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Sunday Funday 2
🕑 Added 2025-01-08 18:37:26 +0000 UTCAN: I could have split this to get it out on time, but I thought it worked better as a whole. There's some smut towards the end.
In the background loomed a ruined brick building, the cracks on its face spelling in stylized hanzi ‘That Beast Inside You’. In the foreground stood a man who was twice identifiable as me, having both James’s broad facial features and body as well as Alan’s beard, barely groomed hair, and favorite sunglasses. His right hand was a bony claw holding a stark-white wakizashi, and his thin, monstrous shadow wore ragged robes not otherwise present in the pencil drawing.
I summoned all my acting chops to push aside the acute sense of dread. “Woooow, this is sick, lil bro. You made this today? That’s crazy skill. Reminds me of Vagabond.”
The eight-year-old nodded, pulling his sweater up over his nose to hide his embarrassment. His mother pulled him to her side, ruffling his hair with pride.
“Atsushi-kun wants to be a mangaka when he grows up,” she said, smiling down at her son. “He has such talent, no?”
“World class, for sure.” I patted him on his shoulder. “As long as you keep working hard, there’s no way you’ll fail.”
The boy let out a barely audible “Thanks” before quickly shuffling back, letting one of his younger cousins step in to give me their gift. My refrigerator would be fully covered once I got home.
"Yo, everyone!" shouted Sunada Daigo, kimono flapping as he burst back into the foyer of the Ishida's turn-of-the-century manor. The man insisted on dressing in Meiji-era robes, claiming it helped him write his novel faster. He had his arms full of artifacts that he lifted up to show me, each radiating a mix of curiosity and power. “Take a gander, my boy! All of these tsukumogami have agreed to serve as Susy’s dowry should you marry her!”
“O-Ojiichan!” stammered Susy, flapping her arms in panic.
The Ishida patriarch, Ishida Hiroaki, groaned, dragging his hand down his face, looking suddenly twenty years older. "Daigo."
Susy’s grandmother stormed over and whacked her husband across the back of the head. “Idiot! What do you think you’re doing!?”
“Itai! I’m matchmaking, woman! Don’t interfere! You’ve got to strike while the iron’s hot. A man like James doesn’t stay single for long.”
“Who said he’s single now!?”
There was an awkward beat as everyone collectively avoided looking at Maki.
“I’m getting it on the record then! What’s wrong with that?”
Things devolved from there into a raucous, not-at-all-serious argument between the Sunada patriarch and the rest of the adults. There was no actual vitriol; it was just an excuse for older members of the families to embarrass the single girls and women of the Clans by jokingly playing matchmaker for those they were closest to. Several red-faced teenage girls ushered Maki and me out of the building not long after.
Sunset reds and purples bathed us as we walked back to Maki’s apartment arm-in-arm through the weekend crowds. She stayed quiet the whole way save for an occasional sigh of contentment, my silent company helping recharge her emotional battery. The introvert was exhausted. Maki had been as much of a star as I had at lunch, something she hadn’t anticipated and couldn’t quite adjust to. I thought the attention was to be expected after the Exorcism, but I suppose we all have blind spots in our rational brains where family is concerned.
The moment we were inside, Maki flattened her back to the door and slid to the ground, limbs limp and legs splayed out in front of her.
“I don’t know how you do it,” she said up at me.
“It wasn’t so bad. I told you I liked meeting new people.”
"Ugh. Extroverts." The words lacked any bite, her voice distant and her mind elsewhere. I didn't respond and let her reminisce in peace, sensing she needed to work through her thoughts. After some time, she said, "Everyone wanted my advice on their personal projects. They were treating me like a genius."
“You are a genius.”
She scoffed and lightly thumped the door with the back of her head. “I used to do this for an hour or more sometimes, you know. I’d come home, close the door, and sink to the ground. And then I’d sit here, sometimes until it got dark, trying to summon the energy to reach forward and take off my shoes.”
I kept the frown off my face. A despondent Maki sitting depressed in the dark was a disquieting image, but I knew she was too proud to appreciate any overt sympathy. “What does emotional stability have to do with genius? I doubt they were coming to you for advice on grieving.”
Maki grinned a little at the jab. She enjoyed light confrontation in a way I rarely saw outside of martial artists.
"They didn't treat me like a sage a few weeks ago when I was living like this." She gestured to herself and the almost empty apartment around us, devoid of decorations and most signs of life. "I was a problem then, a constant reminder of what they'd lost. They grieved me like I was already dead. My family kept me at arm's length, afraid to give me any ideas on magic that could further what they believed was delusion. My own mother—" she paused and shook her head. “No one believed in me. Zelda left, and I didn’t blame her. All of their reactions made sense at the time; I knew what I was doing was self-destructive and probably hopeless, and it didn’t bother me.” She sighed and thumped the door again. “Then I met you.”
“And now it bothers you?”
“Yes. You were a complete stranger, you had no context for what I could or could not do, and yet you still believed in me enough to put your life in my hands, even with me openly antagonizing you for the first hour or so.”
“Longer than that,” I grumbled.
She ignored the interruption. “I know it’s wrong, and I still love them of course, but since meeting you, whenever I interact with my family or…old friends, I can’t help but think, ‘Why are you so surprised to see me alive and well?’ It’s irksome, a little needle of discomfort present in every interaction. You took me seriously from the start; it makes it hard to forget that they never did.”
