by Davina Lee
Salads long forgotten on the kitchen counter, the two women held each other in a vice-like grip, each unwilling and unable to separate now that the dance had begun. They tripped clumsily into the tiny living area, where they writhed and pawed at each other, bodies vibrating, and the scent of mating heavy in the air.
Lina was first to engage, and moved around behind Arabel to sink her teeth into the tender skin of Arabel’s shoulder. Arabel quivered but held still. She pressed her buttocks firmly against Lina, offering herself, while Lina was raking her nails across Arabel’s abdomen, asserting her dominance further.
Arabel was eager to acquiesce, and allowed Lina to guide her down, pressing her face first onto the small patch of soft moss that was the floor’s sole covering. Arabel spread her thighs and arched her back, pushing her buttocks into the air and exposing her dripping sex. She raised her head and shook it wildly back and forth, releasing a cloud of pheromones.
Lina inhaled deeply before dropping her full weight on Arabel, pinning her to the floor, while she pushed her knee hard against the woman’s swollen folds. Arabel responded by pressing back and grinding against Lina’s knee.
“You smell so good,” Lina hissed, as she removed her knee, trading it for her hand and fingers as she began enjoying all that her lover had to offer.
“Take me, Lina,” Arabel heaved. “Claim me as your mate.”
Lina leaned forward, pressing her nose to the gland behind Arabel’s ear, seeking out more of her scent, reveling in the intoxicant that was magnified ten-fold by the effects of tree flower they had both consumed. She focused her efforts on pleasing the woman she held trapped beneath her.
Lina found the place she wanted. She began pressing and rubbing.
The two women engaged in their passionate dance with Lina on top, probing, thrusting, inhaling scent, and Arabel pinned underneath, squeezing Lina’s fingers, shivering and moaning. Arabel’s occasional shivers soon turned to a constant quivering, and finally a great, uncontrolled shudder as Lina rode her from above.
At the end of their frenzy, Lina bit down hard on the back of Arabel’s neck with enough force to make her cry out. And that was sufficient to drag Arabel from her trance, to challenge Lina for dominance.
The two women continued rolling on the floor—a tangle of limbs—clawing, biting, and probing until finally it was Lina who lay still and arched her back, allowing Arabel to claim her this time. Lina offered no resistance as Arabel took charge, her fingers pressing and filling without mercy. Each foray of Arabel’s tongue circling Lina’s scent gland caused her to release a spray of pheromones in time with another sharp cry of ecstasy.
In a cloud of scent, Lina felt Arabel continue with increased enthusiasm, probing, licking, and clawing at her tender flesh. Lina lay as still as possible, though vibrating slightly throughout, while she reveled in the feeling of her lover’s claiming of her body. Finally, the two women shuddered as one, and Arabel laid her mouth on the back of Lina’s neck to sink her teeth in. Lina let out a final shriek before going limp.
The two women lay on the little patch of moss that had served as their lovers’ bed, sweat-soaked and chests still heaving. In the dim light of the bio-globes, Lina outlined the curve of Arabel’s lips with a fingertip and studied her face for a moment.
“What?” said Arabel.
“Thank you for not snapping my neck.”
“I’m sorry, I got carried away. Tree flower.” Arabel scrunched up her face for a second, as if stifling a sneeze, and then burst out into a raucous peal of laughter.
“You mated me like a drone.” Lina smirked. “I feel so dirty.”
“Mmm. You were so hot, baby.”
“You too.” Lina reached around to swipe a finger behind Arabel’s ear, but was stopped short by Arabel’s quick grasp and found her finger in trapped between Arabel’s teeth.
“Too sensitive, baby,” Arabel said, around the finger in her mouth.
Lina put on a pout, but her attempt at seriousness was quickly overridden by the tree flower still surging through her system, and the warm afterglow of their recent passion. She broke out into an uncontrollable fit of giggles, instead.
“Can you imagine?” Lina said, as she began to get herself under control again, “The life of a drone. Always thinking about mating, and then when you finally get to do it, you die in the process?”
“Eww,” said Arabel.
