“I can’t feel my toes.” Aisha’s body was draped over Liam's, she kissed his shoulder, biting it every so often, fingers switching between hugging and possessively scratching him. They both lay on the pile of pillows, drenched, bodies naked and pressed closely together.
“That’s a non-intelligent design human for you,” he said, one arm holding her close, the other providing support for his own head. “We’re built different.”
“I’ll say.” She playfully bit again, then paused. “You’re serious.” Letting out a huff, she slowed down. “Let’s hear it.”
“Whatever do you mean?”
“You want to boast.” She accused him, finger poking at his chest. “Not the first time I see that smirk. You have something up your sleeve.”
Liam couldn’t help himself and chuckled. “What’s the main focus a deity would have when they think of sex for a mortal?”
“Reproduction.” She answered without missing a beat. “The divine made our bodies to make it easy to prosper.”
“Bingo.” He squeezed her closer. “That means the most logical approach is to optimize the process, to make it as pleasurable and quick as possible. Something intense and rewarding, but brief, to save up on time and energy.” His fingers buried into her comfortably, the woman’s body was soft from spending so much time sitting down. “Our world did things a bit differently, evolution put a lot of pressure on competitiveness.”
“Wait.” Aisha’s manicured brows furrowed, hand trailing down his hip. “You can’t be…” Her eyes widened. “I wasn’t lying earlier, I can’t feel my legs, Liam.”
“Don’t worry.” With a sinister chuckle, he shifted them both, moving her so she’d lay on her back, meeting her eyes as she bit her lip. “I’ll do all the work.”
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Sitting down with his legs crossed, Liam mumbled a happy little tune as he moved his hands over the training spell-knots of the black rope. He was nude, and trying to put his thoughts in order, feeling like there was still a lot of pressure lingering overhead. Currently, that sense of doom was just sticking to the margins, however, only peeking and making itself known, but not stepping in.
He… was still terrified of the prospect of commitment on the harder edge of things, the fear hadn’t truly left him. Yet Aisha had helped him get past at least some of it. Just one step at a time, he figured.
Rustling pillows preceded a soft pressure on his back as Aisha groaned, draping her naked body on his, hugging him from behind. “What’s this?”
“A divine tool from the Whisperer.” He answered. “It simulates creating spell-knots. It’s great practice, at least until I can get some mana-sense.”
“Hm…” Aisha reached out. “Like this,” she whispered, placing her hands on his own, guiding him. “You’re putting too much pressure on your fingertips. Don’t poke at it. Imagine you’re sanding it down, one caress at a time.” Not missing a beat, she kissed his shoulder, then froze.
“What?” He followed her gaze down to his groin. “Oh, it’ll go away on its own.” He tensed as her hands trailed down his flanks.
“Or I can help it along.” Aisha had a look of focus, like she was taking an advanced math exam. “I do need to be able to walk today.”
Liam had no complaints.
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Liam groaned as he sank into the hot waters of the hammam’s hot-room, his body sore all over, but it was the good kind of soreness. His skin in particular stung, scratches and bites, as light as they’d been, had still left a roadmap of red lines over most of his torso and arms. The physicality of it all left little room for thoughts, just mindless satisfaction as he went through the motions.
Aisha had insisted they bathe separately, and had gone in first with a servant to accompany her. Liam had intended to go in on his own, but a certain lagomorph had insisted on giving him company. That aforementioned rabbit was currently perched atop his head, wearing a tiny white towel Liam was certain she’d made for herself.
“I’ve been meaning to ask.” Bunny mumbled with a sigh. “You seem happy.”
“That’s not a question.” He muttered. “And after last night, I’d need to be dead not to feel like on Cloud 9 in some way right now.”
“Do you plan to keep it that way?” she asked.
“What do you mean?”
“As… your friend, I feel like I have an obligation to point this out to you.” She wriggled on his hair. “You can stop.”
“Stop?”
“You’ve got twenty years before that thing in your arm kills you. I doubt you’d live that long anyway if you keep up the habit of getting into trouble and pissing off Gods.” She let out a sigh. “It’d suck for me, but it wouldn’t be a bad life for you.”
“Where is this coming from?”
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“You know what I mean. Aisha said no to becoming Origin’s champion.” Bunny answered. “She’s going to have fifty years tops, meanwhile, if you become a demigod…” She shook a little. “I’m just asking. I wanted to be sure you… well, that you haven’t changed your mind. Mortals can often get complacent when they find something that makes them this happy.”
He submerged a bit further into the water. “This feels a bit premature to ask.”
“You almost had a panic attack because you imagined she wanted to marry you. Which. She. Does.” Each word was punctuated by a pat on his head. “You wear your emotions on your sleeve. You like her but don't want... look, it’s…” She hesitated. “We’re worried. We’ve seen what this kind of situation can lead to.”
“I’ve written about it plenty.” He growled, splashing some water on his face and left the tub, his mind turning to other things. Things like how deities would often bring relationships to premature ends for the sake of the ‘benefit’ of their charges. He wanted to believe Maridah wouldn’t do that, but he also knew it was something she’d done over her very very long lifespan. “When I stepped through that portal in my flat, I didn't care much whether I died or not. I’ve since reconsidered that stance. I don’t want to die, and there are too many things this world has to offer. Limiting myself to just twenty years... it'd be passing a whole lot of those things up. No thank you.”
