65. Once Bitten, Twice Sly

CENSORED Version: Click Here (censored for nudity)

Last chapter…

Horus and Hattie aged up (looking good, kids!). We got a quickie tour of Pili’s finished ‘improvements’, an update on how everyone is doing (Kebs still wants slaves, Nubs still likes books), and found out that Nafi doesn’t like man-stink (but omg, Horus can’t help it, okay).

Later we met demon-eyed Deshret and her stuffy Al Simharan wagon-mate Arsinoë, on their way to Sim’Caritambo (allegedly), and we got to hear a little story about how queens sacrifice themselves, but measures can be taken if they mess up and croak early (so inconvenient tho).

Onward!

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Mosi

“Mother, I swear to you I’m fine!” Excepting the nausea, vertigo, and throbbing ache in his neck, of course, “I am only going to do a little light plutonium experimentation; nothing overly strenuous, I promise!”

“I don’t know, sweetheart, you’re looking quite peaky this morning…maybe you should stay in bed, I can make you smiley face pancakes and soy-milk hot chocolate?”

“I might remind you that I am a grown man!” However, one did tend to do more effective research when well nourished, “but, as I have not yet had breakfast, yes, that sounds lovely, thank you, mother…”

“…do you have licorice gumdrops for the eyes?”

By the time he was finished his pancakes (saving the licorice gumdrops for last, naturally), Mosi was feeling more like himself than he had in years; his mother claimed he’d been attacked by a vampire, which is not a thing people were normally pleased about.

Mosi, however, couldn’t remember the last time he’d been filled with such vigor and clarity of mind! Perhaps it was the attack, perhaps it was only the natural course of hormones leveling off, but for the first time since the onslaught of adolescence, his mind temple was bright with possibility.

“Good heavens!”

“Omg, Mosi!” Gasped nipples Artemis.

“Hey, man, how you feelin’?”

“It’s not what it looks like–”

“Except it totally, is.”

“Wow.”

“I thought you were in bed.”

“Yeah, like, weren’t you attacked by a bear or something?”

“Bed…yes…and then…pancakes; there was a vampire…and…breasts…”

“Stop staring at my tits, perv,” his sister scolded him, “and you can’t tell Lena, okay?”

“Okie dokie.”

“Omg, this is getting too fully weird for me,” muttered his sister, rising to fish for something on the floor.

“Better?”

Oly pouted, “no.”

Mosi found, for the first time in his entire life, that he agreed with the pale idiot; though he felt it may not be prudent to say so.

“Forgive me, Artemis…apparently the hormones are still an issue; are the pair of you–ah–engaged in an amorous–er–”

“Yes, okay? And you can’t tell Lena; her and Oly just had an awkward dream thing, and she needs to chill for a bit before we drop this bomb on her–”

“Well, certainly! However, Artemis, as you well know, mother has always said that honesty is the best policy, and I simply couldn’t sleep at night if I kept something from–”

“Is this little fucker bargaining with us, harpy?”

Artemis sneered, “yes…what’s it going to take, meathead; we’re listening.”

“We?”

“We.” Mosi had never seen his sister’s face make that kind of expression before…was she batting her eyes?! Perlexing.

“Manipulation; I like it!” The ignoramus turned it’s smirk in Mosi’s direction, “we.”

“Um, so, maybe if I’m very quiet, could I stay and…”

“No, Mosi; you can’t watch.”

Oly made a weird sound, “I mean, that’s kind of flattering tho–”

“No, Oly.”

“Come on, there must be something else you want…?”

“As a matter of fact, yes, Artemis; there is something else I want.”

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Artemis

“This is a terrible fucking idea.”

“No, harpy, this is a brilliant idea…it’s okay, you’ll learn; all of my ideas are brilliant.”

‘Like hell they are,’ she didn’t say it out loud, though; when had hurting Oly’s feelings suddenly become a thing she was worried about? FFS, this relationship stuff was already a pain in the ass.

Oly paused on Primrose Pennyroyal’s porch, “okay, so when we get in there, let me do the talking…”

“…with any luck, Grim Gram isn’t even home; it’ll go a lot smoother if she’s not.”

“I have a terrible feeling about this…maybe it’s guilt?” She’d never felt guilty about tricking Mosi before, what was happening to her?

“Hey kid, don’t worry about it? That little shit is blackmailing you, right? He totally has this coming!”

“This is all your fault,” Artemis heard herself mutter, “I’m high on some kind of bullshit feelings and I’m turning into a mushy sap…if I start doodling hearts all over my research, throw me off of a cliff please.”