I smiled and knelt down. Picking up her foot, I began undoing the laces on her sensible walking shoes. She gave me the smallest of smiles and ran her hands through my hair appreciatively.
“Don’t give me too much credit. You’ve got to be fully insane to do what we do – that goes for us both. Everything about you I found interpersonally alarming was a plus for monster hunting. The reckless disregard for your life, the single-minded obsession with your goal, the willingness to bet it all on experimental techniques, that’s all standard for a youxia.”
“Maybe. It would certainly explain the lack of living colleagues. I think you give yourself too little credit, though. You have a natural belief in others that inspires and empowers them; I’ve seen it firsthand in myself, and in Annie and Marianne as well. Either way, now that I’ve known your unshakeable faith, there exists a sharp contrast between that and what I was offered by those closest to me. I’m not sure I can step back into the roles I once occupied for them.”
"No one's expecting you to, I'm pretty sure. And if they are, fuck 'em. That's their problem." I pulled off her shoes and scooped her up in my arms, earning a pleased and uncharacteristic giggle from the beautiful priestess. Winking and switching to highly archaic and formal Japanese, I said, "Biased as I may be, as your retainer, I think you've gained a far grander and more noble purpose. Now, miko-sama, where am I taking you?"
Maki threaded her fingers through my thick, black hair and pulled me down for a long, gentle kiss. "Thanks. I missed you. I think I might need an incredibly pig-headed, frustrating moron in my life to distract me from the doldrums of modern living."
“Anytime. Sorry for leaving you out of the loop. I didn’t realize your time off would be so fraught.”
"It's okay. You were kind to think me capable of relaxing." She gave me another quick peck on the lips, then clapped her hands. "I could get used to this. To the bedroom, samurai. Your mistress wishes to lounge."
I wagged my brows down at her. “Is that all my mistress wishes to do in the bedroom?”
“Hmph. Don’t get any ideas, James. These jeans are staying on until you’ve related every second of every day since we last met.”
“You sure? I feel like we were getting somewhere with your introspection. You really want to interrupt it for several stories that are going to make you very upset?”
“Don’t try to use my crisis of self to get out of confessing, James. It’s gauche.”
“Just can’t help but notice that while you say you don’t want to retread the past, you still recruited your ex-girlfriend to—" Maki pinched my nostrils closed and twisted my nose. “Gah, fine! Use your words, woman, goddamn.”
It took hours to recount everything that happened. The days had been overfull, and Maki was excruciatingly thorough in her inquiries, making me wrack my mind for every detail. She made it easy on me, though. Maki's clothes had to stay on until we were done, but there were no such stipulations for mine. She stripped me naked, reveling in the unwrapping, but kept her touches chaste if sensual. Propping her back up on pillows and the headboard of her bed, she had me lay partially on top of her, resting my head just below her breasts.
We spent the rest of the twilight hour and into the night like that, me answering questions and offering opinions, Maki stroking my upper chest and massaging my scalp as she interrogated me. The blinds stayed open and the lights off, leaving us to lie in the reflected orange and whites of the streetlamp and signs outside her windows. Whistling hisses from the ancient steam radiator harmonized with the constant dull thrum of car engines and the unobtrusive screeching of trains braking in the far distance. Her apartment was barely ten feet above the sidewalk, and we could hear clearly the conversations of people passing underneath. Those, too, were nice in a way. They served as a reminder that life continued on, and that there was a city out there worth fighting for. If time stopped and all there was from then on was this bed in this apartment with this woman, then it would have been a welcome eternity.
Maki was largely just amused by the Peach of Immortality incident, using the opportunity to call me a momma’s boy. Whatever risks I’d taken by fighting Ma over the fruit weren’t worth chiding me for considering the outcome, and while she was curious as to how I’d manifested the Divine Treasure, she knew I wasn’t willing to get into the details.
“Perhaps you could have started the conversation by offering to split the Peach, but you martial artists tend to be all-or-nothing with your thinking. Overall, though, I think your actions were admirable; I’d certainly do worse if it meant making my mother an Immortal.”
“What about the power I earned after? I’m the ‘Paragon of Filial Piety’ – you don’t find that worrying? The more famous I get, the more of an impact I’ll have on culture.”
“James, you nearly fought your mother to the death to feed her a Peach of Immortality. It’s oxymoronic. How would that even translate as an example for others to follow? It’s just a lesson on sacrificing personal gains and enduring hardships for the good of your family. As long as you stay kind and compassionate, then I think the world could do with having you as a role model.”
“What about all the horny shit?”
“Incest between divine beings has always been common. There’s nothing new there.”
I was always a bit disconcerted to be reminded that Maki genuinely didn’t believe I was human. It wasn’t mere conjecture to the woman, she fully and completely thought of me as more of an Archon or Kami than a man.
“Ew, gross. Come on, Maki.”
She laughed and planted a kiss on my forehead. "You really are such a momma's boy. Is it so hard to believe that she's a woman with needs too? You were fine with using them against her to win your fight."
“She can go on dates like everyone else! And do you hear yourself? I feel like me using Erotic Sorcery against Ma has already warped your opinions.”
“Using lust magic to stave off the death of your mother is perhaps the most innocent use of it in the history of mankind. But, very well, I’ll keep an eye on how my opinions on filial piety develop as you continue to interact with your family. Happy?”
“Not exactly the word I’d use, but I’ll take it.”
