Morgana's eyes clear somewhat and her feline head works oddly before she speaks in her own voice, more or less recognisably. "I'd make a joke about keeping your hands to yourself, but we should press on."
As she moves she bumps her furred head gently against Vasia, in a rather cat-like gesture.
Vasia frowns slightly at Shaumatiel's healing efforts, but doesn't say anything. She wraps an arm around Morgana's shoulder and pulls her in tight in response to the head bump, whispering in the process.
Morgana chuffs a soft laugh.
Vasia turns her eyes on the woman under her arm.
"Did we win?" Melody looks around, worried a bit that they are not.
Sadly Melody's query is answered in the negative when two larger versions of the creatures you just fought emerge from a tunnel to your left. They screech in what sounds like rage and sorrow as they see the corpses of their children and rush towards you, intent on choking the life from you!
”Ice to meet you!” Shaumatiel shouts as she moves forward and blasts one of the bigger monsters with cold!
Morgana stifles her more bestial instincts as best she can and actually holds onto her spear, loping forwards to attack the nearest creature. She does groan at Shaumatiel's pun too...
Jenica rolls her eyes. "F&&+ me," she grumbles before taking a new grip on her weapons and joining Morgana in the frontal assault.
Vasia sends a stone flying wide of anything that could be remotely considered an acceptable target.
"Angry... Mothers!" Melody yelps in awed inspiration, though she has no idea why it would be inspiring.
Jenica laughs.
"Go back to the sweets, my lovely!" she calls out with affection. "Leave the cursing to those of us that have long ago defiled the purity of our mouths."
Vasia's face colors. "Gods, Bunica!" she declares. "Why would you say it like ...? That sounds obscene!"
Morgana and Jenica advance to meet the adults, blocking the narrow corridor to stop them progressing towards the smaller and more easily strangled members of the group. Morgana misses and Shaumatiel's ice barely seems to phase the monsters but Jenica lands a stronger blow. Melody has to duck when a rock comes flying over her head, but surely Vasia didn't mean to do that?
In retaliation the monsters lash out with their wide, grasping hands. One manages to get its grasp on Morgana's neck, trying to choke the life from the former paladin!
Morgana lets out a choked gasp and stabs at the monster holding her again. To no greater effect...
Shaumatiel scowls and tries to ice over the creature grabbing Morgana.
"sweet.angry.mothers?" the halfling says with a decent level of perplexity. Normally she might have attempted to babbly about something more but she is distracted by Morgana being grabbed again so she tries to help her.
"Dammit, we need a hand up here!" Jenica calls out before pressing into the cave wall near her. A moment later she appears behind the choker she was battling previously. Her spectral blade, however, targets the enemy grappling Morgana.
Vasia steps up closer, but leaves room for either Melody or Shaumatiel to take Jenica's place at the front line. Her focus is on the grappled woman. Centering her thoughts and emotions, she reaches out a hand to touch Morgana with healing energy.
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
With Melody's aid Morgana manages to impale the choker grappling her and Shaumatiel finishes it off with a blast of ice, leaving only one 'sweet. angry. mother' to deal with. Jenica lurches through it, but can't land a telling blow.
Clearly reading the room and establishing that Jenica is the most... 'open minded' member of the group the remaining choker swings on her and attempts to give her first hand experience of what tentacles can do! Jenica finds the whole situation somewhat... *ahem* moving on!
Grateful that the grabbing tentacles are finally not aimed at her any more, Morgana takes a moment to compose herself before stabbing once more.
Taking a moment seems to help and she manages a solid blow without anyone's help this time!
Shaumatiel moves in to bring her blade to bear!
Falayna smiles on her champions as Morgana and Shaumatiel cut the remaining choker down, finishing the ruination of the whole family!
The walls of the cave which the adult lurkers emerged from are slick with moisture, and the smell of rotted meat fills the air. A brief search finds, stashed in a nook in the wall, a burlap sack filled with random knickknacks the chokers have taken from the colony. The sack contains a porcelain tea set, haphazardly thrown into the sack such that three of the teacups now have broken handles. There is also a steel flask full of whiskey etched with an elaborate “R,” a silver mirror with a rose motif worth 150 gp, a set of dice in a wooden cup capped with leather, two vials of defoliant, four star candle fireworks, a thunderstone, a meridian belt, and a wadded-up shield cloak.
