Dance of the D was not an explicitly sexual ritual, a confusing circumstance for Jadis considering the nature of her ritualist class, especially when compared to the acts she had to perform for the other spells she had unlocked. In simplest terms, the ritual required dancing. Though it wasn’t the only requirement, dancing was the main one, and was thus hardly anything Jadis could think of as perverse. The act was chaste, even, in her opinion.
On the other hand, the secondary requirements did add some raciness to the prospective ritual. Having at least one other participant was nothing to get excited about, but the ritual also specified the level of clothing those involved could wear, and that the ritual be in an open, public setting. The magically created memories Jadis had received upon unlocking the spell did not state total nudity was needed, thank goodness. She had no idea how she would have convinced Aila or anyone else to dance naked in the wide open with her if the instructions had been just a bit lewder. Still, telling someone you barely knew that they had to strip off a good portion of their clothes out in the middle of a field was an awkward experience for both parties involved.
“Why do I need to take my armor off?”
Aila was looking askance at Jay, her arms crossed. Jadis had led her out of the city and to the east, away from the walls and the overwatching fort sitting on its cliff. A quick jog that was slow for Jadis but a winding pace for Aila had taken them to the side of one of the many hills surrounding Felsen, out of sight of any casual observers.
Now, standing here in the open air, telling a woman who she only met a few days ago she needed to take off her shirt before she started dancing with her, she was feeling just a bit like a creep.
“Look, I’m not the one who makes the rules on these things,” Jay explained, setting her mallet down against the bare rock of the hill’s cliffside they had stopped next to. “The spell needs… skin exposure. It’s just the way it wants it.”
As Jay spoke, Syd pulled her tunic top off, leaving her in just a simple skirt and a chest wrap. Dys removed her own leather top, bracers, and shin guards, leaving her in much the same state as Syd.
“That is the most bizarre requirement I’ve ever heard of,” Aila said dryly, studiously keeping her eyes on Jay’s face and not the two women stripping behind her. “For truth, by Valtar’s name, you swear this is necessary?”
“It is. We wouldn’t lie to you about something like this,” Jay said, pulling her own bracers off. “Are you still willing to join us or do we need to get our gear back on? We’ll still take you hunting demons if you’ve changed your mind.”
As much as Jadis wanted Aila to join her in performing the ritual, she wasn’t going to force the issue. If she wasn’t comfortable with it, then that was that and Jadis would wait to cast it until she found someone else willing to participate.
Aila looked Jay up and down, her eyes briefly darting to the two half-naked forms behind her for just a moment before she shook her head and started shrugging her backpack off.
“No, I’ll do it,” Aila said as she put the pack down and started unbuckling her leather armor. “But I am intensely curious about the ritualist class you all unlocked. Does every ritual require… ‘skin exposure’ as you put it?”
“No,” Dys said, bending down to pick up and toss a few rocks away that were scattered in the grass at their feet. Jadis didn’t want her or Aila to trip on anything while they were occupied. “All of our other rituals don’t mention anything like this as a necessity. It’s just this one.”
What Jadis said was true, though what she left out was just how much more depraved her other rituals were in comparison. Eldritch Overlay didn’t technically require she remove any clothes at all, but the one hour of non-stop oral sex would certainly be far messier if she didn’t remove her clothes beforehand. It just wasn’t strictly required that she do so.
As Jay stripped off all but her chest wraps and leather tassel skirt, Aila quickly and efficiently removed her own protective gear, leaving her in her tunic, leather pants, and boots. With unspoken prompting from Jay, Dys, and Syd, Aila hesitated only a moment before taking off her green tunic, revealing she wore something reminiscent of a camisole that left her midriff exposed underneath.
“Good enough?” Aila asked, a small blush lighting up her freckled cheeks.
“Boots off too, I think. Unless you want to take your pants off, but I think bare feet would be enough,” Jay said, trying to keep her voice light and teasing.
Aila didn’t answer verbally, but she quickly sat in the grass and pulled her boots off, trying to hide the more vibrant blush that was spreading across her face by keeping her head down.
With boots off and feet bared, Jadis sensed by whatever mechanism skills and spells worked by that Aila was past the threshold requirement needed. If the redhead had been wearing shorts or a skirt, Jadis felt as though she probably could have kept the boots on, but whatever. This worked well enough.
“Now what?”
Holding out her hand, Jay helped Aila to her feet.
“Now, we dance,” Jay answered, grinning.
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Taking the lead, Syd started thumping a simple beat on the drum she held against her hip. Humming in harmony with her selves, Jadis started with the tune of a pop song she didn’t recall the lyrics to but half-remembered as being pretty fun to dance to at a club she’d partied at once a couple of years ago. It was a little embarrassing, the three of her just dancing out in the open, with only her humming and a single drum to keep the beat, but having three bodies made it slightly less awkward than it would have been otherwise.
At first, Aila just stared, which did not help Jadis’ nerves. Eventually though, after a few moments of just watching, Aila joined in. Her movements were a bit stiff and she clearly wasn’t used to the kind of club dancing Jadis was performing, but she caught on quick enough, moving her hips and knees with the beat Jadis set.
