Day ~63~

When Rea first awoke the pain was gone... then she tried to get up...

*oooooooowwww*

Rea plopped back down and looked at Sereda. The woman had felt Rea slam back down and was now staring at her curiously, "Are you ok?"

Rea burrowed her face into a pillow, "I'm not going anywhere today."

Sereda was a little upset, "What about training together?"

Rea let out a muffled chuckle before looking back at her, "I won't be training today."

Rea watched silently as Sereda got up and took off her pajamas, the seemingly innocent woman probably would've changed in their bathroom if she'd known that Rea was ogling her hind quarters. Rea smiled when she discovered that the giant didn't wear anything down under. When the woman leaned forward to tuck herself into a tender flesh support device she almost got a nice view, when Sereda leaned down to put on some pants however, she got a glorious view. The color really stood out against her bronzed skin and Rea had to stop herself from jumping out of bed. It was at that point that Rea realized she was still fully clothed and she hadn't told her roommate about the scales yet.

As Sereda took a glance at Rea she started to leave, when the door opened and closed Rea let out a sigh of relief. As she rolled over to take in one more sniff of the alluring scent her bronzed skin had left all over the bed Rea heard stomping... Looking up now she could see Sereda's abdomen, "Forget something?"

"It doesn't feel right leaving you here alone, in pain..." her perplexed expression had a hint of confusion swirling around the concern in her voice.

Rea was guessing she'd never really worried about someone before, she was also guessing that it was too late to not leave a strong impression on her new roommate. "Staying with me then?" she nodded silently, "...thanks, Sereda."

When Sereda sat down next to her and put a hand on her forehead Rea had to laugh, "What's funny?"

"Well, the last person to do that was my..." emotions started to well up from within, emotions she'd locked away time and time again. Thinking of her daughter always cause her to suffer so damn much, but when she thought of the happy times, before the sad times, it was always worse. Sereda looked on in confusion again as Rea's expression turned from one of the happiest she had ever seen to the saddest, most pained, sorrowful expressions she could imagine. As tears started to well up Sereda took hold and let Rea burrow her head in. Moments later Rea cried out in a hushed voice that Sereda would never forget, she couldn't even imagine what Rea must be feeling to wail out in utter despair like this. The woman was so confused and all she could do was hold on tighter and hope it would end soon. Rea gripped her so tightly that Sereda drew blood biting down on her lower lip.

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For the last twenty minutes Rea was silent, she hadn't let go of Sereda... "I'm sorry you saw that."

"..."

"No one should have to see that." Rea removed herself and rolled back over, facing the wall so that Sereda couldn't look at her.

"I'm gonna go get us something to eat, I'll be right back."

Rea cracked a faint smile, "I'll be here."

As Sereda left Rea couldn't help but snicker when she thought that the pain in her heart had made the pain in her crotch feel like nothing. When the door closed Rea stumbled to the bathroom and washed her face, feeling like hell and looking like... looking surprisingly arousing she hurried back out and took off her clothes. Rea quickly pulled her favorite white ceremonial garb, with black floral patterns, out of the suitcase and wrapped it around herself while ignoring the sash. A few minutes after Rea collapsed back into bed Sereda returned with two plates of fruit with smoked meats and cheeses, and two jugs. She hadn't expected to have high quality dorm food, but she welcomed it, part of the rich kid's package apparently.

Rea sat up and Sereda slid into bed next to her, the jugs were filled with milk and sat on the bed between them. Sereda seemed to have an appetite, Rea however absently picked through the fruit. She really wasn't in the mood to eat. When Sereda finished she downed the entire jug, nearly half a liter of milk at once. Rea chuckled as the woman got up and placed her plate on the stand. When Sereda all of a sudden dropped her pants and started to swivel around Rea was very, very confused... for a few moments. "I'm so sorry"

"You didn't mean to," she was absently massaging the bruised hand prints Rea had left on her thighs.

