Startup 52: Women Led Initiatives

Rova 8, evening

Sandara, as always, tasted of salt and smelled like rum. There was no mystery there; she spent all her time getting splashed by sea spray and washed her hair with conjured ****. That didn’t make the scent any less distinctive. She only let me kiss her for a few moments on the way down to my cabin, breaking away to pull me along.

She grabbed my crotch as I closed the door behind me, gently squeezing my shaft and balls. I felt her press her whole body against my back, including her chin on my shoulder.

“What, did you want to do it like this?” I asked. “I’m sure we could figure something out.”

“Nah, just checking the equipment.” She answered. “Making sure it’s still loaded and ready to fire. I wouldn’t know, since you kept slipping off. Thought maybe the drow cursed your cock.”

“Hey, that’s not fair.” I said, “it’s only been two days. You were on deck, managing things.”

“Not that first night.” She said. “I was out cold, then I sprung up like a daisy and found out you were busy chatting with that poor stray you picked up. She didn’t look like your type, but who am I to judge?”

“What, did you want to sit in on me going over the budget?” I countered. “That’s most of what I was doing that day. I kept Filli on hand so she could practice writing and stay out of the way.”

It was strange to have this conversation while Sandara fondled my balls, but she was a strange girl.

“Might have been nice to be invited, is all.” She said, “Or visited. You should probably know I don’t like being ignored.”

“I’m sorry,” I said, “Okay? The next time I’m dragged off to be a sex **** I’ll try to remember your feelings.”

“Shove off.” She said with a snort. “I’m not Sosima. I don’t need an apology, and I wasn’t pining after you. Just remember that even if I’m your subordinate doesn’t mean you can forget about me. If it happens too often, maybe I’ll decide I’d rather have my pick of partners instead of one third of a pretty captain. It wouldn’t be hard.”

I stiffened at that, turning to look her in the eyes. Her hand relaxed, still resting on my dick but not rubbing.

“That’s pretty serious, actually.” I said. “I really do like you, I’ve just got a lot on my plate. Can you lay out what you need for me to not have to worry about you running off with some other guy?”

“Oooh, hit a nerve, did I?” She said with a smirk. “Don’t worry too much, just more than you have been. If it helps, I’ll always tell you before I try with anyone else.”

“What if I don’t want you to sleep with anyone else?” I asked.

“Then I have a few questions of my own.” Sandara said, raising an eyebrow.

“Okay.” I said, “Ask them.”

“So, when did you decide you wanted to keep me to yourself?” She asked, “Was it before or after you told me you were married and slept with half the ladies of Port Peril? When did you intend to tell me, and what are you planning on offering to make it worth my while?”

“I guess it was a bit much to ask…” I said, wincing.

She flicked me on the nose with her middle finger. It stung.

“Ey!” She said, “That’s not an answer to my questions, Cap’n. If you’re having trouble, you can skip to the last one.”

“I don’t really know what to say.” I said honestly. “I haven’t been holding much back that I could offer you.”

“Then we’ll just need to think about that later.” Sandara said, “Oh, since we are being so honest, I should let you know I’ve been sleeping with Varossa. I might need to adjust course depending on where we go with this.”

“Varossa? Why her?” I asked, confused, “Wait, does she prefer women?”

“I’ve found I like tall, forceful Chelish girls, and she has a sense of humor, unlike Fishy.” Sandara said, “As for her preferences? I think she fancies men more, honestly.”

She grinned lazily and returned to stroking my cock.

“I notice you didn’t mind the idea, Captain.” Sandara said, “I do like pretty lovers, so I don’t think you need to worry much about other gents. You’re a very pretty man.”

“Girls can still ask just as much as men.” I pointed out. “Just because I’m a little horny, that doesn’t mean they aren’t a threat.”

Sandara snorted at that.

“I’m not a starry eyed little girl, Captain.” She said, “I don’t work with you because you’re a good lay. If someone poaches me, it’s going to be because they offered me a much better life, and I’ll tell you well in advance. I stay with you because you’re a good captain, and you’re full of surprises. No more, no less.”

“So what?” I said, “You see alone time together as meaningless fun?”

Sandara tutted at me.

“Now you are making the same mistake as Varossa, thinking it’s all the same.” She said. “She thinks she can manipulate the dumb hedonist with pleasure. She’s plenty fun, but there’s not enough bite. It means something when there’s more behind it.”

“Wait, did you say manipulate?” I asked, “Manipulate you into doing what?”

