Volume and Veils (S,R)

“Wow.” Dick said as he set the book down on his nightstand. “What did you think, Stell?”

Stella stared down at the book, lost in thought at first. Then she looked up. “Did you say something?”

“I was just asking what you thought.”

“It-it’s been good so far. I’ve still about thirty pages left.”

He thought it was odd, but didn’t comment on it. She’d gotten far further than him in the book when they’d been reading before lunch. Somehow he’d managed to catch up to her and finish the first book in the series before she had. “Sorry to interrupt then, I’ll let you finish. Do you want me to bring you anything for a snack?”

“Saltines are good enough.”

“And to drink? There’s anything imaginable in the fridge.”

Stella set the book down with her finger in it for a moment while she considered her options. “Water for now, but would you mind testing something for me?”

“What do you need?”

“So far I’ve only used the magic fridge and pantry for things I’m already familiar with. I’d… like to see if I can use it for some of my late aunt Ainsley’s recipes that she never got to teach me. But I don’t want to get my hopes up if it doesn’t work. Could you try getting a German Pinot Grigio from the fridge and the spices I use for my mezzogiorno blend?”

Dick nodded, leaving her to read in the bedroom while he went into the kitchen. The cup for the water and the saltines was easy. After going into the pantry and finding a store brand box of the crackers, he summoned a ramekin out of the cupboards to put them in. He dropped that off before trying Stella’s ingredient experiment.

He tried holding the handle of the fridge while thinking about what she’d asked for: A German Pinot Grigio. He didn’t entirely know what he was looking for. When he needed to know something about wine he normally asked either his stepsister or Stella herself. But he pulled on the door of the fridge and found a dark yellow bottle of wine, with a name he didn’t recognize and a seal that looked like a grapevine twisted like old heraldry. He went back into the bedroom to see if this was what she was looking for.

“T-that’s it.” She confirmed when he brought it in and showed it to her. “If you can just set it on the counter, I’ll be over in a few minutes. He noticed that where her finger had been keeping her place in the book had already moved halfway. She'd been going a lot faster just in the time I left the room. He noticed. Was I doing something to make her uncomfortable? I’ll need to find a way to make it up to her later.

He went back into the kitchen. The pantry looked small, but it held everything imaginable somehow. He opened it up and found what he was probably looking for? The ingredients were labeled and laid out on the middle shelf just below eye level, so he pulled them out one by one. Onion powder, crushed black pepper, tomato and bell pepper flakes, and a few herbs that he had never seen before went onto the dining room table so Stella could confirm whether they were correct.

A few minutes after he’d compiled them and decided to just wait, she came in looking refreshed. “You were right earlier, about the prophecy. The author figured out how to make it happen on a technicality.” After setting the empty ramekin down in the sink, she turned to see what he was looking at “Di-di-Richard?”

“I hope this is right. I believe I’ve tried it at Fence & Post before, but I just went with what the pantry offered me.”

Stella didn’t respond. She sat down at the table looking through the herbs and powders on the table, almost hoping that there’d be a mistake there, or something missing that the pantry hadn’t given him. Finding nothing wrong, she asked. “You’re sure I never told you what goes into this?”

He sat down next to her, making sure that she could see his eyes. Despite the fact that the worst part of Overstimulation had been fixed and she was showing enough that she should be able to use some of the stabilizing effects, she was shaking like a leaf. “I promise you Stella, I had no idea what I was pulling out. You told me to get the ingredients for this, and I took what the pantry gave me.”

“I-” She stopped. “You’re really sure? Luna never told you either?”

“You gave me my first cooking lesson four hours ago Stell, I wouldn’t have understood even if someone had told me what to look for.”

She sprung out of her seat, latching onto his neck. “Thank you.” She softly whispered.

He kept still, unsure whether he should try comforting her given what had happened earlier. “I didn’t really do anything. You were the one that had the idea.”

Stella leaned back, ending the hug. “Still, thank you. I still need to figure out how some of her recipes actually go together, but Mom will be thrilled.” She was still shaking, having trouble convincing herself that it was true.

“You two are close?” He asked. He tried putting one of his hands over hers. It seemed to help her stop shaking, though her eyes drifted down to the hand stabilizing her. Is this too much? He began to pull his hand back, but changed his mind when her eyes followed his movements.

“I can’t imagine being closer. She lives in Minnesota, but we talk on the phone at least three times a week. She drives to visit on my Birthday and Christmas, even though it’s a twenty-two hour drive.”

“That’s impressive of her. I know I can’t stand being behind the wheel past three hours.”

“She’s the bravest person I’ve ever met.” They both just sat in the moment for a moment. He still didn’t entirely understand some of what she was thinking, but he didn’t need to know everything. This was already more than she had shared with him in the two years since Felicia had introduced them. It’d always seemed like she’d had trouble talking as much in front of him, which Maeve had to address his feelings of guilt about when he noticed them. There’d been a reason that he’d spent the least time with her out of the four in the gaming group.

