Act IX

by Alexander Gordon

  “Daniel,” she breathed out with a bashful smile. “Any more lovemaking tonight and I’ll surely break. I can barely stand as it is.”

  “That’s alright, tonight we can rest. But don’t think I’m done taming the legendary courier Kroanette after just this one night,” Daniel assured with a wink. He took the blushing centaur by the hand and led her towards the bedroom, the girl shakily catching her breath and feeling her heart fluttering while her feet stumbled a bit more than before in her steps.

  “I’ll be sure to keep that in mind, Daniel,” she softly said before looking down timidly.

  The two made their way towards the bedroom, with Pip quickly zipping down and nestling herself between the centaur’s breasts with a happy giggle. Upon entering through the archway they stopped and blinked with curious expressions as something immediately caught their attention.

  “No! No! No!” Cindy yelled, repeatedly swinging her pillow down hard onto someone who was lying on the floor. The other girls were all watching her from the bed, with everyone being seen except for one girl who was being struck again and again with loud whumps from the wraith’s pillow.

  “Knock it off!” Triska yelled as she kept trying to block the relentless strikes.

  “Where’s Kitten?” Cindy whined while slamming her pillow down on Triska. “Where did she go? Bring her back! I want her here, not you!”

  “Cindy, stop it!” Triska shouted before taking a hit to her face, the girl recoiling from the heavy impact before trying to block the others that kept coming her way.

  “Why do you have her clothes and sword? Are you trying to replace her? You’re a dumb meanie!”

  “Cindy! Kitten’s inside of me! We’re the same!”

  Cindy stopped and looked down to her curiously as feathers were gently floating around them, with Triska keeping her arms over her head while watching the wraith carefully.

  “She lives inside of my mind,” Triska explained. “We have the same body. She went back into my head and I came out again, that’s how it works with us. She’s not gone, she’s inside me still.”

  “She’s inside your head?” Cindy asked.

  “Yes. We both share this body. She’s seeing and hearing everything I am right now.”

  “Oh,” Cindy replied. She blinked then started hitting Triska again with great force while screaming. “Bring her back! I want my friend back! Go away, Triska! Go away!”

  “Cindy! Stop it!” Triska yelled as she kept getting struck with the pillow, taking a hit to the stomach then the face as she struggled to move away from the upset wraith.

  “What is going on here?” Daniel called out. The girls looked over to see him watching with puzzlement before Cindy quickly raced to Daniel and clung to him, sobbing into his chest while waving her pillow around next to them in a fit.

  “Triska took away my friend and she’s not giving her back! Make her go away, Daniel! I want to play with Kitten more!”

  Daniel slowly held the wraith as she cried like a little child then looked around at the girls with the same confused expression that he still had.

  “What is she talking about?”

  “Why are there feathers everywhere?” Kroanette asked as she noticed all the white feathers lying about in the room. “What have you girls been doing in here?”

  “We were having a pillow fight,” Luna happily said.

  “A pillow fight?” Daniel repeated.

  “Yeah, we were having fun!” Cindy whined looking to him with teary eyes. “We were hitting each other with these soft pillow things and I was having a great time! And then Kitten joined us and it was even better! She’s really strong and I liked that! But then Triska got rid of her by pushing her inside her head, and I don’t understand how she did that but I want her back! Make her bring Kitten back!”

  Daniel just stared at her for a moment while letting all that sink in then turned to Triska as she slowly stood up rubbing her head.

  “What is she talking about?” he asked again. “Kitten was playing with you girls?”

  “Yeah, she was,” Triska said brushing off some feathers from her shoulder. “Well, she tried to anyway. She may have gone a bit overboard with hitting the other girls.”

  “She nearly took my head off with that swing!” Alyssa cried out.

  Star meowed and waved her hands around in strange patterns while shaking her head with a troubled frown.

  “She was fun to play with!” Cindy whined. “I want to play with her more! Bring her back!”

