Day ~70~

Rea woke up with a slight headache, Dunwalt had really pounded her with his shaft yesterday. She hadn't been nailed that hard in a long time, Rea was pretty glad that she had pain tolerance abilities right about now. Sereda could see that she was in a bit of pain and asked why she doesn't just drink the [Elixir]. Rea offhandedly mentioned that it wouldn't work on herself as she watched Sereda get dressed. Sereda made a point of allowing Rea to watch her, neither seemed to mind. Rea figured she was happy to see the obvious interest, Sereda figured she was earning some points in the love category... The bronze woman hadn't quite figured out yet that Rea's heart had nothing to do with her desires, so when Rea asked her to wear green pants today she dropped her trousers and slowly put the others on. Rea asked her to change four times before Sereda gave her a flat look and told Rea it was time to go.

Grumbling about her headache she reluctantly got out of bad, Rea had to smirk when Sereda made a point to put the pants she'd first worn back on. After a quick breakfast they went straight to the dragoon's field again. Dunwalt hadn't arrived yet so Rea decided to check Sereda's progress. Once again Rea was happy to find that she had managed to get much better at this. Seeing Sereda's well shaped three foot bronze shaft turn to hard steel was very pleasing. It was at this point that Rea pointed out she should not only continue to improve her technique, but speed as well. So Sereda went about mastering the magic as Rea distracted her. Still having a minor headache Rea had laid her head in Sereda's lap and began to massage her own temples. As if sensing her moment of relaxation Felicity's voice boomed out. "Troublemakers!"

Rea chuckled ruefully, "Nice to see you to Felicity, something wrong?"

The woman had her hands on her hips, "Both of you missed the first day of aptitude testing... I looked silly because I had you scheduled to go first. You've both been moved to the end of the line. Please show up at the end this week, for my sake."

Sereda quickly apologized to their homeroom teacher while Rea turned to face the woman, to read her reactions, "I'm sorry Felicity."

Felicity was obviously a little shaken still, "For what?"

"She was your friend, regardless of what happened."

Felicity let out a very long breath as she sat next to Sereda, "I can't believe it, I wouldn't have if they hadn't found her old experiment notes..." Felicity glanced at the ophidian on Sereda's lap, "... Did you know she was getting ready to try again?"

That woke both of them way up, "What!?"

"Yeah she wrote all about it, all those people's deaths would have meant nothing if she couldn't uncover the secrets to controlling monsters... she hadn't given up. Stella always seemed so normal, but those notes were the ravings of someone who'd lost their mind."

Rea burrowed her head into Sereda's lap, "Someone dying of guilt, someone with a broken heart."

Felicity surprised Sereda when she laid her head down by Rea, she'd never had two people using her lap as a pillow at once, "You understood her?"

Rea chuckled ruefully, "She had it worse than me, the people I hurt were all bad so I can live with it... Still hurts enough to make me wanna save the world though. I can't even imagine what her guilt felt like, despite that she wanted to live. I can respect that, I almost let myself die in the wilds when I first found out what this invisible pressure weighing down on me was. I didn't know her well enough to guess why she was going on with the experiments though." Sereda glared at Rea. "I'm not suicidal, I've got too much to live for now."

Sereda seemed to be fine with her answer for now, "You'll thank the gods you didn't die when you fall in love with me."

*Pftahahahahahahahahahah!* *Ahahahah!* Both women rolled off of her lap laughing as Dunwalt showed up, "I see you found them Mrs. Felvine."

He received a glare, "how many times do I have to tell you Mrs. Felvine is my mother, Felicity, call me Felicity."

Dunwalt took up a stalwart stance, "I shall repeat it again, it is improper. I shall refer to you as Mrs. Felvine."

Felicity gave up, "Mind if I watch you practice for a while before I head back to my fields?" she was genuinely curious about Rea's progress.

"Don't you have aptitude tests to do?"

The woman's eyes flickered open as she clenched a fist and ran off at full speed. After some quick introductions Dunwalt and Rea went back to sparring, but not before Rea could show off Sereda's three foot shaft... Rea was very determined to get to lancer in the next few days but she'd been watching Dunwalt and it was almost time for him to hit level 100 lancer. Instead of their usual training she let Dunwalt do what Felicity had originally instructed him to do. Rea continued to critique Sereda's three foot shaft erecting skills as she watched Dunwalt run through the forest field while striking hanging targets. Rea payed close attention because she figured he'd be telling her to do the same soon. Dunwalt had been a little unnerved that it had only taken Rea a few days to go from 32-50 spearman instead of a month so he was having a little trouble focusing.

