, we're certainly reading each other...' I thought, wondering how long I could keep secrets from someone who was watching me as much as I was watching her. Willt and Arlethia were great friends and didn't try to pry into my personal matters, even if they caught something off about me sometimes. Esther was inspecting me for relationship fitness. The degree to which I would be laid bare could hardly be compared.

"Alright," I agreed to her proposition, knowing when to take my way out of a topic. We left the poll, I got to go second, and then I positioned myself on the starting platform again. This time, I was allowed to compete without any sudden interruptions.

While swimming wasn't really my strong suit, I knew proper form. The motions I followed were the same as Esther's, although our exact execution varied. I had more raw strength to put into the matter, where she was more agile. Regardless of whether or not we were going beyond the average capacities of humans (themselves a balanced species), as humanoids the genders still imposed some limitations on the basis of body structure. This did give me a practical edge, since I didn't have sizable floaters attached to my chest.