Unfortunately there is nothing that looks like an exit, so you press onwards. You soon enter a spacious cavern where a section of the northern wall has been hollowed out and veins of various crystals exposed, which refract any light cast upon their surface. Small piles of rock are heaped on the ground nearby, where the earth has been carefully chiseled away to expose the potentially precious stones.
Small movements show a pair of odd, crsytalline looking creatures, who seem to be eating their way into the walls and extracting gemstones. While this looks like a profitable area which might benefit the colony in future it doesn't seem that the creatures are immediately aggressive, and therefore the issue is not a pressing one.
Finally the cave tunnel gradually begins to slope upward, with a faint glimpse of light to the northeast and a warming of the air temperature. You emerge at the base of a small hill and, once you climb it for a better view, find yourselves no more than a mile from your newly claimed home and the outskirts of Talmandor's Bounty. Clearing out the chokers from the caves is a good job well done and the tropical sun overhead seems to agree - sending a pleasant warmth for you to enjoy as you return home.
Melody heart falls into her stomach when she sees the collection of nicknacks the creatures were hoarding. "it is easier when they are just mindless eating machines." she says softly and sadly. "I know, it needed to be done, but... I think I'll leave this one out of the story."
In the sunlight, she finds her smile again. Standing next to Jenica, she is eclipsed in the perfect balance of pleasant warmth and pleasant cooling.
Clearly reading the room and establishing that Jenica is the most... 'open minded' member of the group the remaining choker swings on her and attempts to give her first hand experience of what tentacles can do! Jenica finds the whole situation somewhat... *ahem* moving on!
Unsure as to whether she should feel offended, flattered, or ... yes, *ahem*, moving on ... the phantom struggles for only a moment before the other ladies render the situation ... family safe.
"Yes, well, ... thank you," she says without any disappointment at all.
In the sunlight, she finds her smile again. Standing next to Jenica, she is eclipsed in the perfect balance of pleasant warmth and pleasant cooling.
The cooling quickly overwhelms the warmth as Jenica reaches down and pulls the small woman up into her arms. "I think we've earned ourselves a little break," she says, pressing her face into the halfling's neck. "And you need a bath," she adds with a smirk.
"I smell?" the halfling panics, attempting to smell herself, which never ever produces the results one wants. After those moments of worry and wonderings she asks their leaders "Is there anything else we need to do?" hoping to get unsmelly as soon as possible.
Morgana stretches, leaning back with audible pops as she reaches out both arms. The groan she lets out sounds almost orgasmic and when she slowly relaxes the smile on her face is huge.
"No, I think we've done our bit for the colony today." She says. "I'll go tell Ramona but I'm sure she'll agree. Then I'm having a swim, who knows where those hands have been?"
As the group walks back to the colony Morgana takes hold of Vasia's hand quite naturally, although she does lean in to her girlfriend once they reach the end of the main 'street', rather than presuming that the spiritualist is coming with her.
"Go with Melody. I'll come and join you on the beach in a bit."
She heads up the street, returning the greetings of the colonists she passes. Unlike the olden days she doesn't stop to chat, that was the old Morgana, the sociable and charming one before she was scared and scarred. The new Morgana does stop to help lift a large new crossbeam but she steps away again as soon as the job is done with little more than a nod to acknowledge the thanks sent her way.
Thankfully Ramona is out and about so Morgana can find her relatively quickly.
"We explored the cave system by the Levin Farm." She says quietly. "There was a family of chokers down there but we've ended that threat for good thankfully. There's another entrance to the system about a mile away and there was a section of the caves which looked like it had gemstones. Might be a good resource if we can get it working. There were some sort of creatures there already so we left them alone for now. Might be a peaceful solution?" She embellishes her report as required but departs immediately and heads for the, hopefully, peaceful beach. Sunlight and good company are what she needs to stop thinking about the tunnels, the grasping tentacles and the feeling of having the air choked from her lungs.
"Go with Melody. I'll come and join you on the beach in a bit."