After a minute or so of dancing, Jadis started to notice an effect. The inner glow that she had experienced in the past when performing her Debauched Duplication ritual had reappeared, only this time, the faint, barely noticeable glow was coming from Aila’s freckled skin. If it weren’t for the shadow cast by the hillside cliff, Jadis doubted she would have noticed, but the inner light was there.
Before Jadis could bring the light to Aila’s attention, the redhead spoke up, eyebrows raised.
“Do you hear that?”
Keeping the drumbeat going but pausing her humming, Jadis found that she could hear something, faintly. Except, there was nothing. All was quiet around her and Aila, nothing but the wind and the distant sound of the sea breaking against the shore. But there was a feeling welling up inside her, a feeling that was music without sound.
Instantly Jadis thought of her encounter with D, in the living room that didn’t exist and the chair that could be described as nothing but a chair. The music was there but not there, a sense that could be described as nothing but music, despite possessing no sound nor beat nor melody. Nevertheless, it was music.
Jadis didn’t stop or speak, she just moved with the incomprehensible rhythm, her hips rocking and hands sliding up and through her hair. Through eyes half closed, she saw Aila fall into the rhythm, too, surrendering to the alien sensation.
The four moved together, shifting and sliding, growing closer as they danced. Soon, Jay was grinding against Dys as Dys was grinding against Syd and Aila was among them, moving with all three in time with the intense thrumming of the ethereal music.
As the hour passed and the music feeling grew more intense, sweat made their skin slick as they glided against each other, their movements drawing them closer and closer to each other. Arms and hands brushed against bare skin, legs and hips gyrated and ground against one another. Jadis lost track of which of her selves was which as she moved with the beat, her senses all focusing on the beauty that was Aila in motion.
Though Aila had started out stiff, her movements had only grown more and more natural with time, her dance growing more sensual in pace with how smooth and beautiful her form grew. Her eyes closed, her long red hair flowing around her, she couldn’t see the glow growing brighter and brighter in her flesh. Sweat soaked her camisole and her breath was coming in quick, panting gasps that sent thrills up and down Jadis’ spines.
The music’s pace increased in intensity with the illumination within Aila, growing ever more frantic and frenetic, forcing all four bodies to keep up, no thought of stopping or pulling away even remotely entertained. Jadis was panting too now, sweat dripping from her foreheads as the heat and exertion built closer and closer towards something that had to be near, had to be completed, and had to be done in time with the pounding music that flooded and overwhelmed all other senses without ever making a single sound.
The rhythm spiraled faster and faster, closing in tighter and tighter just as Jadis’ selves drew tighter and tighter around Aila, the smaller woman surrounded by all three. They moved together, rubbing and sliding against her in unison just as she did the same against them, their movements synchronized into perfect symmetry, all focused on the same want, the same need to reach the end the music promised them.
As suddenly as the mental music had started, it climaxed, reaching the peak Jadis and Aila had been working towards. The glow coming from Aila flashed brightly, enveloping her completely while at the same time failing to obscure even the slightest part of her writhing, gyrating form. All four reached the same conclusion, their dance ending in breathless gasps becoming the only sound as both the light and non-music faded away, leaving them pressed up against each other, their limbs intertwined.
Aila looked up into one of Jadis’ faces, her eyes open wide now, pupils dilated and skin flushed. She breathed heavily, her chin practically resting on Jadis’ stomach, her hot breaths tickling Jadis’ bare abdomen.
“So?” Jay finally spoke after a moment, Jadis having brought her senses back in line well enough to remember which of her was which. “Do you feel any different?”
Aila blinked, seeming to regain her senses through force of will, pulling back slightly from the three towering bodies surrounding her, though only a little.
“I—I do. I feel, smoother, somehow. It’s hard to describe…” she trailed off, her breath still coming quickly.
“Show me,” Jay demanded as all three of Jadis collectively took a step back, giving Aila room to move.
Aila did show her. Wordlessly, she moved, stepping away with the grace of a cat, her feet and long legs moving with a smoothness Jadis could see though she found it hard to define. Starting slow, Aila spun in place, her long hair whipping out and around her in cloud of red. She twirled and stopped and twirled again with a perfect ease and precision that Jadis didn’t think she could replicate barefoot and on uneven ground.
Suddenly, Aila cartwheeled, then flipped, making the movements seem as natural as walking. In a display of flexibility, she ended her final cartwheel in a full front split, landing in the grass in a perfect pose. Even more impressively, she raised herself back up from the split without aid, making the shift up look elegant.
Watching the impromptu show Aila had put on for her, Jadis realized that she was as hard as rock under her skirts. She was surprised her underclothes hadn’t ripped off her bodies, she was feeling so passionately turned on.
Aila turned and looked up at the three of her, a bright smile meeting the intense gazes Jadis knew were on her faces.
“This—this is amazing! I feel so different, so precise! I can move in exactly the way I imagine myself moving—” Aila gushed, her previous façade of icy coolness gone as the excitement rushed through her. As she spoke, her eyes glanced down and her voice caught in her throat.
Everything was silent again for a long moment, the only sound being the wind and the sea and the slightly panting breath of four women.
“So, I wasn’t imagining things this morning,” Aila stated, her eyes now locked onto the bulges visible under Jadis’ loose skirts.
Uncertain of what else to do to ease the sudden tension, Syd abruptly elbowed Dys.
“Told you she fucking saw something.”