At one point Rea decided to test Sereda's shaft, so without asking she picked it up. There were two problems, it was too heavy... obviously highly condensed steel all the way through, and it was off balance. When she asked Sereda about it the woman told Rea that it was just the right weight for her, but yes she had forgotten about the balance. For the following hour Rea sat in Sereda's lap and continued to test her shaft, properly showing the woman how to balance it. From now on Sereda tested her own shaft on occasion to make sure it performed properly, Dunwalt had told her to use the training dummies for these tests as much as she pleases.

As the sun began to set Rea started to cheer dunwalt on, and almost as though responding to her embarrassing cheers he got his revelation... Dunwalt stopped in his tracks as Rea watched the now level X lancer carefully consider something, at least now she knew that X just meant max level, "What's wrong?"

"Well... it's giving me a choice, I had expected to only rank up towards mobile lancer."

Before Rea could ask what choice Dunwalt's job changed to level 1 mobile lancer, Rea gave him dirty looks when he refused to say what the choice was. If there was a third lancer progression that suited her more Rea wanted to hear it. "Don't make me tell Sereda to spank you with her shaft Dunwalt!"

The elf shivered, he believed she'd do it. "It was something bizarre, nonsense... I'm not even sure how it happened, [Ophidian Liaison]."

Rea nearly fell over and Sereda shot the man a jealous glare, "Well Dunwalt, you just missed out on the opportunity of a life time."

Feeling like he'd just made a huge mistake Dunwalt inquired, "What was it?"

Rea smirked, "nothing you need be concerned about now. Back to training?"

Dunwalt looked up at the setting sun, "an hour or two couldn't hurt."

Rea was made painfully aware of what the initial new ability a mobile lancer got was, Dunwalt tested it out by quickly stepping to the side, almost like a blur he disappeared from her vision for a split second and planted his shaft in her gut. It was obviously not a pleasant sensation.

Ability [Impale] altered, [Skewer] learned.

[Job-Adept Spearman] Level 8!

Ability [Triple Stab] learned.

After they said their goodbyes, finished dinner, and made it back home Sereda pushed Rea down on the floor. "When did he drink your blood?"

Rea realized that this woman could rival Selene in jealousy if she wasn't careful, "I broke his arm when we first met during a spar, he didn't know it was my blood... oh frick'."

Sereda's brows furrowed, "What?"

"I gave a doctor like sixty vials of my blood."

After zoning out for a few moments Sereda spoke back up, "They won't get the chance to job change, they have to have some sort of connection to you for it to happen. It doesn't come from just drinking your blood."

Rea relaxed, "One less thing to worry about.... now, either rip my clothes off, or get off."

The bronze woman blushed a familiar purple while getting off of Rea... that night was a little awkward for her... until Rea couldn't stand it anymore and decided to give her a kiss. Rea really was a little confused, she'd never been able to produce such a happy mood from someone with just a kiss. With Sereda that was seriously all it took to have the woman seeing rainbows and butterflies... at least it had been for the past few days. Sereda got over the kiss a lot faster than usual and Rea didn't like where this was going.

"What's wrong?"

Sereda's brow furrowed as she pursed her lips and sat next to Rea, "You're... an enigma, I can't figure you out. One second you're dead serious, training to the limit of your body's capability. The next you're joking around and laughing happily. Then at times like this you try to make me happy... did you mean to spare Rastel's life back then?"

Rea's smirk disappeared as she sat up, then the bed creaked as she leaned against its post, "I thought you noticed, took you a while to bring it up."

Sereda looked away from Rea, "So you really did try to kill her?"

"I was aiming for her heart with that spell."

"Killed a lot of bad people?"

Rea realized she'd also let that slip in a roundabout way, "Yeah."

By now Sereda had slid off the bed and was toying with a small sphere of dirt, "I'd ask why, but I saw the expression on your face back then. It was like... ice, I don't know how else to say it. I'm afraid of why you did it, of what made you able to kill so easily."

Rea scoffed while looking over Sereda's shoulder at the ball of dirt, "It's not easy anymore, it was necessary. That mage outmatched both of us by far and we only had the advantage for a single moment. I can't afford to die yet, so I chose to kill. When I make that choice I don't hesitate, emotions, guilt, anything like that can wait till later. Killing Rastel a second time was mercy, you heard what would've happened to her. I wouldn't have asked you to kill her, and the headmaster couldn't because of his position, so I took her life in the kindest way I know how..." Rea closed her eyes, remembering the woman's final moments again, the feeling of Rastel struggling as she choked the life out of her. "But there was a time when killing had been easy, it even made me feel better, relieved some small fraction of my despair. I told you before, you barely know me and you have no idea how true that is..." Rea paused for a moment and looked down at her trembling hands. "I'm not even sure I know who I am anymore, so many things have warped me that I've given up on trying to figure it out. So if I'm with people that I like, you for instance, I'll be that happy shiny person. If I'm facing someone who wants to kill me, kill the people I love, you again, I'll be that monster that I was and tear into them with my bare fucking hands if need be."