Oly snorted, which probably didn’t mean “sure thing, Artie!” but who cares; kisses are nice and suitably distracting in the face of misplaced guilt.

Artemis felt like she probably owed Mosi an apology for all the times she disdained his lack of hormonal self-control, but frankly she was more likely to set her hair on fire than give him the satisfaction.

“Good afternoon, Mastress Oly; I apologise, but Lady Primrose is not at home, would you and Miss Osiris like some tea?”

“Balsam! Just the cat we were hoping to see!”

“You are here to visit me? That is…rather unexpected.”

“Absolutely, Sammy my friend!” Artemis felt like Oly was laying the enthusiasm on a bit thick, but she didn’t really know much about changelings in general, or Balsam in particular…maybe that’s the angle you needed to come from?

“Hey, so Artie and I need you to do us a really weird favour!”

“Of course, what do you require of me?”

Wow. Just like that, huh? Man, she needed a Familiar.

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Selene

Everything was a mess; a complete and utter disaster.

It was all her own fault, of course; this is what happens when you steal and try to trick people…she’d brought all of it on herself, and she deserved it! And what’s worse, she dragged other people along with her, and abused magic for her own selfishness.

‘No wonder Oly didn’t want me…’

Artemis might be a bit mean sometimes, but she was confident, and smart, and she would never do anything stupid in a moment of weakness to make herself feel better. And, well, fair enough, Artemis stole books too, but only because of Selene!

‘No wonder Oly likes her instead of me.’

And then there was Coltsfoot…that poor fellow! Selene had done the worst by him of all! Firstly she’d tricked him into betraying his grandmother’s trust by abusing their friendship…

…and then somehow, she’d dragged him into her twisted fantasy; he was gentlemanly enough to insist that it was his doing, but Selene knew the truth.

“You’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen, Lena, and if that was all you were, maybe I could resist, but you’re also the nicest person I know; you’re nice to everyone, just like my mom! You’re even nice to a massive weirdo like me…”

And maybe, maybe, if that’s where he’d left it, Selene might not have used him, again, to make herself feel better in the wake of Oly’s rejection; but Coltsfoot was on roll…

“I’ve always wanted to tell you, but I’ve just never been brave enough, especially since you’re best friends with Oly, and there’s no one cooler than Oly…”

“Oh, Colt, no! You’re just interesting in a different way than Oly!” She was only trying to make him feel better…and, it wasn’t a lie; Coltsfoot was genuinely one of the most interesting people she’d ever met! “I think you’re a truly wonderful person–”

A simple ‘thank you’ would have sufficed…but then, people have different ways of expressing gratitude, and Selene would be lying if she’d said it wasn’t a lovely kiss…and it was also lovely to be kissed.

Perhaps it was the sting of fresh rejection, or the flush of unexpected flattery; mostly likely some combination of the two…in any case, Selene made no attempt to put an end to the kissing. In hindsight, it probably hadn’t been wise to allow it, as they were both practically naked and the air was thick with desperate vulnerability.

‘As much as dream air can be thick with anything…’

Thick with foolishness, that’s what; she hoped Coltsfoot didn’t hate her now…she’d gotten carried away! All that emotional high and low, and then the nakedness, and his nakedness got a bit, um…excited…

…and then she reached for areas she probably shouldn’t have…

…it’s truly amazing how something like that can escalate so quickly, given the right environment and lack of supervision.

But it was only a dream, wasn’t it? Granted, a very real dream.

Though, it had felt as though they were being watched, and judged, by some unseen presence…

What must he think of her? Seducing him like that! Taking advantage of his declarations of admiration and their inappropriate clothing situation…it was so embarrassing!

‘I’ll never be able to look him in the eye again!’

Two friendships spoiled in one dream…and for what? To appease her vanity?

Selene had never felt so ashamed of herself…so…low…

“Selene…”

“Hello? Is someone there…?”

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Footnotes:

Thanks to InfraGreen for letting me borrow Bud (you may have to wash his eyes out with tear-free soap, tho; whoopsie!); he is truly a genius at looking unimpressed 😉

Whose dream was that, anyhow? Selene says hers, Colt’s like “no, mine!”…well, whoever the credit goes to, it sure was pretty vanilla there in the end (snerk, get it?); disappointing, I feel like that BDSM gear failed to deliver on a promise.

Here, have a nice jungle cat:

Nice kitty: “HAPPY SIMMING!!”