Maki was less than amused by the entirety of the Kingfisher adventure, including the shenanigans leading up to it. Her groping hands felt more frenetic and anxious, as if they were afraid I’d vanish if they stopped checking I was there.
“Li Tieguai is selling your story for favors? You’re certainly moving up in the world. What’s your plan when the consequences of that come due? The Gods are slow to move, but some are sure to follow up on their curiosity.”
“Uhhh.”
She sighed. “Oh, James. Nothing at all?”
“Don’t die?”
“Inspired, truly. May I suggest keeping some gifts worthy of a God on hand, perhaps wine or meat? They take hospitality as seriously as you do. A good meal can go a long way towards earning their friendship.”
“I wouldn’t know where to begin with that.”
She patted my head. “I’ll try to put something together, then. Our Clan excels at bargaining with Gods. Go on.”
I expected anger from her on hearing about how the meeting with the Cranes went, but to my surprise, very little was directed at me. She spent much of the story with both arms wrapped around my head, clutching me to her chest possessively.
When I mentioned that I thought she’d be more upset with me, she said, “It sounds like you’ve acknowledged your mistakes, and I wouldn’t have known how to play the situation any better. Obviously, I don’t think you should have ever entertained their invitation, but it’s done now. I can tell it’s haunting you; I’m not going to make it worse.”
“Yeah…” I trailed off for a moment, remembering the way the Flesh Puppet shredded its way out of its corpse vessel. “At least I know about Uncle Hou now, the fuck. Never shopping at UltraFresh again, that’s for sure.” How many times had that bastard sold rice to the widows of men he’d had killed?
"True, and we know they control HuaGen Chemical. I'll investigate this mysterious Founder of theirs as well and see if we can turn your disastrous meeting into something fruitful; if they've been around for as long as the Cranes claim, then there should be plenty of evidence of who they are, and what they're capable of. BHU's East Asian Anthropology department has a number of rare texts in the library. I think there's a clue in the Founder's connection to this Falling Leaf Lin woman and her student. It's odd that they would request her to train an heir to their Sect without being a member herself. I'll ask that you refrain from further contact with the Cranes until I've had a chance to try and turn something up. What's this plan you alluded to for the Founder?"
Maki already understood that I could gain power and rewards through acting like a hero and/or sex pest, though I hadn't defined the system much beyond that. "I have a way of mind control I gained through my unique method of cultivation," I said, referencing the Relationship Tokens. "It hasn't been tested, and I can't exactly crank it out, but in theory, I could make them trust me as though I was their own son. I just need a name and a face. I figure if I can get in front of the Founder, I might be able to neutralize or seize control of the Black Harbor branch of the Cranes without spilling any blood."
“If you’re considering that at all, then you must test it now in controlled conditions.”
I winced. “I don’t know, not super comfortable with mind control.”
“Find a deserving target then or put it out of your thoughts entirely. Either way, there is no world in which you try mind control for the first time on a legendary Immortal with their own Sect of killers and spies. Do you understand, James?”
"Yeah, guess so, not as much fun your way, though." I drummed my fingers on my abs. "The Cranes didn't give me much in their dossier on the Tigers, but there were the names of a few Captains inside. I suppose mind control reduces the chance that I'll have to burn them to death."
Her voice grew cold, and she hugged me tighter. “They’ve more than earned my enmity. You’ll hear no objections from me.”
Maki was quiet for several long minutes after I concluded the recap. I could almost hear her brain working to make connections behind me.
"It would, by any reasonable estimation," she said at last, "take fewer resources to actually reduce crime in Harbor Hill than it would to fake doing so, especially if they're already paying out the police overtime." Maki spoke slowly, clearly still working through her theories. "It's safe to assume then that the responsible parties benefit from the chaos in the neighborhood, enough that they're willing to spend exorbitantly and risk exposure through any of the hundreds of people that would have to be involved in the conspiracy. Your ex, Maria, believes the man responsible to be Garret Evans, whom you also saw at the Kingfisher. She believes this because she's seen signs of high-level coverups occur in Harbor Hill and because an accountant who worked for him succumbed to demonic possession, which was subsequently covered up in the same manner. Is that correct so far?"
“Yeah, but it should be noted that Maria is not exactly in prime form mentally.”
"She sounds to be in a similar headspace to the one I was in not too long ago. Even so, what she's essentially alleging without the vocabulary to do so, is that there's a powerful warlock acting in the shadows to pull the strings in Black Harbor's Underworld, and for that we have some evidence independent of Maria. For example, there is the unusual manifestation of negative energy you've termed The Misery. There is no explanation for why a minor spirit you chased away would return with a morass of its peers for revenge that doesn't include a greater intelligence controlling or guiding them in some way; it's simply impossible otherwise. A skilled binder and Petitioner of dark spirits would serve as a plausible explanation, especially if we assume The Misery is an attempt to keep the neighborhood in a state of despair. A warlock of sufficient power and ambition is going to need a ready source of human sacrifices; that alone would be reason enough to keep the Hill the way it is. He would need some way to disguise both the number of people going missing and the frequency; after all, if his enemies discovered when he was renewing his Pacts, then they could disrupt them. But this is tangential to your most pressing concerns."
“The Tigers.”
“No, the Cranes.”
I paused, trying to figure out where she was coming from. Sure, they were definitely also an issue, but they weren't the ones with the million-dollar bounty on me. "Elaborate."