Sereda knew that Rea hadn't meant love romantically, but even with how serious a conversation this was, hearing those words set her own heart on fire. Sereda lurched over the bed's edge and grasped Rea's hands while gazing into her aquamarine eyes, "I wasn't lying when I said I'd follow you into hell, but I just... I've never seen someone dying before. I came from a well defended city of craftsmen, not fighters. I'll need a little time to get used to the thought that we may not just face monsters, but other humans as well. I know you've had some sort of terrible life I can't even begin to imagine, I wouldn't dare to presume to know anything about you. I'll wait by your side till you tell me everything, but for now, words are cheap. I'll watch everything you do, I'll know who you really are better than anyone else... I'll show you how I feel through actions, I'll show you that I trust you, that I love you... but, uhh, it may be a little difficult to tell what I might do if you start sleeping with half of Vestlei."

Rea chuckled while giving Sereda a gentle embrace, "About that... I was told by a goddess that the gods would be tempted to save my soul if I went around causing shenanigans and sleeping with lots of people... in a roundabout way." Sereda pushed back to look Rea in the eye as she said that, "I kid you not, I was also told a few nights ago that the gods can't directly save me anymore so sleeping around is kind of pointless. I won't deny that I enjoy sex, but for me its always been more about the embrace... just having someone nearby when I fall asleep, someone to hold on to when I wake up. Right now you, Sereda Duranholm, are all that I need."

Sereda's face flushed purple as she let Rea pull her back into the embrace, she was completely speechless... until she thought about one particular part of that last revelation, "... to be completely honest with you Rea, I also won't deny that I enjoy sex."

Rea was gaping at the person she'd assumed was a pure maiden up until this point, "You said you haven't got any experience!"

"Well my father had wanted me to save myself for marriage, but I was a bad daughter. I told you a half truth, when I said none I meant none as far as men go... father may have kept the boys away but he let me have as many girlfriends as I wanted. The only reason I actually got to be an adventurer after years of begging is because he found out what I was doing to a few of my friends... and all of the maids."

Gaping wide-eyed doesn't even begin to explain the level of shock on Rea's face, "That's why you hesitated back when you claimed to have no experience! But you were all, I think I'm in love..."

Sereda smiled coyly, "Well I'd always loved those stories of pure love and stuff that mom used to read me as a little girl, I may have grown up and went down on half my friends but that didn't change the way I think of love. I lusted after my friends, and I always got my way... until I met Rea Ainsworth, you know the rest. I felt it, something I wasn't sure exists, just like those silly books mom always read to me used to say. My chest tightened, my heart beat like mad, and my face flushed. The moment you left I chased after you, luckily it ended up being my homeroom class as well... I mean I was still a little scared of you, but I knew that I'd fallen in love... it was a little shocking to find out you're just as perverted as me."

Rea turned around and started banging her head on the wall, "..."

*conk conk conk*

Sereda laughed like mad while restraining her, "what?"

Rea wasn't sure what to say, "mind blown..."

"I, uhhh, lied about one more thing."

Rea gave her a flat look, "What?"

Sereda absently looked at the bottom of the top bunk, "I actually prefer the top bunk, I just told you I don't like being far off the ground so I could sleep with you..."

"..." Rea turned and buried her head under a pillow, she couldn't believe how well the bronze skinned woman had deceived her. No longer seeing any reason at all to not take their relationship further Rea looked at the top bunk, "Wanna join the meter high club?"

Sereda raised an eyebrow in confusion, "The what?"

Once again, Rea forgot, this is another world, "... it was a stupid joke, wanna fuck me on the top bunk?"

*Pfft cough cough* Sereda took a moment to recover from the mortal blow, "...yeah, but is now really the time, I mean we just cleared the air, and I still don't really know all that much about you..." Sereda watched as Rea made her way to the top bunk, she then watched as Rea's clothes flew over the edge, *gulp* "I mean I wouldn't really be opposed.."

Rea peeked back down over the edge, "Let's not do it then, but we're still sleeping up here. I like the top bunk more as well. I was only down there after my injury healed because... well you know. Blow out the lantern before you climb up."

Sereda did as told, removed her clothes and clambered up into bed. "Why did you take off your clothes?"

"I prefer it this way, skin on skin. I was wearing clothes to stop myself from eating you."

Sereda wrapped herself around Rea, as the ophidian got comfy she asked, "What's stopping you now?"

Rea giggled childishly for the first time since she'd stopped pretending to be happy all the time, "Now it doesn't matter, if I want you I'm gonna have you."

Sereda was pretty upset that she didn't just say yes earlier, and with Rea all comfy now she didn't wanna start something... She could feel Rea's skin and scales against her... it took Sereda a very long time to fall asleep tonight.

