Vol II, Ch 72 – “Ughh. Finally” is definitely the correct response here. It’s about damn time!

The massage and overwhelming tide of lust did not, in fact, go on forever. Though by the end of it, Saryn’s naked body was just as covered in oil and cum as I was. The shorter girl’s previous mischievousness vanished somewhere in the heat of our passion, both of us fully subsumed into the depths of hot, carnal pleasure.

With things having mostly cooled, her arms now clutched around me as she spooned me from behind, our tails tangled together between us. That was how Favelle found us when she finally returned. I didn’t bother to move, feeling far too comfortable to do more than glance over at her.

She’d gotten dressed since having left us, or more likely, just before it. I hadn’t truly been paying attention.

The vyxa whom I’d previously thought of as shy had on a dress that was primarily white and certainly one of the skimpiest I’d seen, if not the skimpiest. Its neckline curved so dangerously low that one worried her breasts would escape out of it if she happened to turn or bend the wrong way. From the low cut across her delightfully scarlet bust, the fabric swooped up into two tiny and frilly sleeves that threatened to fall off her shoulders. Above them, around her neck sat a cute choker that failed to draw attention away from her chest.

Of course, the lower half of the dress wasn’t any better than the upper. A simple underskirt puffed it out a few inches, yet the dress’s layered skirt simply didn’t fall far enough down, as though being a size or so too small. In fact, from my angle atop the low table, I could see her naked, red slit peeking out with each step she made. I stared, unable to look away as my mind relived the similar outfits I’d been previously convinced to wear. When Favelle happened to turn, granting me a glance at her backside, I saw just how much of her bare cheeks were on display as well.

Despite feeling drained and sore after so much sex, my arousal stirred, and the light ache in my pointed fangs heightened. I had no desire to bite Favelle specifically, though. In fact, even with hunger ravaging my gut, I’d not once felt the urge to drink blood from any of the other vyxa. A natural instinct, perhaps? I imagined that biting and drinking from each other would prove inefficient at best.

In the face of Favelle’s visible slit coming closer, my curiosity was pushed aside. I yearned to shove my face up between her thighs—to give her naked little pussy what it seemed to be asking for. I licked my lips, though I didn’t dare remove myself from Saryn’s warm arms, unwilling to break our cuddle.

Instead, Seni and Thera rose to greet her, both of them still nude and reminding me of my own complete nakedness, visible to all. The contrast to Favelle’s clothes, even as lewd as they were, left me awash in feelings of exposure and stark vulnerability. Not to mention just how open and public this bath was in general.

Seni and Thera’s bare forms came into view, the former untying the now-messy bun of hair and letting it fall down past her waist and to her rear. I couldn’t help but continue staring at Favelle, despite her being technically more clothed than the other two here.

Was this the sort of thing I’d be expected to wear here too? Did I want to wear outfits like that—as though I was some slut pleading with everyone around me to pin me down and ravish me?

I shivered and Saryn gripped me tighter, her fingers groping the still-sensitive skin of my sides much as she had during my massage. A rare smile graced my lips as I sighed, thinking back on the heights of pleasure she’d just brought me to. If they played around and fucked all day here, perhaps this place wasn’t nearly as bad as I’d feared.

The three chattering vyxa made their way over to us, and I tried to keep my eyes away from Favelle’s exposed lower lips, my efforts failing completely. Somehow, the dress felt more lewd than if she’d just been naked like the rest of us.

From behind me, Saryn groaned and shifted before mumbling out some sort of response to a question. After some poking and prodding, she was apparently convinced to release me. I whined as she pulled away, making my stance on the subject quite clear, to little effect. With some reluctance, Saryn let me go and slipped down from the large table to her feet. I turned to eye the four of them, giving what I was sure Lilis and her friends would call a cute pout.

The thought of her brought back my worry and a small amount of guilt. It felt more than a little wrong to be spending my time enjoying myself here when I had no idea where she was or if she was okay. Hetkala said she would search for her, though trusting her simply on her word seemed the height of foolishness. I needed to think of something I could do on my own. Unfortunately, I was drawing a blank for now.

Seni spoke excitedly to me, or rather, at me, disrupting my thoughts. She gestured toward a strange violet-blue flower cupped in Favelle’s hands, one so soaked in mana that I could feel it coming off in waves. When Seni then beckoned for me to get up, I let out a groan, much as Saryn had, and stood up onto my shaky legs.