  “Hold on,” Kroanette interjected raising a hand. “Back up here. Kitten was playing with you girls? As in trying to have fun with you? That doesn’t sound like her at all.”

  “It’s true,” Doku spoke up. “She wished to join the girls for a friendly game with their pillow fight.”

  “Really?” Daniel wondered.

  “She wanted to make you happy with her,” Triska explained walking over to them. Cindy took a blind swing back at her with the pillow, with Triska jumping back to just avoid it before she tried to ignore the sand wraith again. “She wanted to make you proud of her, Daniel. Her inner nature makes her crave affection from you and only you, so she’s found it hard to accept having others in her life like the girls. She’s trying to fight that, just like you want monsters to be able to do. So she came here to try and bond with the girls, she wanted to try making friends with them.”

  “She wanted to be friends with the girls?” Kroanette exclaimed.

  “Really? She wants to be friends with us?” Pip asked with an eager smile.

  “That’s right,” Triska agreed crossing her arms. “She was outside earlier flying around, and could have easily gone after you, Daniel. But instead she came back inside to try and be nice to the girls.”

  “Again, she nearly killed me!” Alyssa whined.

  Star yowled and shook her head while holding her hands up defensively.

  Daniel moved past Cindy and walked up to Triska, with the wraith quickly grabbing onto his back and glaring over his shoulder at the cambion as he approached her.

  “She wanted to make friends with the girls?” he asked with a curious smile, with Triska nodding to that.

  “Then why did you take her away?” Cindy demanded. “Bring her back so we can be friends!”

  “She wanted to go because of you and Luna,” Triska flatly told her. “You both wouldn’t stop hanging all over her and cheering that she was your friend, she got annoyed and uncomfortable so she left to get away from you.”

  “We annoyed her?” Luna worried.

  “So that’s how we can get her to go away,” Falla mentioned looking to the other girls.

  “It was just a bit much for her,” Triska gently told Luna. “She’s still getting used to the idea of having friends, and it’s hard for her to accept that idea. For her this was a big step in itself, and with you two being… really friendly with her it was more than she was ready for. Just take it easy with her when she comes back out next time.”

  “Bring her back now!” Cindy yelled.

  “You’ll see her tomorrow,” Triska barked back. “This is my body too, you know. She’s not always going to be using it.”

  Cindy growled at her before Daniel glanced back to her in question.

  “And you were playing with the girls too, Cindy?” he asked. She turned to him with a curious expression as he faced her with a gentle smile. “You were playing with them in their game?”

  “Uh huh,” Cindy said nodding. “It was fun. I liked playing with them.”

  “You girls were okay with that?” Daniel asked the others. “Having not only Cindy play with you but also Kitten?”

  “We weren’t quite prepared to have Kitten joining us for that,” Specca admitted with a weak smile. “She surprised all of us by jumping in at the end. And it was Alyssa who chose to have Cindy play with us. She gave Snapper a sleeping potion so she wouldn’t try to bite us during the night, but she didn’t do so with Cindy.”

  “Oh?” Daniel wo
ndered turning to Alyssa, with all the girls doing the same as she looked down to avoid eye contact. “Alyssa, you wanted Cindy to play with you girls?”

  “She’s not dangerous,” she reasoned with a shrug. “I mean she is a sand wraith, but I don’t feel worried about her being near us. Plus it was nice having her on my team with the game. She just couldn’t be kept down. She’s really strong, but she’s not bad at all. She’s harmless.”

  “Meanie!” Cindy yelled slamming her pillow down on Triska, taking the cambion to the ground with a thud before she started whacking her relentlessly with the cushion. “Give me back my friend! Give me back my friend! Right now!”

  The group watched Cindy mercilessly beating Triska with the pillow and calling her a mean person then turned to Alyssa who rubbed the back of her head and smiled a bit at Daniel.

  “She doesn’t like Triska too much, but she’s nice to all of us. I didn’t mind having her play with us at all.”

