“Come on, most guys would pay for something like that.” She said as she hugged him. “I'll bet you've never had a woman hug you in her bra.” She tiptoed up to his ears and whispered. “I can take it off if you'd li-”
He pushed her off and she giggled.
“You're finally shy again.”
He flicked her head.
“Ow, I'm not that type of woman, Tibby.” She stuck her tongue out and pretended to be hurt.
He looked at her unamused and shook his head.
“You know Vanessa, I'm sure being in a pool filled with a mysterious black liquid with a woman in her underwear is someone's dream. No, I can guarantee someone is wishing for this. But it sure as fuck isn't my dream!”
She cupped some of the liquid and slapped it onto his chest.
“Cheer up, it feels nice and you get to see more of my skin. I'm already doing my best to make it up to you.”
He could only sigh before giving in and sinking deeper into the liquid, until reaching his chest. Vanessa did the same and only her head stuck out of the pitch-black liquid.
“I assume there's a reason for this and you haven't just picked up a niche fetish when I was unconscious.”
“I miss the old you, you'd have been red as a tomato if we did this a few months ago.”
The pair were both stripped down to their underwear and the liquid, contained in a room-sized pool, showed no mercy in dyeing their skin and underwear black. They were currently in the first-floor communal bath the ladies would wash themselves in. What was once a pure white retreat was covered all over in black stains. And Tibaut could guess who'd be the one responsible for cleaning the place up. This was the first time Tibaut recalled coming here and it already ruined any possible excitement he had for the place.
She tried to pinch one of his nipples, as he spaced out and he splashed her face with the black liquid.
“If this is it, I'll be going for a shower.”
He stood up and she pulled down his underwear halfway, causing him to drop back down before she exposed anything she shouldn't.
“You're gonna stay here for another hour at least. I wanna make sure you don't contaminate anything.”
“So there is a reason for this.”
“Yup, from what Elizabeth said, it sounded like you saw the stuff in action.”
“You mean that Gallite you were talking about?”
“Correcto, skinny.” She cupped both her hands together and poured it into his hair, making sure to scrub it in. “If you could see it, that means you probably got some dust on you and you are not bringing that shit into my workshop.”
He cupped some in his hands and rubbed it in her hair.
“Is it bad for metal?” He asked.
“Is it bad for metal? Dumbass, did you see what it did to that Bishop's armour? Well, it can do that to any metal!”
“(So that's why she's so pissed.) And how does this liquid help?”
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“It's an oil with some metal dust that I usually melt down. In theory, it should react with any of the gallite left on you.”
“Why oil? I feel like I just came out of the mouth of a monster.” He said. He then tried to squeeze the oil out of his hair to little success.
“Because the form of gallite he used dissolves in oil, not water. Blame the blue-haired bastard next time you see him.”
(“I feel like this is 100% on you. I've been asleep for like a month, surely the stuff would be gone by now!”)
As Tibaut tried his best to relax in the black liquid, he felt a pinch at his side. And then another. After the third, he fell into her trap and the pair spent the next several minutes playing together.
----------------------------------------
From head to toe, they were both as black as the night sky. The weight of the oil made Tibaut’s hair black and straight, giving him a completely different look.
“Come on, if you show me yours, I'll show you mine,” Vanessa asked with a smile. She had an arm around him.
“Why should I, you'd probably do it for free.”
“Don't you feel bad for giving this little cutie so much work? Elizabeth’s sword is one thing, but now I have to remake pieces of your armour and both of your stupid gauntlets. This would give me a boost of energy to get some work done.”
“I'm sure Elizabeth’s good enough at doing that.”
“Ugh, don't mention her name. Now that you're up, I can only pray she doesn't come with her usual list of demands.”
“Sounds tough.”
“You're acting like you're not gonna help me, dumbass. Those flames of yours are needed for some of the stuff I need to fix.”
“Oh screw off, look at me.” He pointed to himself and compared his forearm to Vanessa's.
(“Hmm?”) While his arm was a stick, Vanessa's forearm was rather thick. Thicker than his arms were normally, even.
“What's up?” She asked.
“N-nothing, anyway the only workout I need is shoving food in my mouth.”
“If you need to eat, I have something that might interest you.” She said with a smirk.
“I swear, you're like a horny old man given a woman's body.”
The door of the bathroom soon opened and the pair quickly turned around.
“This is where you were.” The voice stated.
It was Tina in a tight-fitting shirt and a skirt that obviously wasn't hers. Tibaut could recall Elizabeth wearing those pieces of clothing and couldn't help but muse at how inappropriate it looked on her.
Vanessa quickly moved away and Tina paid her no mind.
“You're awake.”
“Y-yeah, I guess I am.” He said as he hid the rest of his body in the black liquid.
“So she put you through that too.” Unlike the other two women, Tina still seemed to be exhausted, the bags under her eyes no better than the last time he saw her.
(“Too?”)
“Well, it's good to see you're alive. Sorry, I was too busy to give you some backup.”
Her eyes seemed to lack any of the fire she had and this sombre tone she spoke was seriously having Tibaut question if this was another tan woman with pink hair.
“It's fine-”
“I'm sorry for what happened with Ezekiel.”
“Oh come on don-”
“I'm sorry. I'm sorry.” She kneeled and pulled him closer, messing her hands up with the black oil.
“I'm sorry.” She pulled him into her and gave him a gentle hug.
“Woah, Tina there's no need to apologise over something like this!”
She hugged him for several more seconds while he kept himself as still as possible to not cause a bigger mess on her clothing.
She released him and turned, leaving the room, softly pushing up the door.
(“I know they were close but…”)
He could only stare at the door, unsure of what to do.
“Y-yeah, I've heard Lily say she's been like that ever since she heard you woke up,” Vanessa said. She slowly moved back towards him and got out of the bath. She picked a towel stained black and wiped herself off.
“You should soak up for another fifteen minutes or so. I'm gonna go check if Lily woke up.”
(“...It's not hard to imagine the other two aren't doing so hot either. I guess the atmosphere is gonna be a bit off for a while. Hell, I'm not doing that hot either, if I'm being honest.”)
He looked up at the ceiling and remained alone with his thoughts for a while.