"Thus far, your conflict with the Tigers has been due to circumstance. This new leader of theirs, Junior, sent a disposable, low-level member to antagonize your mother, likely to test what her response might be in preparation for the upcoming hot war. That led to your fight with Kuze, and it would have ended there if the video of your duel hadn't leaked. Everything after can be attributed to a mix of saving face and the cycle of violence. We know why you were on Bell Street, but to the Tigers, it appears as if you did some property damage in response to their aggression."
“Okay. They’re still trying to kill me.”
"You remain trapped by the cycle of violence, yes, but your problems with the Cranes are far worse. It won't be circumstance that brings you into conflict with them; it will be your continued actions and goals. For one, we know that the Cranes are friendly with Evans, who has likely invested tremendous resources in Harbor Hill's Underworld and will be opposed to your crime-fighting efforts there. Secondly, ignoring that you're bound to make an enemy of their ally, the Cranes admitted to you that they are preparing for war, regardless of how Junior behaves. They view the gang war as inevitable and have for some time. Even I knew that Boss Gao was in poor health; the man was the living image of a gluttonous, aging gangster. The Cranes had years to prepare for his death – how many of their plans rely on war in Chinatown? How do you think they'll respond to a young youxia with broad popular support from the neighborhood butting his head in? You got lucky and managed to defend Crane leadership from an assassination attempt, but that won't keep them at bay for long. These people are snakes."
I groaned and rubbed my temples. These were problems that called for a whole Party of Player Characters. “I just need to weather the storm,” I muttered.
“Wrong, your passive attempts to weather the storm continue to worsen your problems. James, you need allies. I understand why you’re reticent; all existing organizations within the Underworld will ask things of you that you will object to. However, through your boneheaded impulsiveness, you’ve created the perfect opportunity, an organization entirely committed to you, James Li.” There was a certain vindictive glee in her voice, a bit of anticipatory schadenfreude. “You need to find these new sex cults and establish control over them. There are very few people on the planet willing to make an enemy of even a small coven of witches; you may have access to multiple.”
“What.” I twisted around to meet her gaze. “Are you insane? I’m not doing that! I want nothing to do with a sex cult, let alone have one based around me.”
“Oh yes, because it will be much better if you allow them to develop on their own, I’m sure. Don’t be absurd, James. Your image infects dreams, your words become recurring thoughts, and your actions are preternaturally inspiring – do you think this is going to go away if you leave it alone? Maybe, maybe, if you did literally nothing and disappeared from public life, the cults would fall into in-fighting and collapse, but you and Annie put out content almost daily. You will only be reinforcing their adoration while leaving your intentions, what, up to interpretation from online superfans? That’s your plan? Hope that your obsessives and zealots happen to act in a way that agrees with you? You have to start being proactive, or your problems will only keep mounting."
She wasn’t wrong, but I had my own ideas. I pushed myself onto my elbows and scooched up so that I was hovering over Maki, our faces only inches apart. My soft cock hung low, brushing against her upper thigh. “Maki, let me train you. I don’t need a sex cult; I just need a small core of strong adventurers.”
“Like the men you killed in Mugisha’s? James, be realistic.”
“Just a few days. I promise it’ll make a world of difference. I’ll even train Zelda if you want me to.”
Her eyes went wide. “Absolutely not. The stronger Zelda gets, the more likely it becomes that she seeks out a problem that she’s not equipped to handle. Zelda’s sharply defined limits have kept her alive.”
"Fine, whatever. Let me train you, at least."
"James, you can't run away from this forever. These are the consequences of your actions; at some point, you will have to deal with them."
“Yeah, but what if I super don’t want to though?”
I sucked in a breath. Maki had scooped my hefty cock into her palm, her smile growing smug. I recognized this tactic. “Then delegate the task. Susy is charismatic, proficient enough in magic to recognize what not to do, and enamored with you. Lend her your authority, make a few minor appeasements to your followers, and she can do the rest.”
"You're trying to condition me with positive reinforcement again. It's adorable that you think this works. I'm not a dog, Maki."
Her eyes lit up at the challenge; it was on now. She lifted her head slowly and took my lower lip between her teeth, gently grazing it before kissing me. Hot breaths warmed my face as she walked her lips across my chin up to my ear. “Roll over, James,” she whispered.
"Adorable," I repeated. I allowed her to maneuver me onto my back again anyway, though. Even if we were at odds currently, this was a side of Maki I loved to see. That obscene confidence of hers, when turned towards seduction, cut like a knife through my defenses. "You want me to make Susy my head priestess, isn't she a little…"
Maki guided me further up so that my head was resting on her shoulder, making it easier for her to reach my dick. Her handjob began slow and teasing, her palm dragging its way from base to tip before lifting off and beginning the journey again. Every time she did, my cock hardened, and her heartbeat quickened, as excited as I was despite her cool demeanor.
“Nothing so dramatic. I’m suggesting making her your liaison, one step between you and your fanatics. While I’m aware her mind is not as bright as her soul, I do believe she would excel at people management. Besides, I’d be shocked if Susy doesn’t already have a connection to one of your cults. You’ve become her ADHD hyperfixation, if you haven’t noticed.”
Alan stirred restlessly within my mind; we very much had noticed, and that part of my psyche wasn’t thrilled to be a teen heartthrob. “Why not you? I saw you today with your family; even if you find it tiring, you aren’t bad at social interaction.”