As odd as it was after everything we’d just done, I felt a bit self conscious standing there naked in front of them. It didn’t help that Favelle was now clothed, if one could claim the skimpy bit of fabric truly counted. I fought the urge to cover myself.

Oblivious, the four vyxa pulled me into their group. Seni gestured between me and the flower as though I had any idea what she was saying or wanted. It took her a minute to take the hint, but she finally grabbed the flower from Favelle herself. I was left baffled when Seni moved it up to her ear, guiding its small roots inside. As the flower fully entered, Seni blinked several times, her hand falling away. Her body swayed and Favelle had to grab her to keep her from falling.

When Thera reached out, a concerned question on her lips, Seni winced and rubbed her forehead. She met my gaze with a smile, despite the strange and dubious flower now inserted into her ear. Then Seni pointed at it and spoke more of their foreign language at me.

What. The. Fuck.

When she proceeded to pull the flower back out, I realized where this was going. Cupping it in her hands, she offered it to me.

I shook my head with vigor. “Nope. Not a chance I’m sticking this creepy flower into one of my ears.”

Seni pushed it toward me, insisting. I stared down at the thing. It didn’t look particularly menacing, admittedly. The flower was a violet blue, reminiscent of a tulip with a few leaves curled around it. The only truly odd thing about its appearance was the lack of a proper stem and the thin roots snaking out from the bottom despite it. Appearances could be deceiving and meant nothing, however. The mana flowing out from it as well as Seni’s strange reaction when she’d put it inside of her fucking ear were more than enough reason to refuse.

She frowned and turned to the others, asking them something. Saryn responded with a shrug, causing Seni to sigh and groan in obvious frustration. Then she handed the flower back to Favelle and reached for my hands. Eyes wide and with a pout on her lips, she said a few words that could only be described as begging. Favelle put the flower into her own ear, her reaction a bit more subdued than Seni’s, but similar.

Still grabbing my hand with one of hers, she gestured with the other and spoke as though to say, “See, she just did it too and it’s totally fine.”

As they offered it to me once again, I eyed the suspicious plant, wondering if it would be better to just crush the thing and be done with this.

It took quite a few long minutes of begging and then passing the flower around before my resolve began to waver. I wasn’t sure what the flower was doing to them exactly, but it didn’t seem to be controlling or affecting their minds in any way, beyond a brief moment of dizziness. Though it was the way one of them would sometimes wince when another spoke that ultimately left me curious.

I still refused to let them put it in me. Whatever the magical plant did, they seemed able to take it back out as easily as they stuck it in, and I wanted to be able to quickly crush or yank it out of me the moment something felt off.

Thus, against my better judgment, I took the stupid flower from them and slowly brought it up to my right ear. I began to second-guess the decision the moment I realized I had to use my hand to lead the roots up into my ear canal. As they made contact with my skin, I could feel them begin to move, like little feelers stretching forward into my head.

It tickled. A lot.

And unfortunately not really in a fun way. The flower didn’t need much guidance. It moved almost entirely on its own until it was fully “in.”

I shivered, and the room spun. The world suddenly felt weightless, or as though I’d found myself on the ceiling instead of the floor.

An arm caught me just as I felt a trickle of magic enter through my ear. My hand moved up to snatch the flower out as fear swelled in my chest.

“Ughh. Finally!” someone said, making me pause. The words were overlapped by the Rhuyi language I’d grown familiar with hearing.

I blinked, the world rebalancing around me, and I met Saryn’s gaze.

“What?” I managed.

Seni glanced between me and the others. “Is it working?”

Her lips didn’t match what she was saying, and once again, the words were partially overshadowed by foreign ones.

Still, my eyes widened. “I can understand you!”

Then I winced from the string of gibberish that came through my right ear like an echo. It seemed the strange flowery translator didn’t work as perfectly as one would hope.

“What is this thing?” I asked, fighting the urge to yank it from my ear once again as more nonsensical drivel came through.

“You can understand us, right?” Seni asked me.

“I just said I could, didn’t I? Though, this thing is really…” My voice trailed off as I realized that the translator likely didn’t work both ways. Then I nodded.

Seni’s face lit up. “Thank goodness! It was super frustrating not being able to talk with you.”