“Ok,” Bunny said. “That's... ok. Let's focus, then. After you stop having to worry about dying of old age, what then? What comes after you become a demigod?"
He considered the question for a moment. “Well, by then there ought to be a high concentration of talent in Cracked Bay, and an inordinate amount of aether available, so the next logical step would be to maybe put that to use, start a magic school of some sort.” He stated nonchalantly. “I’d use my knowledge of interesting and skilled people to go about the place recruiting them, and turn Cracked Bay into a place with such an inordinate amount of magic we kick-start a magical revolution.” With a slight chuckle, he began to scrub himself. “But honestly, all of it would be for the sake of me learning magic. I want to be a mage, THE mage. I want to be the guy that when someone says magic, my face pops up to rub in that no one knows magic as well as I do.”
“If you're aiming that high, why not become a God of Magic?” Bunny asked. “I doubt you wouldn’t know of a way to pull it off.”
“Because Gods become an incarnation of their divinity. Your Origin is a divinity of secrets, and she’d become a living secret herself. Absorbing Volkanar diluted it a bit, which is good, otherwise she might have just refused to step out of the jungle.” He made a vague gesture with his hand. “To become a God of something it means to allow that to change you as you grow stronger. Demigods are limited in that way, they still have bits of mortality within them, and it’s what keeps them grounded.” Closing his eyes, he glanced up at the roof. “What better example of a God who’s reached the pinnacle of their path than the God of Hate?” He pointed upwards. “It’s the dude that’s going to come smacking down on us.”
“God of Hate?” Bunny blanched. “Lame. Was that his original divine aspect?”
“Lame, but powerful.” Liam replied a bit defensively. “And no, he’d originally been a God of Growth. Hate had been a tiny piece of the portfolio, but he doubled down on it after… well, getting exiled into deep space.”
“Geesh.” Fiery rabbit eyes regarded him. “It’s good to know you’re not just losing yourself or anything.”
“Don’t worry. If I think I ought to change plans, you’ll be the first to know.”
Rinsing off and drying off, Liam stepped out of the hot-room and let out a sigh of relief, his body feeling practically as if it glowed from the heat it had absorbed.
“Hey, quick question before you step into the cool room where your not-girlfriend is waiting for you.” Bunny interrupted him. “Let’s say a hypothetical scenario here, you’ve had sex and though you still want to have a go at it, your mortal partner is out of steam. Would you be open to having another mortal-?”
“No.”
“You didn’t let me finish the question.”
"Ok, then ask away."
Bunny stared at him for a long moment. "What's your stance on polygamy?"
"Culturally I know it's a thing in the Caliphate." His lips drew thin. "Personally? I had a university room-mate that got entangled in a polyamory thing thing. It looked exhausting, and that was with the guy actually knowing what he was doing."
"Maybe it'd do you some good, if only for the perspective." Bunny waggled her ears at him. "Have you ever tried?"
"I-" He hesitated, then quickly shook his head. "Not really. My relationships haven't exactly been the best standards out there. Three out of four times I didn't even know how I got entangled."
"Make that four out of five." The aspect chuckled.
"Fine, point for Bunny." Liam shook his head. "Still, I can barely emotionally handle one relationship, I can't really imagine myself being able to properly invest into being with several people at the same time. Or survive, for that matter."
She chuckled in response, bopping him with her fluffy ear. "And what's the story on relationship number five?"
"Secret for another time." His brows furrowed ever so slightly. "Speaking of, have you been spying on us?"
“I didn’t do it,” Bunny said defensively. “It was Origin. Not like she needed to be active about it…”
“I swear, the very first thing I’m going to do the moment we reach the Frostwyrm kingdom is finding the damn Tool of Opacity.” He growled, opening the door to the cool room. “Damned Gods and their damned super-powered gossip.”
As he glanced around, he realized Aisha hadn’t been the only one waiting for him. There were four others in the cool room, servants, dressed in light yellow garments. The first was a volar, the second a dwarf, and the third an elf, all three women. The fourth was a volar male. All four acknowledged his presence with a deep bow. They looked one bad move away from being naked. The nature of their presence became clearer when Aisha hesitated right as she'd been about to introduce them, her eyes very carefully trying to read Liam.
"Not gonna work," Bunny said with a shrug.
"Then... out." Aisha told the servants, and the four hastily rushed out of the cool room.
Liam stared at them as the door closed. "Were they...?"
"Not important." The Amil replied quickly. "Miss Bunny, could you...?"
"Privacy, got it." The aspect rolled her eyes. "I swear, just have to wait sixty more years..." She'd vanished before anyone could ask what she meant.
In the silence of her absence, Liam cleared her throat. "So... is there anything you'd want to share?"
"Just that I will need to do some exercise." She dimpled and blushed, beckoning him closer. "It wouldn't do if I couldn't keep up."
Liam hesitated. "Don't feel forced to-"
"Nonsense. I've always wished to learn sword-fighting, and this seems like a good excuse to spend some time doing it." Aisha smiled a little wider. "And in exchange, I could teach you more about magic."
"I'd love to." He nodded eagerly. “It’s a bit of a shame that I’ve got that whole blessing and mana-germs going on. It’s going to take a few years before I can cast anything.”
Or at least, that’s what he’d thought at the time.