She sipped her teeth. “My skills and time are better applied elsewhere.”
I could hear the disdain in her voice. “Ha! You don’t like the idea of sex cultists any more than I do!”
“Of course I don’t.” She turned my head to hers and leaned down for a kiss, lips and tongue possessive and demanding, only pulling away when her lungs were burning. Maki buried her face in my hair and took a shaky breath. “Do you think I’d share you if I didn’t have to? I’m putting aside my distaste because I recognize the necessity.”
“What about Zelda?”
“Zelda,” her grip on my cock tightened, “has proven that she doesn’t have the stomach for what is necessary.”
I'd actually been asking about the sharing comment, but her tone had answered that as well. "Getting some mixed messages here. You don't want her involved, but you recruited her anyway? You don't want her to get hurt, but you don't want me to train her to be stronger? You don't want to share, but you were okay with flirting with us both at the same time?"
Maki sighed and extracted herself from under me, hopping off the bed. She moved to better stand in the glow coming through the window and began to slowly unbutton her blouse. “I wasn’t flirting with her; we were just falling back into old habits. Zelda and I, I’m afraid, might be in the process of getting back together.”
I thought back to Maria teasing me in the storage room in Mugisha’s. “I can empathize.”
Maki let her blouse fall off her shoulders, giving me a sultry look as she started to wriggle out of her tight jeans. She enjoyed my hungry gaze, nipples hardening as she tossed her long hair behind her to better reveal her pale flesh, dyed orange by the streetlamps outside. “At least Maria has changed significantly. Your relationship, were it to develop again, would be new. You couldn’t fall into the same dynamics if you wanted to. Zelda, though, is the same as she was, while I am so different.”
“She was open to helping us. I don’t think Zelda’s so naïve as to not know what that would entail.”
"She is trying hard to make amends. Her guilt is getting the better of her. But let me ask you, her tarot deck was away by the time I rejoined you – she reacted poorly to drawing the Death cards, didn't she?"
“Was pretty spooked, yeah. Though, I would say that’s the healthy and appropriate reaction to feeling Funikugami’s interference directly.”
“I don’t disagree, but our lifestyle is hardly healthy or appropriate. We are hunters of the night, those stupid and crazy enough to run into the darkness." Maki pushed her panties down her legs, letting them dangle from one ankle, and tried kicking them toward me. She missed, and they knocked a pen off her end table instead. "Damn."
I laughed. “You were so close to being cool right there.”
“Shut up, James.” She crawled onto the bed dressed in only her bra now, moving up to straddle my legs and grabbing my cock with both hands. “No more talking about me and my problems. You’re the one going from catastrophe to catastrophe. All I’ve been doing is rehashing the same arguments with myself for days. Here, distract yourself with my breasts.”
Maki pushed her chest forward and leaned down, offering her cleavage for me. I raised a brow at the flagrant attempt to change topics, but couldn’t help myself. I undid her bra with a flick of my wrist and pulled her down to enjoy the feel of her soft and full tits against my face.
"You're treating me like a dog again," I said, voice muffled by her cleavage.
She cupped the top of my now leaking and fully erect cock and rubbed her palm in a circle around it, dragging the precum to the base. "You are a dog. Flirting with my ex like that," she teased. "I left you two alone for a few minutes, and she was practically staining my couch when I came back."
I allowed a bit of lust magic to infect my lips and started kissing around her breasts, coming tantalizing close to her nipples but never taking them into my mouth. She started twisting her wrists in response, making sure every inch of my cock felt her tight grip. "You knew exactly what you were doing. Were you trying to make her jealous, or have you been thinking about it? Me and her? You and me? Me, you, and her?"
“My fan—” she hissed as I brushed my lips against her areola. “My fantasies of threesomes are irrelevant to this discussion. You’re my samurai. Zelda doesn’t deserve you. Frankly, I oscillate by the minute on whether or not she deserves to watch. Annie—hng!” Maki forced the moan and tried quickening the pace of her hands. Yearning Song started pinging excitedly. It wasn’t Zelda who’d been playing the starring role in most of her fantasies, it seemed.
You can’t fool me with fake moans, young lady.
“What was that about Annie?”
“Nothing. I misspoke.”
I lay back onto the pillows, leaving my hands glued to her chest, and extended my force pythons to bind and arrest her wrists. She glared down at me, but I could tell she was mostly annoyed with herself for the slip-up.
“I was wondering why you wouldn’t commit to letting me train you. Really, Maki? This is unlike you.”
She groaned loudly. “Ugh! I know! Okay? I am aware. There’s nothing you can tell me that I haven’t been yelling at myself for days. Can we please get back to your more pressing concerns?” Her thumb started rubbing circles on my frenulum for the double entendre.
“There’s a war coming. If your ‘will they, won’t they’ with Zelda is stopping you from training with me and Annie, then I’d say that’s a very pressing concern. Do you think we’re going to get more weeks like this? You know that Annie and I can train with someone without fucking them, right?”
"Can you?" She grimaced and looked away. "Sorry, that was uncalled for. Obviously, you can; the question is, can I? Zelda has been surprisingly supportive of our relationship, and though I didn't reveal any of our research into Erotic Sorcery, she understands that an element of it will always be physical. But Annie is…"
"A highly charismatic, beautiful, incredibly fit former cheerleader and micro-celebrity with an engineering degree and hundreds of thousands of fans?"