“Sorry, I shouldn’t speak so casually about ending. It’s got to be this tree flower that’s—”
“Not ending, baby. That’s not what I’m ewwing over.” Arabel held her breath until her cheeks turned red and her eyes bulged. She then let loose a snorting fit of hysteria.
“Oh, no. Here I go again.” Arabel rocked back and forth, slapping her palm against the grass on the floor. She paused and held up a single finger. “Tree flower. Tickles my nose.”
Lina rolled her eyes.
Finally, under some semblance of control, Arabel started again. “It’s not the ending,” she said. “It’s the idea of mating with a drone. I mean…eww.” Arabel lost herself to another peal of laughter. “Poor dumb bastards.”
“We should eat,” Lina suggested. “Maybe it’ll help you metabolize the giggles out of your system.”
“It’s your fault. Your scent makes me lose my mind.”
Lina peeled herself up off the mossy carpet and extended a hand to Arabel. Together they made their way somewhat unsteadily to the kitchen. Lina deposited Arabel at the breakfast bar before stepping around to fetch their salads.
Lina picked up her pair of chop sticks and poked at the bed of fresh greens and mushrooms, lifting and uncovering a few leaves here and there. “You didn’t sneak any more tree flower in here did you? To take advantage of me?”
“No.” Arabel straightened up on her stool. “Honest. It’s just a sapling. I wouldn’t.”
Lina blew a kiss.
The two haploid women attacked their salads with a voracious appetite and vigor that had previously been reserved for mating.
“You grow the best greens,” Lina said, still chewing.
“And I’d never snap your neck,” Arabel said. “I hope you know that by now. It’s just such a strong instinct…and I—I feel like I at least have to bite you.” Arabel brought another load of greens to her lips. “Just not hard enough to…you know.”
Lina nodded.
“Enough of this morose crap,” Arabel said. “I hear the rebels tried to blow your ass up this afternoon. That’s got to be exciting, huh? Did you have any of those gorgeous security officers sprinting to your rescue?”
Lina tried and failed to suppress a grin. Damned tree flower. “There were only two guards, and neither ever spoke to me, much less sprinted in my direction. They were just there to protect the facility.”
“Mmm, too bad,” purred Arabel. “Can you just imagine mating with a diploid woman? I mean…wow.”
“Stop it.”
“Sorry, babe.” Arabel leaned over, shoulder to shoulder against Lina, and let her head drop until her cheek was resting against Lina’s skin. “You know I love you, right?”
Lina’s lips stretched into a genuine smile at Arabel’s comment. “I know,” she said, “and I love you too.”
“And, I promise I’d never snap your neck after I mated you. Even if you were a drone.”
Lina playfully pushed Arabel aside and stood to collect the now empty plates. “You should have quit while you were ahead.”
Arabel stuck her tongue out and Lina reached around to pull Arabel into her arms. Lina felt a low moaning from Arabel vibrating against her neck, where Arabel was currently engaging in explorations with her mouth and tongue. Lina used the last vestiges of her control to pull away before things got out of hand again.
“What are you wearing to the rave?” Lina asked.
“Oh, wait ‘til you see it.” Arabel puffed up her chest. “My best find of the day.” Arabel walked to where her satchel hung from a hook on the back of her front door.
She pulled forth a half-used roll of wide, yellow and black-striped caution tape.
Lina cocked her head to the side, staring.
Arabel unrolled an arm’s length of the tape and wrapped it so that it covered her bare breasts. Her nipples were still protruding rather obviously, but she was covered.
“That’s it?”
“I’ll do a couple passes down below, too.” Arabel beamed. “What? It says caution, doesn’t it?”
Lina set the dinner plates in the sink, gave them a quick rinse, and made her way back to Arabel’s side of the breakfast bar. “It’s perfect.”
Arabel glanced up at Lina. “Disco nap?” she said.
Lina nodded and let Arabel guide her to the couch and pull a light throw blanket over them. Lina curled her body around Arabel and enjoyed the soft warm feeling of Arabel’s skin, a full belly, and the still-smoldering, tree flower-enhanced post-orgasmic bliss of their mating.