Day ~71~

Sereda woke up with Rea looming over her, she wasn't sure she'd seen Rea's expression so serene and gentle, almost loving. Before she could say anything Rea locked lips with her, it wasn't like they hadn't had an intimate kiss this way before but something felt different. As Rea continued to gently move ever so slightly up and down while changing the angle of every kiss she let Sereda gasp for breath every few seconds. Her lung capacity was coming in handy for driving the woman insane, when Sereda began to look near delirious Rea decided to give her a particularly intimate kiss as she ran her tongue along the lining of Sereda's gums. Finally pulling back with a bead of saliva falling onto Sereda's lustrous purple lips, Rea spoke in a lusty voice, "Good morning."

Sereda had been so focused on the kiss she hadn't felt Rea's hand sliding down her pelvis, "Good morni.." *Ahhhn*

Sereda arched her back as Rea began to rain warm intimate kisses upon her chest and make good use of deft hands to explore her thoroughly. Sereda continued to grind and moan for nearly an entire minute before convulsing and gasping for breath. As the taller woman shuddered beneath her Rea moved lower and licked her own fingers. Before Sereda could regain her senses Rea was already between her thighs, as she leaned in Sereda started to curl her toes and push against the bedpost, "Again!?" Rea was determined to get a good feel for all of Sereda's most sensitive spots, her weaknesses.

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Rea left a despondent Sereda on the bunk, the woman was gazing at her longingly through the fall guard, "What was that about?"

Rea grinned at her, "It was for lying to me... and for loving me. Don't put too much thought into it, ready to start another day of training?... what?"

Sereda had propped herself up on the guard, the way her chest rested atop it was making Rea nearly lose control, "I was just thinking I'm glad I've got an extra two hundred years to spend with you."

Rea scoffed while sliding on her shorts, "I haven't got those years yet."

"You will."

"...thanks."

Sereda left the bed and instead of going for her clothes she approached Rea.

Rea looked up at the taller woman, "What?"

Sereda dropped down to her knees, "I'd feel bad if I was the only one who enjoyed this morning." Rea didn't struggle as Sereda unfastened a belt and eagerly tore her shorts off. Forcing Rea against the wall Sereda began to return some of what she had done earlier. Rea spread one hand along a wall and heaved her chest while using the other hand to undo Sereda's hair, that same hand took hold of the light blonde hair. While being mesmerized by the greenish hue that she found so alluring Rea quickly realized that Sereda really knew what she was doing. As Sereda began to use her long powerful fingers in conjunction with moist lustrous lips, Rea howled out in ecstasy. Shuddering, Rea fell limp into a straddle position, as her chest heaved up and down Sereda folded her arms around Rea and pulled her in for a few light kisses, "I'm glad we got past the ignoring our desires part."

"I'm glad you're pretty much stuck with me..." Sereda giggled under her breath while giving Rea another light kiss, Rea ginned impishly, "...can we try that bonded?"

Frowning, Sereda answered, "About that, I know it helps for training but can you not go bonding every time you get the chance... in some ways it feels almost as intimate as this."

Rea wasn't really sure what to say, "I have to become strong as fast as possible, after I'm done with the academia, okay?"

"...okay, form the line." Rea fell on top of Sereda as she cast the spell. Sereda wasn't really sure what to think when her partner suddenly returned to the loving gaze she'd had before, "What?"

"I've always had to seduce strangers for a warm bed, a warm body to hold onto. I won't have to feel guilty about breaking hearts anymore, I can just be with you..." Rea smirked as her partner began to pout, "This is your final chance to leave me, I'm a worthless person who isn't worth your affection. I don't, and probably will never love you the way you want me to, but I'll use you until the day one of us dies, can you live with that?"

Rea shrieked as the woman beneath her pinched a very, very sensitive part of her anatomy with righteous fury, "ask me to leave you one more time, I dare you."

Rea cupped her bust with both hands and arched skywards, "...won't you leave me please?"

Rea hadn't been expecting Sereda to smile fondly and relieve the pressure, "You may have a low opinion of yourself, but to me, what I've seen you do. The emotions I've seen grace your tortured visage, somewhere between joy and sorrow... I fell for you again. Maybe somethings wrong with me, first it was because you defied me, conquered me. After that it was because you cried out while holding onto me. You've even shown remorse for the death of someone who didn't deserve your forgiveness. Everything you do makes me fall deeper and deeper in love." Their eyes met as Sereda moved her hands along Rea's hips, pulling her back down, embracing her fondly. "I don't know if I can live without you anymore."

The obviously moved ophidian quivered slightly as she allowed Sereda to take hold of her, "I think we should stay in today..."

Picking Rea up and making for the bed Sereda absently remarked, "I'd like that.”

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