Rea had to stop staring as the woman bent in all kinds of weird angles to try and find a comfortable massaging position... Rea was getting hungry now so she dug into the plate of food and was done surprisingly quickly. Copying the giant she downed her entire jug of milk and placed her plate, along with the jugs on their stand. Rea walked over to Sereda and resolved herself to show restraint. Sereda jumped when Rea placed a hand on her tender flesh, she still remembered when Rea had broken her in. "Lay down on the bed."

Sereda didn't argue and did as told, she was still confused when Rea mounted her in a reverse position. Rea had given quite a few massages in her time. During that hospital stay the bad nurse had been there to give her massages... if she'd just stopped at massages Rea probably wouldn't have ended up so frisky. As Rea began to slowly knead her knuckles into Sereda's tender flesh, while doing her damn best to ignore the fact that she was naked from the waist down, the woman's toes curled while her back tensed up. Sereda had realized now what Rea was doing and relaxed, it started to feel really good when she surrendered herself to the attention. Rea had to call on the power of the gods to steel her will when Sereda started moaning behind of her.

Ability [Minor God of Chasity's Divine Protection] learned.

Rea stopped for a moment and gaped, when she muttered, "like that'll stop me..."

Ability [Minor God of Chasity's Divine Protection] removed.

Ability [Minor God of Lust's Divine Protection] learned.

"..," you gotta be kidding me, what does that even do?

Ability [Minor God of Lust's Divine Protection] removed.

Ability [Demigod of Water's Divine Protection] learned.

Ability [Water Affinity +] learned.

Rea immediately uttered a silent thank you and was on her best behavior, this time she wanted to keep the new abilities... The gods had tempted her with something she wanted in order to steel her resolve. A few hellish minutes later Rea got off Sereda's back and received a nice warm hug. At this point Sereda was stunned, "What happened to your hair?" Rea's eyes went wide when she'd realized that divine protection must've just done something to her. Sereda watched as Rea got up and hobbled to the bathroom. Rea closed the door behind her and looked into the mirror, her faded silky black hair now had steel blue highlights. Remembering that Sereda had attributed her bronzed complexion to the divine protection she quickly inspected beneath her garb. Just as Rea was sure nothing else had changed she caught a glimpse of a glowing, almost ethereal light blue shade. Running her fingers along a few glossy, elegant scales Rea marveled at their new appearance, they'd been lined with an otherworldly blue. If the wrong people ever caught a glimpse of these... they be worth a small fortune. Rea was both happy and vexed as she returned to bed. The curious woman was satisfied when Rea told her it was because she'd gotten a divine protection.

Sereda got up and put her pants back on as Rea resumed her rest. The woman gazed out their window towards the training fields. Rea felt a bit guilty so she sat back up and quickly sewed together a makeshift target. She then pulled out some glue and told Sereda to stick it on the half broken wardrobe. While Sereda did that Rea pulled her horny stick out and graciously allowed Sereda to hold it. When the woman asked what she should do with it, Rea told her to use it as much as she pleases.

*thunk*

*thunk*

*thunk*

Sereda continued to use the horny stick while Rea occasionally gave her advice on how to properly hold it. As Sereda improved her technique Rea constantly watched her form. With one particularly well aimed thrust the horny stick pierced right through. As Sereda roughly pulled it out she nearly tore the tip off. When the giant woman started to panic and tried to fix its limp tip, Rea just laughed and whipped out her big horny stick. Sereda took a moment to marvel at the size of this one before she excitedly took hold of it with both hands and got back to practicing.

*thunk*

*thunk*

*thunk*

Rea was pleased with her progress and told Sereda that repetition isn't everything, she should take a breather and think about what she's doing. Focus, remember every moment, learn from every movement, the feeling of it in her hands, the way it soared as she used her weight to increase velocity.