“Hmm?” Sandara asked, leaning in and smelling my neck, “I couldn’t possibly say. I’m too overtaken with animalistic lust, you see. Shame my captain has been too busy to see to my needs.”

Translation: you’re going to need to earn answers. Well, that seems reasonable, but maybe that’s just her hand on my cock talking.

I turned around and pushed her into the wall, using one of my less commonly used drow noble spells, Divine Favor, to flood my body with additional strength. Near useless in combat next to my magic, but perfect for grappling. She resisted, but she didn’t fight back; with Sandara that was an important distinction. If she actually disapproved she’d be striking me and trying to draw blood, but she didn’t even stop rubbing my dick.

Not for the first or last time I missed my old body; I would have absolutely loomed over her. Maybe I could have even lifted her; that usually went over well with the girls who liked that sort of thing. Instead, I took advantage of the fact that I was only a few inches taller than her by grabbing the back of her head and pulling her into a kiss.

She bit my lip, fairly hard in fact, but I returned the favor. She’d made her point, though, so I let my lips roam down her jawline until I found her earlobe. My body pinned her against the wall, giving me full reign to touch her. Of course, we were both unfortunately clothed.

“Well that just won’t do.” I whispered in Sandara’s ear, “I think I like those pants almost as much as you do; I’d hate to rip them.”

A whisper of power scattered Sandara’s clothing across the cabin, leaving her body abruptly bare beneath my hands. I didn’t lose a single second in enjoying the new situation, reaching one hand down to run my fingers along her inner thighs.

Man, why don’t I use Disrobe more often? It’s so damn useful.

“Oh?” Sandara said, “Seems a bit lazy if you ask me, using magic for that.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” I said. “Show me how it’s done, then.”

I eased up on Sandara and allowed her to slip down to her knees. She carefully unbuttoned and unlaced my trousers, then tugged down my waistband. My cock bounced as it was freed from confinement. She ignored it, pulling down the pants to my ankles.

At that point, she tried to topple me over with a shove. I caught her by the wrists and cast Levitate upon her. She jerked weightlessly into the air, stopping at eye level just a few inches too high for her feet to touch the ground.

“Now what was that for?” I asked, smirking.

I leaned in and kissed her lightly, took her by the shoulders, and spun her around, pressing her against the wall. I held her by the wrists and telekinetically lifted her to just the right altitude. She squirmed, of course, so I ended up needing to call in a little bit of help; I needed more hands. My shadow split, and Ve’ra crept up the wall next to Sandara.

“Hold her wrists, would you?” I asked, “Unless you’d prefer her hips.”

I heard a quiet snort from her, and the pinprick lights Ve’ra used to see turned away to focus on my captive redhead. I felt my familiar’s strange, quasi-real hands brush against mine as she took hold of Sandara. Once she was secure, I reached down and firmly pulled Sandara’s soaked pussy onto me. She let out a guttural groan as I slowly eased into her, but we both knew that was only the start. I pulled back and rammed into her as hard as I could manage, pressing her face into my cabin’s wood paneling.

“Yeah!” Sandara groaned. “Fuck, I missed this!”

“Give it to her good,” Ve’ra added, “She’s earned it, I’d say. Maybe she can watch when you finally take care of me; you’ll need to wear her out for that, though.”

Ok, I was probably asking for that getting Ve’ra involved. She hasn’t exactly been subtle about wanting to get laid. What can I say; I’d rather have a shadow girl holding Sandara down than a shadow guy, even if the guy is literally just me. Maybe Sandara was onto something with the girl on girl stuff.

Sandara and Ve’ra got along like a house on fire, egging me on as I fucked Sandara into a sopping mess. Naturally, Sandara agreed with my familiar, basically demanding that I do as the former drow asked once she’d reached climax several times. Of course, it’s not like I have much more stamina than Sandara. They only really started to press the point when we were laying together in bed.

“She’s only got a handful of minutes once I summon the body!” I reiterated, “Gods’ sake, Sandara, when I’m spent is not the right time, and if I keep her around any longer than that, it’ll chew through my spell slots like nothing else.”

“Were ye planning on diving off the side of the ship to fight a kraken?” Sandara asked, “As far as I know there’s a full day between here and our final destination. You can afford it. Like this.”

She reached over to where her Jolly Roger lay discarded on the floor and picked it up. She hummed a few bars of a shanty and squeezed my forearm, and my spent cock raised to half mast.

Sandara cast Lesser Restoration

Your fatigue has been removed

“Really?” I asked, “you’re spending a spell on that? I’m supposed to meet with Varossa after the next chime.”