"Yes, precisely. Zelda is a wonderful and understanding woman, but she'd have to be a saint to not grow jealous. And once Annie and I happens once, well, we're going to be working together in the future. It's just – it would close the door on dating Zelda." She added quickly, "Before you say anything, yes, I know I'm being childish and stupid."
“No, you’re not. You’re being normal for, like, maybe the first time since I met you.”
“Thank you,” she said dryly. “Such a way with words you have, very reassuring.”
I laughed. “Want my advice?”
“I didn’t think I did – asking you for help with human relationships feels counterintuitive, but…yes, an outside perspective would help. I can’t keep going back and forth on this.”
“First off, I’m pretty sure you are going to want Zelda more involved in the youxia stuff in the future, at least to keep her close. She’s a witch with Keletsnyan heritage; The Heavens aren’t so kind to let her be.”
“Agree to disagree.”
“Great, that makes this simpler.” I cranked my body heat up a few degrees and began radiating out pleasure. Nothing too disruptive, but now whatever part of her was touching me would be an erogenous zone as sensitive as her nipples. She closed her eyes and clenched her jaw in response, going perfectly still though not making any effort to separate. “You’re on a three-person team with a man who practices Erotic Sorcery and has magic cum, and a woman you are extremely attracted to. Maki, it’s over. Let’s be real. Unless you change your mind and want to incorporate Zelda into the team—”
“Which I won’t.”
I nodded. “Then it’s over. The chance of us, me, you, and Annie, not fucking is basically nil. You aren’t getting back together with Zelda. It’s not going to happen.”
To be clear, while I wasn’t lying, I was ‘abridging’ the truth. There were plenty of scenarios in which Maki and Zelda could happily date. For a start, with enough good Social rolls, I could simply convince her to be okay with limited consensual non-monogamy, and if we ever started fucking regularly, my various Harem Protagonist Feats would probably take care of it for me.
But those were complicated solutions that would come with their own considerations and compromises, and what Maki wanted more than anything was to be given permission to stop thinking about this. I was positive the genius had come to the conclusion I’d voiced, probably multiple times, but she was still human. Love had her acting the fool.
Maki opened her mouth but hesitated. “I…”
Something came upon me, rose up from my chest, and seized hold of my throat. Seeing her like this, so atypically unsure of herself, and hearing the weakness in her voice, hurt. Ken was avenged but she remained, forever changed from the experience. She was stuck, lost between two lives. I could more than empathize. But where I was able to compartmentalize, delay, forget, ignore, etc., my feelings, Maki could not. She was too direct, too beholden to reason, and too methodical to simply commit to improvising her way out of the problem.
Man, I felt stupid. Maki was right, and I was wrong. I'd been clinging to the belief that I could string it all along until I got to the finish line; if I clung any harder, my fingers would bleed, and my nails would fall off. If I could just reunite with my friends, I told myself, it would all work out, all the shit I was dealing with would be over. I wouldn't let those I cared about hurt to get there, but me? Fuck me. I just had to make it to the end, and then it would be fine. Once it was done, I could deal with all the personal baggage I'd accumulated on the way.
That was dumb. It was never going to work that way. Stories didn’t even work like that, which meant that there was no combination of Feats I could pick up to make it true.
I couldn’t put my head down, charge straight ahead, and barrel my way to victory. I couldn’t keep thinking of my time in this world as an obstacle to get through.
"Hey." I moved my hands away from her breasts and to her sides. She pouted at first at the loss of sensation but then blinked and sat up in concern, recognizing the shift in me. "I can make this way easier for you if you'd like."
“By all means, please.”
“Forget Zelda. Go out with me. Let’s start dating. It’s been easier for me to act like this life is…transitory, and maybe it is.” I rubbed my hands along her ribs. “But no matter how long I got, I’d like to spend the time with you.”
Her lips began to tremble as she fought to contain her emotions. In a perfectly neutral tone, she asked, “What about Annie?”
I shrugged. "Fuck it. You can date her, too. I'm not a jealous type of guy."
That got a sharp bark of laughter from her. She smiled, and the room lit up – literally. Blue motes began twinkling in and out of existence like a halo of fireflies hovering around her head. Maki fell forward, her hands and breasts trapped between us, my cock jumping from the added pressure. She rubbed her nose into my neck.
“You’re a fool, James Li.”
“Weird way to say yes.”
“I’m not going to be any less of a taskmaster.”
“Nice.” I paused. “Er, wait, don’t read into that. Pretend I threatened you with pushups or something.”
Maki laughed and started rolling her hips back and forth, rocking her sex against the base of my dick while pressing the rest of it against her abdomen. I retracted my telekinetic hold over her wrists, and she immediately got to work, pumping her hands in time with her hips. Kissing her way to my ear, she began circling my ear lobe with the tip of her tongue.
I arched my back at the sensation, making her hard nipples drag across my pecs. “My God, woman. What are you doing to me?”
[Ally Quest Complete! (Ishida Maki)]
Establish a long-term romantic relationship with Maki.
Reward: 50 XP, +1 Sensuality, Maki gains +2 Willpower
Bonus, Used no Skill or Attribute checks: Gain Special Feat Patron Saint[Special Feat] Patron Saint
Your soul has begun to take on aspects of Divinity. You become a valid target for Petitioning and may grant temporary blessings in your specialties to your followers and supplicants. The roll required to gain your blessings is made by the Petitioner, though you may make it easier with an Affinity check. You may choose to deny their requests freely, but recalling blessings already granted can require effort. As you gain more supplicants and followers, the scale and complexity of your blessings will grow.