  Daniel grabbed Cindy’s hand, halting her attacks on Triska as she turned to him with a curious eye. Triska groaned as she slowly started to get up, her eyes watching the sand wraith with a frustrated glance as Daniel gained the monster’s full attention. He chuckled as he saw the innocent expression on her face then glanced to Clover with a raised eyebrow as the elf was timidly watching him from the bed near the other girls.

  “And Clover joined in as well?” he mused curiously. “And here I would have been worried you girls wouldn’t have let her play too.”

  “She’s not… that bad,” Falla reasoned with a shrug while glancing to the elf. “Certainly easier to get along with her compared to Kitten.”

  “I’ll take that as a compliment,” Clover dryly commented.

  “We misjudged her,” Specca said. The group looked to seeing her watching Clover with a curious smile. “She is indeed a very foulmouthed, noisy, rude, and crass person.”

  “That was not a compliment at all,” Clover flatly added.

  “But she’s not a bad girl,” Specca continued, her smile never wavering as she watched the elf looking to her in wonder now. “She’s just hurt inside. A very hard life filled with loss and pain made her a bit defensive with opening up to anyone, an understandable reason for keeping others away with arrows and sharp words.”

  “Not sure if that’s a compliment or not.”

  “She’s in love with you, Daniel,” Specca reasoned with a smile at the boy. “And as such she’s decided to take a chance with opening up to you and all of us. We had a nice talk in the bath and we’ve agreed to give her a chance as well. It’s all thanks to you and your heart that we might be able to save this one from being a lonely girl in life.”

  “I see,” Daniel said walking over to the bedside near Clover, the elf lowering her head while peeking up at him through her bangs. “So you girls are okay with her joining you as well?”

  “For a pillow fight, sure,” Alyssa said with a shrug. “For joining us with having sex with you…”

  Clover looked to Alyssa with worried eyes as the witch hesitated for a while before slowly shaking her head at her, having not a condescending scowl but rather a slight smile on her face.

  “Not yet. But maybe someday. I think we have a little more bonding to do before we feel that way towards her.”

  “But I’d say she’s on her way there,” Specca mentioned, moving closer to the elf and resting her hand on her shoulder. “I don’t completely hate her now. And yes, Clover, that was a compliment.”

  Clover smirked a little then looked up to Daniel as he was watching the two, holding a hand to his chin and then smiling curiously around at all the girls.

  “You all seem to be getting along so well now,” he pointed out. “This is a bit surprising to see. This morning you girls were so adamant about excluding her, and now you’re all playing together and having fun. Even Kitten seemed to be joining in with you because she wanted to. What brought this about with you all?”

  “It’s all your fault,” Clover said, with Daniel turning to her and seeing the elf watching him with a raised eyebrow. “I was perfectly fine hating the world and keeping everyone away from me before I met you. Seeing you actually caring about us like you do, being too fucking nice to us even when we acted like such bitches with you-”

  “That last part was just you,” Alyssa dryly commented.

  “I’m trying to have a moment with my mate here!” Clover shouted at the witch. The girls smiled amusedly as the elf looked down with a blush before she glanced up to Daniel again. “You made me see how much better life was with you, with someone who actually cared about me. Same for them, they made me see what it’s like to have a family, something I really wanted and never realized.”

  She stood up before him rested her hands on his chest, her twintails gently wavering behind her as she gazed deeply into his eyes.

  “It’s the truth. And so is this. I’ll take you to Green Haven, I’ll make the priestess listen to every word you have to say, I’ll beat the shit out of her if she even addresses you poorly. And after you secure their support for your cause and leave the forest, I’m coming with you. This is my home, this is my family, and dammit you’re my mate. I don’t want to be without any of you, Dan. I love you all so much, you especially.”

  Daniel stared at the girl in wonder, seeing her standing before him with a calm smile on her face that showed she was truly at peace now. There was a different glow to her, her aura not appearing vicious and cold as it had before but rather adamant and caring of those around her.