“Then I’d say you’d best be quick, mate.” Ve’ra said, “Who knows, maybe you’ll manage it in six minutes. Save the magic and whatnot.”

The discussion was cut off by a loud ringing sound, originating from the deck. Rowe had made us a small clockwork alarm clock, seemingly out of wood chips and dreams, that rang once an hour to help us keep time. Ve’ra crossed her arms, though I could mostly tell from her posture, since she was just a flat silhouette.

“Damn it.” She said. “I almost had you.”

“After!” I said, rolling my eyes. “There’s a good chance this meeting is gonna be stressful.”

••••••••••

I met with Varossa alone, knocking upon the door of her cabin. I didn’t see any point in making the meeting more public, as the rest of my party was busy getting us into position. Varossa tended to be a bit more candid in private, anyway.

“So, how did the meeting with the dragon go?” She asked. “I didn’t hear any cannons firing, so I assume it didn’t deteriorate into a brawl.”

She’d skipped the whole event because apparently Kelizar knew her face. I didn’t know exactly how she was involved in the **** of his mother, but given her status as one of dozens of clones it might not have even been “her” that he knew. That was a big part of why she’d hired me in the first place; apparently she’d burnt several bridges over the years and needed someone else to be the face of the operation.

Just as long as she doesn’t end up pinning something on me. Which, now that I think about it, might be in the cards. Fuck, if I didn’t need the money I might just tell her to go fuck herself at this point.

“Nah, he was surprisingly easy to entertain.” I said, “A bit of a creep, but I was able to negotiate him down to half price by overwhelming him with pretty girls.”

“And all it cost you was half a day.” Varossa said dryly. “Brilliant.”

“Yeah, yeah.” I said, “I’m sure you can guess what I’m here for?”

“To discuss Minkai tea ceremonies?” Varossa said.

I rolled my eyes. My real mother had **** me to go through a few tea ceremonies in my old life.

“Can’t stand the things, though if I had to pick one I’d go for the Scholar’s Tea Ceremony. Minimalistic, you know.” I said, “Now that we’ve handled that, you’re going to tell me everything you know about the Saber’s Kiss. You told me it’s a sunken ship and I happen to know it’s haunted, but what exactly is it that we are walking into?”

“Warvil worked with two other ships to take down Kelizar’s mother.” She said, “He was a younger man, then, and had a much more impressive crew. The Sabers Kiss was one of those ships, and Captain Dahoath assumed that whatever dragon replaced Nicorydine would not care about his involvement.”

“But instead Kelizar was a good son and smoked him the next time that guy showed his face here.” I said, “That makes sense, I guess.”

“It was an idiotic assumption.” Varossa said bluntly. “Aquatic dragons in general have slightly stronger family bonds than chromatics, and Aashaq has spent centuries fostering a sense of community among her subjects. Even an otherwise disinterested neighbor would have probably tried to kill him on principle, for offending the species.” I fucking told him! Did he listen to me? No, no one listens to the cabin girl. (Sense Motive for additional context 17+11=28)

Wait, didn’t she say everyone on the ship died? Oh. Oh! That was a different clone of her, I guess. Maybe that’s how she knew about all of this in the first place.

“Fair point. Regardless, neither Kelizar nor his neighbors should be a problem.” I said, “My crew has a plan in the event of a dragon attack, and I’d say we parted with Kelizar on good terms. I’ll feel pretty comfortable coming back this way in the future, honestly.”

“Really, you still think your plan is workable?” Varossa asked, “What would you say your odds are in an **** on his lair, now that you have the measure of him?”

“Not great; you can tell because I didn’t implement that strategy.” I said, “Workable is not the same as desirable. The shipwreck?”

“Ah, yes, well, I’m afraid you might end up souring your relationship with the dragon.” She said, “You see, he keeps it as something of a shrine to Nicorydine.”

I took a deep breath.

“So, you are telling me that we will be robbing his mother’s grave.” I said, keeping my voice perfectly even. “Is there any reason that we could not have simply asked to visit?”

“He’d have wanted to know why.” Varossa said, “The key I’m looking for is made of enchanted metal, and was carefully hidden. I don’t think he found it, but if we told him about it he’d consider it to be his property. At best, he’d have sold it to you at a ridiculously inflated price.”

“A price that neither of us are willing and able to pay, got it.” I said, “I assume it’s guarded, too?”

“Yes, his personal guards.” She said, “You probably saw a few of them.”

“I only saw a handful of topless mermaids.” I said with a shrug. “I assumed he was doing the same thing I was; showing off the fact that he can keep pretty company.”