“I’m going to make an honest Kami out of you, James.” She sat back up onto my thighs, the sheen I’d left on her flat tummy glistening in the ethereal blue light of her magic. Lifting her palms to her face, she laid her tongue flat and licked up the froth, never breaking eye contact for a second. Between passes, she said, “My family is going to be insufferable, but that’s a sacrifice I’m willing to make. You’re welcome.”
“Hey, I’m the one missing out on all those tsukumogami from Susy’s dowry.”
“Don’t be so sure. If you get famous enough, I wouldn’t be surprised if they change the polygamy laws.”
I reached forward and grabbed Maki by her ass, pulling her closer and down, pinning my cock to my body with her sex. The girth of my shaft parted her wet, hot pussy lips, her clit a scintillating bead driving the underside of my dick crazy as I pushed and pulled her along its considerable length.
“What happened to – agh, shit – to not wanting to share?”
Maki smirked and started pushing down onto my shaft, the muscles in her core flexing under her pale skin. This was the smuggest I’d ever seen her, which was saying something. She grabbed my hands and guided them to her tits while continuing the motion of her hips, using me like a masturbatory aid, even going so far as to pinch her nipples using my fingers. The motes of light flitting around her reflected in her pupils, appearing like stars in her almost-black, dark brown eyes.
“That was before we were dating. Why would I care what slut you’re spending a night with when you’re spending your years with me? Who you let into your bed is of no concern, unless, of course, I happen to be sharing it at the moment.” She put her hand atop my breast. Her smirk gained an edge to it, and the burning motes began to dance faster. “Who you let into your heart, however, that I will have a say in. Is that clear?”
"Yes, ma'am." My cock twitched, making her gasp. "Don't read into that either. Anyone would have found it hot."
Maki only laughed in reply, not even entertaining my entirely reasonable argument. Her hand disappeared behind her back, where it briefly took the time to cup each of my balls before taking hold of my base. She rolled her hips all the way forward and leaned down to take my mouth, her tongue wrestling mine like it had a point to prove.
“Yessss,” she hissed as she pushed back on me, letting the first few inches of cock enter her.
She managed to take half of me in one clean motion before she had to pause to regain composure and adjust to the fullness, her sex-starved cunt fluttering and pulsing as her inner muscles tried to pull me deeper. I moved one hand to her back, running my palm along her spine, and the other lower to squeeze her ass.
After a very long thirty seconds of hard breathing, she lifted off my chest and sat herself back down onto my thighs and the last four inches of my cock, throwing her head back with a whimper. Her knees squeezed into my sides as she fought for balance against the pleasure now radiating into her through her inner walls. I would have dialed the lust magic down, but she growled with frustration when I tried, so I kept it where it was and stayed motionless, waiting for her to adjust.
Maki gulped and wet her lips. Half-lidded eyes shining with an almost manic gleam, she put her hand atop the small bump my dick was making in her abdomen. "This is its home. Wherever it wanders, whatever vapid whore it ruins for a night, this is where it comes back to." Keeping eye contact, she raised herself about halfway before slamming back down. "Agh! Understood?"
I slapped the mattress as she did it again, lifting up halfway and almost angrily slamming back down with all her strength. “Fuck, yes, Christ, Maki.” She did it again, adding a circular, rolling motion with her hips. “What the hell. Gah! You been training or something?”
"Yes. Mm. Practice," she ground out through clenched jaws, continuing her pace. "Dildo. In shower. Stuck it – Kami-sama – to the wall. Practiced for you. I won't, agh, lose, mmf, to sluts!"
The image of Maki naked, water pouring over her, breasts swinging in the shower as she fucked herself while thinking of me was too much. I managed, somehow, to not instantly bust, but my hands clutching the bed curled into fists, knuckles going white. Maki’s poor mattress and sheets were completely annihilated as hands capable of carving steel gouged out canyons on either side of me.
“Ah, shit. Whoops.”
“No!”
For a second, I thought she was super upset about her ruined bed, but her eyes were closed. She was fighting against cumming herself, legs starting to shake, her neck fully tensed, face scrunched together.
"Do it. Cum for me, Maki."
“No!” she shouted. “You first! I want more. Can’t. Lose.”
Spiritual energy, a component of Qi, started pulsing inside my dantian, responding to Maki’s fighting spirit. This was a first for me. Not only had I never been with a woman trying to cum second, but this was also the first time I'd been Petitioned. I could stop what was happening, but I couldn't yet shape the power, so I didn't try to. Her soul was calling out, begging for just a bit more control, a bit more stamina. She wanted desperately to impress me, to hammer her name onto my cock, to ruin other women for me. I could feel her intentions and perceive her desires with supreme clarity, far beyond what any of my other senses could give me. I let my soul answer her call.
There was a flash of golden light and an orgasmic cry of pleasure from Maki. She trembled and shook, her pussy trying to milk me for my cum. Incredibly, the strength of her inner muscles seemed to grow with every flutter, until I was forced to roll a Willpower to not nut. I chose to fail and began emptying my first load of the night, my vision going white as shot after shot after shot of jizz filled Maki to the brim until it was spilling out onto my balls and thighs.