Chapter 2: The Rave
It came to pass that humankind had lived in the shadow of the Great Tree for so long, that its image became shrouded in mist, and its gifts but an echo in their minds. And as the tribes of men began to favor that which was created by their own hand over the gifts of the Great Tree, the world began to sicken and wither. Too long had humankind strayed from the path of righteousness. And so it was that the land would become barren, the water poison, and even the very air thick and choking.
—Selected passages from The Book of the Origin by Bella Aurelius Nobilis, Modern Language Translation
* * * *
The rumble of a distant explosion rattled Lina from her peaceful slumber. “Damn rebels,” she muttered, and rolled over again. In her hazy state, Lina patted the empty space that Arabel had occupied what she thought was only a short time ago. The blanket was still there, but Arabel was missing. Lina rubbed her tired eyes—she had not intended to sleep so hard.
Lina dragged herself upright. “Where are you, baby?”
“Ta-dah!” Arabel appeared, reaching for the ceiling, elbows locked, and her fingers spread wide. She was dressed in nothing but yellow caution tape—two passes around her chest in a lopsided sort of X shape that hid her breasts, but did little to conceal the outline of her protruding nipples. And then there were three passes low around her hips that barely did anything to cover her sex.
A deep blue, child’s teething toy hung from a gaily-colored, beaded string around her neck and flopped about as Arabel did a little half-twirl. She shifted her weight from one leg to the other, giving Lina an eyeful of her jiggling buttocks spilling out from below their scant covering, before facing front again.
“How long have you been awake?” Lina said, though she could see it had been some time, judging from the assortment of fresh bio-luminescent designs laid out all over the front of Arabel’s body.
“A while.” Arabel grinned, and then trotted over to pull Lina up from the couch. She did not succeed. “Don’t you want to get your hands on this, baby?”
Arabel stood in front of Lina, hands placed behind her head, gyrating and nearly knocking her over with the last pass of her hips, close enough to kick up a breeze in front of Lina’s face. She then grinned and handed Lina several tubes of the brightly-colored, bio-luminescent dye that she had reclaimed from the refuse piles earlier that day. “Do my back?”
“Sure.” Lina stifled a small yawn and scooted herself farther back into the couch cushions and spread her thighs to give Arabel a place to sit. Lina placed a hand gently on Arabel’s shoulder, pausing to enjoy the touch of skin, before pressing her lover’s body forward to make room to work.
“What did you have in mind?” Lina asked.
“Tribal, like I did on the front.”
“Okay.” Lina dipped a sharpened piece of bamboo, about the size of a chop stick, into a tube of dye and twirled it around. She pulled it out, dragging the bamboo against the lip of the tube to shed the excess dye, and began scratching it against Arabel’s skin. Lina clamped her jaw in concentration. It wasn’t a deep enough scratch to be permanent, but it would last for several days, and Lina wanted her lover to wear her markings with pride.
Arabel occasionally sucked a sharp, hissing breath between her teeth to which Lina would respond, ‘Sorry,’ but otherwise Arabel remained still while her skin was being adorned with ever-expanding, multicolored, glowing designs.
“Lean forward a little more, baby,” Lina said. “I want to put some on your butt cheeks. To match the rest of you.”
“Why, who’s going to see down there?”
Lina couldn’t see if Arabel was ginning or not. “Um, darling? Have you seen your costume? It doesn’t cover much.”
Arabel bent deeply, wiggling her ass and grinning over her shoulder at Lina. “Better do a good job, then.” Arabel blew a kiss.
Lina hunched forward to get back to work. But first she took some time to appreciate the gorgeous backside wiggling in front of her face by tracing Arabel’s curves, making each design first with finger, then her tongue, and then finally blowing it dry and following up with the ink-dipped bamboo.
Arabel managed to hold herself amazingly still throughout, but Lina could smell her releasing scent, and see her glistening sex, firsthand.
Lina smiled and lost herself in a hazy fog of lust as she continued her designs.