  “Did you girls beat some sense into her with those pillows earlier?” Kroanette mused with a smirk. “I’ve never heard her speak about us with such kind and caring words before.”

  “Kroanette?” Clover softly said with a glance to the centaur. “Shut the fuck up.”

  “There’s the elf I fell in love with,” Daniel said as he brushed aside a few hairs in front of her face. Clover giggled softly, her hand gently holding his next to her cheek as she displayed a real gentler side with him. Of course behind her loving eyes Daniel could still sense the foulmouthed and volatile girl she was, almost like seeing a quiet volcano sleeping peacefully before a deadly eruption would eventually happen.

  Looking down they both saw along with everyone else Star sitting on her knees beside Daniel, the jinx meowing up at him with gently wagging tails, a hopeful smile on her face, and having her hand cupping Daniel’s crotch with a tender grip.

  “And there’s the jinx that doesn’t seem to understand we’re having a moment here!” Clover yelled out. “Get your hand off him and back the fuck off!”

  The elf lunged down to tackle her, with Star merely warping to Daniel’s other side and continuing to meow up at him with a hand holding his privates. Clover crashed down face first onto the floor then quickly grabbed Daniel from the other side and tried yanking him away, the two girls pulling back and forth on his waist while glaring at each other.

  “Let go of my man!” Clover yelled out.

  Star yowled and hissed at her while Clover tried prying her hand off of Daniel’s pants.

  “Wait a minute,” Daniel said, with the girls looking up to him curiously. “Star was playing with you girls as well, wasn’t she?”

  “Well, yeah,” Clover answered.

  “You invited her to play with you?” Daniel asked the other girls. “I thought you were still angry at her from before.”

  “We didn’t ask her to join us,” Falla said shaking her hands before her. “Doku did. Star was busy meowing at her clock before Doku brought her in here to help us against Alyssa.”

  “But she didn’t help us,” Specca scoffed at the jinx. “She sided with Alyssa and Cindy, it wasn’t a fair fight at all.”

  “Why didn’t you help us like I asked you to, Star?” Doku asked.

  Star meowed and waved her hands around as she tried explaining her reasons, with Clover then grabbing Daniel tightly around the waist and holding onto his crotch that she kept close to her as if protecting it.
The group watched the jinx meowing and pointing her fingers around at the girls before she stopped and looked at them curiously, waiting for an answer while seeing only blank expressions on their faces.

  “Do you see what we go through with you now?” Alyssa tiredly asked Squeak, the ant girl nodding slowly with a concerned look on her face.

  “Without Reiko around to translate for her we can’t talk with Star anymore,” Kroanette worried.

  “Star,” Daniel said with a curious smile. “Say that again.”

  “Daniel?” Triska wondered before he held a hand up to silence the girls.

  Star meowed and waved her hands around again, with Daniel watching her very closely as he tried to figure out what she was saying. Just as it was with Squeak there was no way to tell what her meowing meant, but instead the only clues were her hand movements and facial cues. She pointed around to each of the girls, meowing and tilting her head about while watching Daniel, her expression remaining blank as she merely explained her reasons, until she pointed to Specca. Daniel noticed that once the jinx’s attention was on the nixie her face showed a sly grin to it, a twinkle almost being seen in her eye, while her hand movement shifted from pointing to a clawing gesture. He glanced to Specca as she was watching them curiously then back to Star as the jinx meowed and nodded at him.

  “What is she saying, Daniel?” Pip asked.

  “Something to do with Specca,” he guessed turning to the nixie.

  “Me?” Specca questioned pointing to herself. “What do I have to do with any of this?”

  Star warped over in front of the nixie, prompting a scream from the girl as she dropped back onto the bed. The jinx quickly hopped over atop the girl and grabbed her tie, purring softly while watching Specca trembling nervously under her with a seductive grin on her face.