Vasia frowns for a moment before reaching up to place a gentle hand against Morgana's face. "Are you sure?" she asks. "I'm sure Bunica intends nothing decent in the water and that can wait if you'd rather I come with you."
After being reassured that the woman simply wishes to update Romana on the group's progress, Vasia nods and heads towards the beach with the others.
Once at the beach, she contents herself with sitting on the warm sand and watching Melody and Jenica entertain themselves in the water. When Morgana finally joins them, she directs the woman into the water with a grin.
After reaching the beach, Jenica's form shimmers for a moment before clarifying again - this time without weapons. Or garments.
"Come, my lovely," she calls out to Melody as she backs into the light waves with her hands outstretched towards the small woman. "One must dress to suit the occasion and you're ... greatly overdressed. Now you wouldn't want to be rude, would you?" Her smirk is playful, but her eyes move up and down Melody's body hungrily.
Shaumatiel is not shy about her body, so when the group gets to the beach, the elf happily strips out of her clothes and dives into the water. She sighs happily as she emerges, water streaming from her silver hair. "Ah! I could get used to this!"
Once at the beach, she contents herself with sitting on the warm sand and watching Melody and Jenica entertain themselves in the water. When Morgana finally joins them, she directs the woman into the water with a grin.
Morgana shakes her head and sits down next to Vasia on the sand. "I'll go in later." She says, drawing her knees up an resting her chin on them. It's a very closed off posture until she tips her face to one side so she can see Vasia.
"Thank you, back there. You kept me standing against those choker things."
Melody turns beat red at the thought, so only manages to undress down to her underthings, before getting into the water with her Jenica.
Shaumatiel is not shy about her body, so when the group gets to the beach, the elf happily strips out of her clothes and dives into the water. She sighs happily as she emerges, water streaming from her silver hair. "Ah! I could get used to this!"
Morgana watches Shaumatiel swim and Vasia can see an element of... wistfulness in her expression
Vasia shifts closer on the sand so she can wrap her arm around Morgana. Leaning her head against the woman's shoulder she closes her eyes.
"Those things in the cave were pretty nasty. I can't imagine what it must have been like to have one wrapped around you like that," she says softly. "You don't have to talk if you don't want to, but I'll be happy to listen."
With Shaumatiel in the water with them and in matching swim wear as Jenica, the frolicking begins in earnest. Splashing. Laughing. Jenica has an edge in her mischievousness as she doesn't have to breathe and can stay underwater indefinitely. She doesn't take advantage of it too much, though.
In very short order, Melody realizes that somewhere in the middle of the horseplay she's lost the meager undergarments that she was wearing.
"Be careful, my lovely," Jenica purrs as she wraps arms around the small woman from behind. "I've heard that these waters are filled with the dreaded Blue-striped Smallclothes Eater and you don't know they've struck until it's too late." Her lips press against Melody's neck. "Don't worry. I'll protect you."
Morgana doesn't talk, for a long time but, once Melody and Jenica have emerged from the water to settle into some canoodling and Shaumatiel is wringing out her long hair she lets out a quiet sigh.
"I miss it Vasia." She says softly. "Who I used to be. Before I was... broken. I don't miss being pretty, that doesn't matter, but I miss the confidence, the faith I had. In Falayna and in myself. I'm so... unsure these days. Perhaps it's wisdom, but being the leader, it used to be so natural and now I struggle with it. Leading the charge, deciding what we should do. I'm... afraid. That I'll get things wrong, that people will reject me. That I won't be enough. That I'll lose myself in the beast and hurt you..."
She sighs again and sags slightly. "I miss being sure of the world and my place in it."
"Don't be silly," Vasia says with a grin and a mock shoulder shove. "You're still very pretty." Her grin fades. "Who we are changes from day to day, moment to moment. We shouldn't mourn who we were yesterday. That person is gone. All we can do is try to ensure that who we are is the best person that we can be in that moment. That's not always going to be the case because we're fallible and we make mistakes."
She gazes over to the others.
"And confidence should be shaken from time to time. It forces us to reassess our vision of ourselves. Blind confidence is dangerous to one's self and those that depend on us. It should be constantly be checked to verify that it's based on reality rather than our self-conceived notions."