*thunk*

*thunk*

*thunk*

Rea was running out of dirty words to throw at her roommate as she practiced spear chucking so she decided to go ahead and do her blood collection for the day.

*thunk*

*...*

*...*

Rea looked up and realized exactly how stupid what she was doing at the moment was. Sereda gaped at the ophidian, Rea gave her a flat look, slid the syringe back in its holster and neatly packed it away. She then looked up at Sereda, "That last throw was a bit off, try to put your shoulder into it a little more."

"Did I drink your blood?"

"Pssssh whaaa? Nahhhh..."

This time Sereda was the one with a look of disbelief on her face, "What are you?"

Rea rubbed her head absently, "A super tasty cure-all that would end up on about a hundred different slaver's lists if you told people my secret?"

Sereda nodded and looked at the syringe... "I won't tell."

Rea smiled vacantly, "thanks." She got back to emptying blood into the vials, Rea actually filled eight of them today. She wasn't worried about feeling lightheaded since she'd decided to spend the day in bed. As she watched Sereda continue to practice Rea wondered what would happened if she bonded to the woman and used [Swift Javelin]. "Sereda, hold on." The woman paused mid throw and raised an eyebrow, she fell off her feet when all of a sudden it was like she could literally feel Rea's presence. Rea gave her a few moments to recover and stand. "Can you feel me?"

"I guess? What did you do?"

"It's a technique mages use to train, and increase their mana pool... I'm a bit unique so I thought there might be more applications to it, this can only be done with people who have an inherent affinity for magic so it isn't all powerful... but if this works I'll definitely be choosing combat instructors with mana. Pay attention to me, feel me, and watch exactly what I do." Sereda was lost in the moment and almost didn't pay attention as Rea whipped out her ashwood spear and launched it at the target with the sheathe off. It was almost as though she had thrown it herself, but she was only watching, Sereda was seriously confused when Rea stood behind her and told her to assume the position. Sereda did as told, then Rea moved her hands and feet, twisted her torso, and got Sereda just right. As Sereda threw her spear it flew at nearly twice the velocity and she learned [Swift Javelin].

Sereda gaped at Rea as the woman severed their line. "What just..."

Rea grinned, "We just had a very successful experiment."

"Internal mana control, mana operation?"

"Oops, those are for using magic."

Sereda didn't even think about it as she held out a hand and activated mana operation, Rea chuckled as her bronze skin was all of a sudden covered in a layer of stone. Sereda marveled at the stoney hand as Rea told her to get back to chucking spears. At that point she had another idea, Rea pulled out a dozen small iron knives she'd forged with Corn and waltzed up behind Sereda. When Rea's hands wrapped a belt loaded with knives around her waist she stopped moving. "Try throwing those too, they should be harder to use... but as long as you're throwing things, may as well right?"

Sereda thanked her again and went back to throwing. Rea had begun to feel awkward, every once in a while Sereda was glancing at the chest beneath the bunk bed... "Sereda, how did my blood taste."

That quickly got her attention, "Sweet, like my favorite honey buns, fresh from the Giles bakery on the 6th sub level!"

At this point Rea wasn't sure everybody was tasting the same thing, maybe they were tasting what they wanted to taste. Something sweet that they loved, at this point she noticed Sereda's increasingly sad visage. "Is something wrong?"

Sereda pursed her lips, "I was in so much pain that I hadn't enjoyed it... the shop went out of business so long ago, and mother used to take me there before she was gone. I hadn't realized how it tasted until afterwards..."

Rea sighed and picked the case up, she then opened it in Sereda's direction. "You can have one vial worth a day, two after I fill all of them. Twenty is the max and I've got nine filed right now."

Sereda smiled longingly as she pulled a vial out and went to sit on the window sill. Rea wasn't sure what to think as the girl sat there gazing at the skyline while sipping on her blood like fine wine. That night, rather than burrowing, she was pulled in by Sereda as they went to sleep, Rea wasn't all that displeased with the change of events.