Maki recovered first and started rocking her hips up and down again. Her movements were smoother and far more controlled this time, and I could tell she was taking it easy on me, being gentle while I rode out my unnaturally extended orgasm.
“I need to,” I panted, “get a hold of my climaxes. Jesus.”
“Mmm, I don’t know,” purred Maki. “I might prefer you like this, trembling like a wet puppy underneath me.”
She had a wide Cheshire grin on her face and was notably…prettier? Yes, and fitter too. And considering the skill with which she was working her interior walls and core muscles, she was better at sex as well.
“Holy shit. That was…really intimate. Did you feel that too?”
“Did I feel that?” She laughed. “I’m feeling it now! Your Qi, it’s, it’s incredible,” her voice shook with the last word. Maki licked her lips, a fresh hunger in her eyes. “I knew you were a God! Zelda doubted me, went on about how I needed to respect your ‘identity’, but I knew it from the start. You’re an Archetype, a Kami of sex and fighting; I can feel it, a sliver of your core inside me.”
Great, there was zero chance she’d be normal about this. “I actually think you kind of manifested this ability.”
She shuddered and turned her attention inward, eyes unfocusing for a second. "Yesss. I can feel that too." Maki smiled and pulled me up into a sitting position, moving my head to her breasts and mashing them against my face. "Aww, don't worry, my darling, I can feel your reticence too. I'll take the lead on this research for you, James. All you have to do, hah," her breathing and hips began to quicken with each word. "All you have to do is, agh, be my wonderful, beautiful, adoring, loving, ahm, fucking, hah, fighting, G-God! Ahh!"
Maki tossed her hair wildly and came again, not bothering to fight it this time. She kept fucking me through the orgasm, movement becoming jerky but never stopping. Her arms clutched my head to her chest, her face burying itself in my hair.
I extended my force pythons, encircling her body but not exerting enough force to hold her still. Maki wanted to control the pace, and I was happy to oblige; the telekinetic limbs were only to show my appreciation for every inch of her perfect body, her narrow waist and wide hips. My mouth opened to take in her jiggling breasts, alternating between her hard nipples, rolling them with my tongue and sucking on them. She really liked that, both the sensations and the feeling of nursing me; it let her feel powerful and in control, and for tonight that was exactly what she wanted. After days of waffling between what she wanted to do with her life, Maki was back in command; she was herself again.
With that in mind, I played the part of a passive and willing recipient of her love and affection. She spoiled me, both with her pulsing pussy and her words, whispering a mix of wholesome promises for the future and deranged fantasies into my ears between kisses and climaxes. I got to hear, "Can you feel my heartbeat through your tongue, James? It beats for you." right after, "I can't wait to spank Annie's perfect ass while she bounces on this cock." It was an odd and very pleasant form of emotional whiplash.
She was sweating and panting, at the limits of her borrowed power as I lost my fight to my second climax. I could have cum ten minutes prior but had been too entranced by her sex and words to give in, knowing that we'd probably have to stop soon so I could get some sleep before the first big day of training.
Without needing to be informed, Maki sensed my orgasm coming and hopped off my cock, rushing to kneel on the floor by the edge of the bed. With a hand on my shaft, she led me into her mouth, stretching her lips around my red, battered bellend. I let myself go inside her, the first shot of pearlescent jizz rocking me, forcing me to hold onto the mattress to keep from sliding off, tearing two more holes in it.
Maki had her hands cupped beneath her chin, her chest pushed forward, and her thighs squeezed tightly together. She tried to swallow as much of the torrent as she could but was prepared for the inevitability. When she could manage no more, cum occupying every inch of her mouth, she kept my cock inside but angled her chin forward, allowing the liquid to freely splash down and out. It was soon waterfalling out onto her hands and breasts, covering them in a thick, hot blanket as it made its way down to pool between her thighs.
[Recurring Quest Complete!]
Have a steamy smut scene.
Reward: 5XP, +1 Random Skill (Alchemy)
I collapsed backward when I finished, closing my eyes as I listened to the enticing sounds of her slurping and gulping down my seed.
“Good lord, I’ve created a monster,” I said when the sounds finally stopped. “Sorry about the bed.”
“The bed? Oh. James." She tutted, crawling back onto the mattress and resting her head on my chest with a yawn. "Ah, well, there's always the futon. You aren't going to," she yawned again, "make me do pushups tomorrow, are you?"
Each word had come out more sluggish and slurred than the last. The power of my blessing was rapidly leaving her now that the Petitioned task was complete.
“Nah, I’ll be surprised if you can walk tomorrow.”
"What…oh. Ouch." She shifted uncomfortably and whined in pain. Her muscles had deflated, and there was no part of her that was not red and inflamed from exertion. "Maybe some physical conditioning's not a bad idea after all…James?"
“Yeah?”
“Will you stay with me tonight?”
I stroked her hair and tugged a blanket over us, closing the blinds with telekinesis. “Go to sleep, Maki. I’m not going anywhere.”
AN: Rest assured if I'm ever a little late, it's probably because an update is going long. Will have some updated character sheets up soon.
Comments
Einar Strandberg
Maki continues to easily be best girl ever. James making progress in accepting his new life and relationships was awesome.
Spessgot
good catch, thanks. It's meant to be on the 2nd floor
Gremlin
One thing bothering me on reread in the last chapter her apartment is described as 3rd floor but here barely 10 feet above sidewalk. Shouldn't it be 2nd floor, assuming it's not ground then first etc..?