Then she rushed forward, her naked form pressing up against me as she wrapped me in a tight hug. My face heated as our breasts pushed against each other.

“I can’t get over how cute you are,” she continued, only making things worse. “The shyness really suits you.”

“W-wha…”

She stared me in the eyes, her smile turning sly as she leaned further into me. “Don’t worry, the high priestess has assigned me to take care of you for the time being, and I fully intend to do so.”

Then she pressed her lips against my own.

One of the others cleared their throat. “Didn’t you say she needed a meal? I believe we should get going.”

Seni ended her kiss and pulled away, though she locked arms with me before turning to Thera. The other vyxa’s natural “bitch face” made her disapproving look all the more effective.

“High Priestess Hetkala did say Aqua probably needs to feed. I’m supposed to bring her to her office afterward though,” Seni responded.

“Why don’t we take her on a tour first?” Saryn stepped forward to suggest. Then she grinned and brushed her fingers up the side of my leg. “Well, a second tour. I’d say I toured her once quite thoroughly already.” She winked.

I spluttered, causing the devious vyxa to laugh.

“I’m not sure that’s what she intended,” Seni responded, though with some hesitance.

“You really think she’s not expecting a long delay? Spirits, we’ve already spent who knows how long just bathing!” Saryn exclaimed. “I’m sure a quick tour won’t make any difference.”

Thera’s resting frown deepened, and she crossed her arms. “You should really have more respect for the high priestess. Or perhaps just a lot more respect for the temple in general.”

“I have plenty of respect,” Saryn said, waving the comment away, before gesturing at me. “They pulled me off the streets just like her, you know.”

“You have a funny way of showing it,” Thera responded flatly.

“How about just bringing her to the lounge?” Saryn continued, with a hint of mischief. “I was going to head there after this anyways.”

Seni stiffened. “She hasn’t had her debut.” Her words were quiet, at almost a whisper. “And you saw what robes Favelle brought back for her. She’s…”

Her eyes moved over to me, and she jumped, as though only just then remembering that I could now understand them.

“I’m what?” I questioned.

For a moment, no one said a word.

“Sorry, we still don’t know what you’re saying. The olia flower lets you understand us but not the other way around,” Seni said.

I sighed, having already figured that out.

“It’s obvious she wants to know what we’re talking about. Communicating shouldn’t be that hard, though. We just gotta ask yes or no questions, right?” Saryn turned to me. “So, what will it be? You wanna go to the lounge?”

I gave a slow nod, admittedly curious as to what this was all about.

“Saryn,” Seni complained, her arm gripping mine a bit tighter. “I don’t think she’s allowed there yet. No one is supposed to really leave the dorms until they’ve had their debut.”

I couldn’t help but feel a bit talked over. Somehow, this was almost more annoying than not being able to understand them at all. Just what was this “debut” exactly? I needed to see if I could pick up on the exact Rhuyi word they were using for it and ask.

“We’re not really in the dorms right now, are we?” the other teased back.

“I took her here because this bath is a bit more secluded than the other one. I wasn’t really expecting anyone to be here,” Seni said.

Saryn continued on, ignoring her, “And I think it should be up to her, shouldn’t it? With her black vestment on, I doubt anyone will even bother her. It’s not like I’m suggesting we bring her in naked.” She turned to me, mouth curling up into a smirk. “Well, at least not seriously suggesting it.”

My cheeks flushed as she looked me up and down. Seni gave an exasperated sigh in response, turning toward Thera as though searching for help.

Thera, in turn, shrugged. “As you mentioned, I believe we’re discouraged but not fully prohibited from the visitor areas before our official debut, correct?”

Seni hesitated. “Well, that’s technically true, I think. But—”

“If she wishes to go and potentially make a fool of herself, I see no true harm in it,” Thera plowed on, interrupting her. “Perhaps someone will catch her eye. Either way, I’m getting dressed. This was fun, but there’s a very hot anu that I intend to spend my evening with later.”

With that, she brushed her hair over her shoulder and strutted off, leaving Saryn to grin back at us in apparent victory. I couldn’t help but wonder how I could possibly “make a fool of myself,” as she’d proclaimed. Really. Just what were they expecting me to do there?

More importantly, what was it about this “lounge” that had Seni so worried?

“I’m sure it’ll be fine,” Favelle added reassuringly.