Day ~64~

This morning when Sereda woke up Rea was sitting on the edge of the bed carving and fletching arrows. Rea quickly handed over the bow and arrows. She then got up and sat down behind of Sereda, Rea then leaned in and helped her take up a proper aim... at that point Rea told her to stand. Now standing Rea showed her a proper basic form and held her near as she loosed an arrow. The first one sink into their makeshift targets outer ring. After that Rea laid back in bed and said she still couldn't move about properly enough for training today. As Rea maintained a line with Sereda to level her line mastery she practiced forming different sorts of things with ice, she'd scared the heck out of Sereda when an ice arrow flew into the target right by her. When Rea trapped her in between four walls of ice she nearly had a heart attack. Rea noted that it had become much easier to use her magic, and it was taking less of a toll on her mana pool.

Ability [Frozen Arrow] learned.

Ability [Frozen Lance] learned.

[Job-Mage] Level 14!

Ability [Elemental Power Lv. 3] learned.

Ability [Frozen Wall] learned.

Ability [Conjure Water Rank Up].

Ability [Bow Proficiency] learned.

Ability [Freezing Rank Up].

[Job-Mage] Level 19!

Ability [Elemental Power Lv. 4] learned.

Ability [Line Mastery Rank Up].

Ability [Mana Operation Rank Up].

Ability [Freezing Rank Up].

[Job-Mage] Level 26!

Ability [Elemental Power Lv. 4] learned.

Rea and Sereda had discovered that training while linked together was... effective. Sereda wasn't sure how to feel about having her mana operation leveling up as someone who didn't plan to use magic. After being linked for hours on end, even as they ate their meals together, it was odd letting go. They felt so alone, it was seriously weird. Once again Rea was watching as Sereda gazed out towards the sky longingly while sipping on her blood, she had realized by now that the direction of Sereda's affection was northwest, it was towards home.

Rea giggled as Sereda fell off the windowsill and barely caught the half empty vial, "Something wrong?"

Sereda didn't bother looking at Rea, "[Toxin Resistance]?"

Rea's ears perked up, "Did you just learn my [Toxin Resistance]?" Sereda confirmed, "Anything else?" Sereda shook her head no as Rea grinned from ear to ear while opening up the case of thirteen filled vials, "You've had four, wanna drink a few more and see if something else happens?"

Sereda beamed happily and finished her vial. By the fifth vial of the day, eight in total, she had learned [Minor regeneration], [Minor God of Serpent's Divine Protection] and [Ophidian Affinity]. Rea couldn't normally see another person's abilities, much less what they do, but when she was bonded with them it was possible. As soon as Rea examined the abilities she grinned at Sereda like she'd found a juicy treat...

Shivers went up Sereda's spine, "What?"

"When fighting alongside ophidians you gain passive bonuses, somehow the world, probably the snake god knows that you didn't steal my blood, that I gave it willingly. I'm pretty sure that's why you're getting abilities, those abilities aren't just really handy they're giving you incentive to stay by my side... I wonder if any other ophidian has ever found out they could make friends like this?"

Sereda was smiling widely at this point, "Can I have more?"

"I'd like to stock up just in case, plus, I wouldn't want you getting tired of it," As Sereda drooped her shoulders Rea asked, "So have you picked?"

"I like throwing more, the bows a bit..."

Rea bowed in apology, "I'm sorry that bows a bit unwieldy, I just hastily threw it together. Please try a real one, a great bow before you judge based on my shoddy craftsmanship."

Sereda wasn't too happy with Rea calling her work shoddy but she nodded in understanding anyways. Feeling like it was about time to get to sleep she started tearing her clothes off again, Rea as usual was just enjoying the show. Aside from a very careful bath Rea really hadn't done anything all day but eat and lounge around in her garb so she was ready already. As Sereda walked to the cracked wardrobe Rea turned away and started to get comfy. As usual the light went out and within a few seconds she could feel the bed dip in Sereda's direction, taking in the unique scent of spice that seemed to accompany her bronzed skin Rea smiled in the dark. Just then her eyes caught something she hadn't noticed in all of the commotion earlier, "Level 1 [Unique-Ophidian Liaison]... uhhh what?"