Satisfied that her work was nearing completion, Lina clamped the dull end of the bamboo in her teeth and motioned for Arabel to turn around. Arabel spun her lithe body to turn a complete circle, paused, and then did another circle. The resulting display caused Lina to lean back, stretch her arms behind her head, and just enjoy.
The parade of Arabel’s minute curves, which Lina was already madly in love with, combined with the tracers of glowing designs whirling in the air, were enhanced further by the effects of their recently consumed tree flower, so that they appeared to be dancing in the air of their own accord. It was enough to make Lina forget about the length of bamboo clenched in her teeth. It clattered down the length of Lina’s torso to land sideways on her thigh.
Lina barely felt it. She was still focused on watching the twirling display and flaring her nostrils for the sparse remains of Arabel’s scent hanging in the air of the tiny apartment. The sights and smells were causing a strong stirring between Lina’s thighs.
Arabel stopped twirling to meet Lina’s gaze. “How do I look?” She batted her eyes twice. “Or do I even need to ask?”
“Beautiful.” Lina reached out to grasp Arabel.
Arabel slipped to one side. “Great, let’s switch spots and I’ll paint you.”
* * * *
Neither woman wore much in the way of clothing as they left Arabel’s apartment. Arabel had applied her caution tape and Lina had put on what amounted to a few cloth dinner napkins strategically tied together. With the bio-luminescent designs on their skin still fresh, the couple lit their own way through the damp and narrow lower tunnels until they emerged up into the larger, brighter passageways above.
They paused only once on their journey, due to an area being cordoned off with yellow tape. It was so much like what Arabel wore as her rave costume, that the two women stopped for a time while Arabel gleefully posed for passersby.
“It’s living art,” Lina explained to anyone who slowed to take a look. This got several good laughs, all except from the large diploid security officer who finally showed up to hasten them on.
They ran off, hand in hand, down the wide tunnels, until they were breathless.
“Oh, that was fun,” Lina heaved, bent forward with her hands on her knees and sucking great gasps of air.
“You alright, baby?” Arabel said. “You probably get too much fresh air working up in Cave of the Winds. You don’t know what it’s like for the rest of us down here.”
“I’ll be fine.” Lina straightened up.
“Good. I’m not going raving by myself.”
Lina watched as Arabel reached under the piece of yellow tape that constituted the waistband of her minuscule cos
tume. From there she produced a rolled-up leaf. Inside the leaf were two more petals of tree flower.
“How did you keep that in there?”
“Never mind that,” Arabel said. “Come this way.”
Lina followed as Arabel ducked into a smaller, side corridor that was so rife with moisture, it clung to the walls in condensed droplets. “What are you doing?”
“This.” Arabel pointed to a small outcropping of pinkish crystals. She scraped some away from the wall with the tip of her fingernail to deposit on the unrolled leaf next to one of the petals of tree flower. She then rubbed the piece of flower petal until it was all but melted away, and then lifted her finger to the scent gland behind her right ear.
“Why?” Lina whispered urgently.
“Try it.” Arabel rubbed her finger again on the leaf and this time deposited the pasty mixture behind her left ear.
“I’m not putting…I don’t even know what that is.”
“It’s tree flower. Same as we had earlier.”
“No, the crystals.”
“Oh. Pink salt. Makes the tree flower more soluble, so you can absorb it through the membranes of your scent gland faster.”
“I take back what I said about you earlier,” Lina hissed.
“What?”
“That you should be a botanist.” Lina stared into Arabel’s eyes. Neither said anything for a moment until Lina declared, “Clearly, you should be a chemist.”
Arabel smiled, dreamily. “Scrape some salt under your nails, then we’ll do you.”
Lina leaned over and scraped. Arabel cupped Lina’s hand as she helped her combine just enough of the salt to dissolve the tree flower petal. Lina paused a moment, enjoying the warm feeling of her lover’s touch.
A short distance away, a diploid couple was beginning to take an interest in what they were up to. As a ruse, Lina leaned in to kiss Arabel, even going so far as to release a little scent, all to put up the pretense of it being just a little misguided public display of affection.