“I’m sure they were lovely.” Varossa said, “Sorcerers tend to be.”

“Ah.” I said, “That old trick. Hide your bodyguards by making them look like a harem.”

Varossa shrugged.

“They’re probably both, to be fair. He’s a whole front line on his own.” She said. “As I suspect you know, mortals often produce sorcerers when they interbreed with powerful magical entities. It tends to cause fertility issues, but there are dozens of dragons in the area sowing their wild oats. The islands are downright lousy with half-dragons.”

Come to think of it, every sorcerer I’ve run into has been pretty hot, myself included. I’m starting to think that isn’t a coincidence. After all, sorcerer is a charisma based class, so they’d almost all be charming even if they aren’t beautiful.

I drummed my fingers upon her desk.

“Well alrighty then. I’d really rather they nevet even know we were here in that case.” I said, “Even if I felt so inclined, I don’t think Kelizar would be happy if we got into a serious fight with any of his lovers. Tell me everything you know about how the ship is guarded and what to expect once we get past.”

••••••••••

Filli waited in the hall outside Emrys’s room while he enjoyed himself with Sandara. She knew his schedule, and she knew his plans. He’d been kind enough to use her as a scribe, since she was largely useless outside of combat. He could read her mangled chicken scratch somehow, so she’d been provided a blank journal and told to note things for him. He said her handwriting was getting better, but it had only been a few days. He was probably just being nice. Emrys seemed to be nice to everyone these days.

What happened to him? He wasn’t particularly cruel but he was never so nice before.

Once Emrys left for his meeting with Varossa, Filli crept down to the ladies’ quarters. She stepped carefully, so that her damn hind claws wouldn’t scrape the polished wood. She’d gnawed them down to a manageable length more times than she could count, but her body’s regeneration considered “three inches long and razor sharp” to be the natural state for her toenails. They grew back in a few minutes at most. It wasn’t even practical; she almost exclusively used her arms when she was fighting.

Lubo usually slept through the day. Gillmen were adapted to living in the deep ocean, so she could see very easily by starlight. That meant night crew on the Enterprise, though Filli knew Emrys was planning on reassigning a few people. He didn’t want all of the acolytes of Vishgurv to have an eight hour block of time to meet while everyone else was sleeping.

Filli was not particularly good at common, but she had sharp ears and Cave Mother had helped her make a way to communicate. It would have to do. Filli covered the smaller woman’s mouth with one hand.

Lubo let out a muffled cry when she woke, though she went still when she met Filli’s gaze. One finger raised before the end of Filli’s snout piqued her curiosity, and she calmed somewhat when her head was released. Filli felt good about that; she would have been fine if Lubo tried to gnaw her hand off, but it would have been very unpleasant.

Filli pulled out the piece of folded paper she had prepared with Cave Mother’s help and held it up. Each of the eight circles on the paper contained a word in common: yes, no, want, anger, Captain, me, follow, leave. Filli started with follow, then me, and pointed at the corner of the room. She wanted to be as far away from the sleeping goblins as possible.

Lubo asked something, and Filli knew the words “what” and “about.” Lubo was walking with uncertain steps, eyes very wide and breath shallow. She was scared. Filli expected that; it would have been logical to be scared even if she was pretty, but it still stung. She turned and sat down, hunching over so she’d look smaller and less threatening.

“I want.” She tried, pointing at Lubo afterwards.

It was the wrong thing to say; the woman froze. Her fingers seemed to splay out like claws and glistened in the distant, reflected light.

“No” Filli pointed at her crotch, then her head, then “yes.” That calmed Lubo down, then her eyes lit up with excitement and she said a big word Filli didn’t know. Filli hoped that meant she got the idea across, but decided to be more overt.

“Want. Me.” Point at Lubo.

Lubo cocked her head and asked a question with a “why” in it. Filli had already decided on her answer there. The conversation was now firmly into the territory she had planned out in her head.

“Want. Captain. Want.” Filli opened her maw to show the lack of tongue.

“Yes. Vishgurv can help.” Lubo said, smiling widely. She continued into a sales pitch that Filli didn’t understand or need, but which she listened to with her obedient guard face. The obedient guard face had protected Filli from an uncountable number of beatings.

Filli knew that Emrys would be mad. That’s why she intended to keep this plan secret. This was far too good of an opportunity to pass up on. She could explain it all to him later, and deal with the fallout then. Much later, when she was already done.

••••••••••

And a bit of dumb fun

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