Reaching down, Vasia twines her fingers through Morgana's. "Have no doubt that Melody and Shaumatiel will follow you to the ends of the earth. And Bunica has no choice - she has to go where I go." With her other hand the young woman lifts Morgana's chin up so their eyes meet. "And I choose to stay right here." Her eyes carry nothing but love. "I don't believe that it matters that much where we stand in the world. What's more important is whom we're standing with. And I choose to stand with you." She leans in and lightly presses her lips to the shifter's.
Morgana lets out a long breath and Vasia can feel her relax into the kiss. When they eventually separate the shifter looks happier. "Whatever did I do to deserve you?" She asks softly. "I'm very lucky."
She stands and begins extracting her arms from her shirt. "Standing with me involves coming swimming too?" She asks hopefully, pausing with her shirt still on, and therefore the vast majority of her scars still covered.
The woman's face reddens and she looks around nervously. "Umm ..." she begins before rolling her eyes and grinning. "Fine. We're not who we were yesterday, right?"
With a laugh she leaps to her feet and before Morgana can blink, the light dress that the girl was wearing has pooled on the sand leaving ... nothing but bare skin. A shriek of excitement follows as Vasia races towards the water and dives in before she can change her mind.
"THAT'S MY GIRL!" Jenica shouts out in approval.
Morgana laughs, a genuinely joyous sound, and strips off her shirt and trousers before charging into the water after Vasia. She charges into the water and then leaps headfast into the waves. When she pops up again she shakes her head violently, splattering water all over the place.
"I love you!" She yells as Vasia surfaces as well.
"Gods! That's cold!" is the spiritualist's response. The utterance is spoken through chattering teeth as she wraps her arms around herself. "I didn't think it would be that cold."
Amidst her giggling and shivering, Morgana's words finally sink in and Vasia's mouth drops open - just in time for a slightly larger wave to drench them both, leaving the slender girl coughing up seawater.
"Y-you love me?" she manages to stammer out once she's cleared her throat. She blinks for a moment before throwing her arms around the taller woman and pressing her lips tightly against her. When the kiss finally breaks she laughs. "I love you, too!" she shouts back before claiming Morgana's lips again.
”Yay! I love all of you!” Shamautiel declares, throwing her arms around both Morgana and Vasia and pulling them into a group hug!
Morgana is just relaxing into Vasia's hold despite the cold water when Shaumatiel joins in the hug. She knows that the elf is no threat but she can't help but freeze, stiffening up so rigidly that the next wave would sweep her off her feet easily without the support she's getting from two sides.
Sensing Morgana tensing up in her arms, Vasia turns a blushing face towards the elf. "Could you give us a moment, please?" she asks, unable to meet Shaumatiel's eyes.
”Oh! Oh, yes, sorry. Um... excuse me,” Shaumatiel says regretfully. She ducks beneath the water and quickly swims away.
Unfortunately without Shaumatiel's strength Morgana is dunked by the next wave and when she reappears there's a panic'd expression on her face. She turns and scrambles towards the shore as fast as possible and then collapses in the shallows, shaking.
Melody never had much in the way of friends growing up, none really, other than the other Sweets. So horseplay was a concept she had seen but never partook in.
Even with her inexperience, the halfling is pretty sure it does not involve the a third of the things Jenica is doing. Various squeaks of protest are lost in the wake of oncoming giggles. At the mention of the Eater, she blushes so pink one might think she'll swell up and go Pop. After several moments of attempts to cover underwater and nearly drowning, she has to relent and swim, whispering back "I... I only packed... a few... striped smallclothes... I hope the Eater didn't truly eat them.
"Oh, my lovely, The fact that you believe smallclothes are anything but optional is adorable," Jenica whispers in a delicate ear before giving it a nibble. "In most cases they just get in the way of anything fun."
"If you really must have them ..." the phantom woman says in a louder voice as she swims back from the halfling. One hand rises from the water dangling the water-soaked garments in question. "I have them right here. But I must say that you are absolutely ravishing without them."
Once she's regained her own footing and her breath, Vasia follows Morgana into the shallows and collects the shaking woman into her arms. "It's ok. I'm right here," she whispers. "I've got you. Nothing's going to happen." She continues to hold Morgana in her arms until the reaction passes.