Sereda shifted her weight towards Rea, "The minor snake god likes you for some reason, he asked me if I wanted to have a job that would only really work well if I stayed by your side... I said yes."

Rea was gaping even though she couldn't see it in the dark, "You barely know me!"

"I know you need someone, I know you need a few hundred years, he also said it might make you angry that he gave me two hundred..."

Rea nearly lost it and realized that Airi really must be testing her if she could've just given Rea the years. Rea thought her soul must be seriously evil if there wasn't any god that pitied her enough to just give her the time. Reining in her emotions she extended a hand and ran it through Sereda's hair, "You have no idea what you just got yourself into." Rea really no longer felt a need to hold back. What happened next utterly shocked her.

Sereda pulled Rea in like she had the night before, this time the woman was nude. Rea was completely and utterly lost, "I'm pretty sure I know, I'd be an idiot if I hadn't noticed the way you look at me. Especially when I'm getting dressed."

Rea chuckled ruefully, "I don't think the god meant this sort of liaison."

"I don't care."

"Any experience?"

"...None" Sereda actually let out an honest laugh as Rea wondered why she hesitated to say ~none~ "Dad wanted me to save myself for the man I marry."

Rea pulled her in for a light kiss while giggling uncontrollably, "I'm still a bit sore, so just let me have my way with you tonight," Rea started running her fingers down the small of Sereda's back, "promise this will be much less one-sided in a few more days..."

Sereda grasped Rea's hand, stopping her from going any further, "I'm being really serious here, I've spent my whole life watching other people be happy. I looked out a window and acted like some spoiled heiress while all of my friends got to go on dates... while they got to fall in love." Rea cringed and pulled away, she could see where this was going. "Everybody has always treated me the same, but you... you literally broke me. Then you fixed me, and now you're teaching me. Maybe it's because of the blood, or the divine protection, but I feel this connection with you that I have never felt with anyone before. For the first time in forever I'm not angry, I think I'm in love. I want you to feel the same, I want you to love me."

Rea sighed inwardly, it was far too late for the don't fall in love with me speech. This woman obviously raised the concept of love up on some massive pedestal and there was no way for her to just go back... "There's only one person that has ever made me feel truly alive and that's my daughter, I doubt I can fall in love with someone... I can get attached to people, care about them, enjoy their company, but something about what it means to love eludes me. My heart was broken, brutally torn to pieces as a young woman. My daughter put me back together... I'm not sure I can ever fall in love the way you want me to."

Sereda gave her a skeptical look, "You have a daughter?"

Rea burrowed her head into Sereda's chest, "...I had a daughter, I don't have a daughter."

As moonlight streamed in through an open window Sereda could clearly see the same expression Rea had made when she fell apart the day before. Feeling like she'd asked something terrible Sereda just let her find comfort in the embrace as they began to fall asleep. Sereda was a bit troubled, that had been their first kiss, not counting the way Rea had forced [Elixir] down her throat. As the feeling of their lips touching lingered Sereda tightened her hold on Rea and absently toyed with the new highlights in her hair. From what little Rea had given her she knew that the woman, the object of her affections had seen some sort of hell. Something bad enough to break her inside. She couldn't even imagine what happened to Rea's daughter, but whatever it was, she knew it had to be the reason Rea looked so miserable at times. That lost, forlorn expression, would haunt Sereda for the rest of her life. It wasn't easy falling asleep, Sereda had always thought falling in love would make her the happiest person in the world. So these bewildering feelings, this jagged turn of events was throwing her own heart into turmoil. One thing was for sure though, she is in love.

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