“I’m sorry for… for being so loud today.” She said, after the silence had lasted longer than he normally liked.

“Why would you apologize for that?”

“I…I wouldn’t want to make you upset.” She looked at him with uncertainty.

“Stell… I’m surprised Luna never told you, but being ‘too loud’ is never a problem for me. Silence has literally given me panic attacks before. If you were to shout and punch me, I’d probably handle that better than if you were to give me the silent treatment.”

“I won't,” She promised. “Shout or punch, that is. I’ll try not to give you the silent treatment, but I might do it by accident. Being loud just doesn’t come naturally to me outside of when I’m working.”

Richard’s stomach growled.

“But maybe it’s time for dinner?” It was only half a question. If she was better off not being quiet with him, then maybe the opportunity to transition into another lesson was for the best.

“I could eat.”

“Then wash up and grab your apron.” She ordered, smiling as she tied the white apron around herself.

***

By the time he came back Stella was standing next to the kitchen counter, a large piece of white fish was on a cutting board, with two shallow pans sitting on each of the larger burners of the stove.

“You know what I mean when I use the word ‘Sauté’, right?” She asked.

“I know it’s a type of cooking.” Richard answered. “Judging from what you’re prepared, I’m guessing that it relies on the pans you’ve set out.”

“Yes. To sauté something is to very lightly fry over medium heat, usually on the stove. I’m going to be preparing some asparagus while I help you sauté this halibut filet for us to split. We’ve got that pecan pie you made earlier, and that’ll be our dessert.”

He nodded, trying to roll with things. “What do we do first?”

“So to start with, both our pans will need to be on medium-to-high heat. We’ll need to turn them down once the pans are ready, but the oil needs to heat up properly before anything else. Go ahead and set both our burners to a seven.” While he found the right spot on the dial, she retrieved a bottle of avocado oil. “I use olive oil for most things, but it burns a little too quickly for what we’re doing. Go ahead and pour some out. It’s easier to not pour enough than to pour too much, so just do what your heart tells you and I’ll let you know if you need more.” She watched him pour. “A little more than that? Good, you can stop there. Once you can hear the oil getting hot, then get the halibut in.”

She always seems so much more confident when she’s here in the kitchen. He remembered the first couple months when he and Luna joined, it seemed like she was cooking bigger and fancier meals so she’d need to step out of the room more often. He was glad that she’d been able to partially accept him, though he still felt guilty at times for how poorly he knew their personalities could mesh. He fought with Felicia, but he’d always known that the doctor felt safe around him.

At least by the time all this happened with Genet taking them, Stella had come to accept his presence. While he stood next to the stove waiting on his pan, she was confidently working. He watched as she took a bundle of asparagus stalks out of the fridge and cut a few inches off of each one, then put them on a paper towel and started mixing pinches of the spices on the dining room table into a ramekin, all with the slight smile of someone who had done it a thousand times before.

He heard the crackle of the oil starting to sizzle on the pan. “Hey, Stella? How should I get the fish into the pan?”

She looked back up to him. “If you’re comfortable using your hands, you can just drop it in and wash up again. If not, there should be a spatula in any of the drawers you can use.”

He took out a spatula. This wouldn’t be so bad. He’d made pancakes before, it had to be about the same. He scooped up the fish and brought it over a few inches to where it sat above the pan. As he was getting ready to lower it the meat slid, hitting the thick side of the white fish. He started to panic. “Stell?”

She looked over, an eyebrow raised. Then she saw what the problem was and relaxed. “Just push it over onto the skin side. Remember to be firm with the spatula, it won’t fight you.”

After he did so, the chef continued guiding him. She gave him instructions on when to add in the spices and when to flip it over when she thought the fish had reached its halfway point. She tried to emphasize that outside of flipping it once, it was important not to move it and he should just trust the stove to work for him. All the while she was watching the asparagus, making sure that the soy sauce she was cooking it with didn’t boil out too quickly.

Finally, the asparagus was cooked and both sides of the halibut had seen the grill. She took over deskinning the fish and cut it in half for them. Getting dinner on the table, she set the bottle of wine down on the table, and they both sat down to try what they’d made.

***

An hour later, they’d finished eating. The bottle of wine was empty, and the pie was gone. He’d needed to stop after his first slice, but she’d happily finished the rest. Both of Richard’s cooking lessons were done for the day. But he wanted to apologize to her again for what had happened in between.

“Stella, I wanted to apologize for what happened earlier with the experiment on your transformation. I should have stopped it for you sooner.” He offered.

She bowed her head. “That’s alright.”

“No, it’s not. I’m not at risk of the audience’s whims like you all are. I have a responsibility to be careful, to figure out the balance between what you need and what the show demands. If something happened again like with Hel I-”

“Richard.” Stella interrupted. She looked flushed, and it made Richard pay more attention to her. Stella never interrupts anyone. “It’s alright. I could have said something too. I didn’t want to.”

“You didn’t want to?”

“I-” She stopped. “Can you promise that you won’t be upset?” She asked. She’d pulled her phone out without him noticing, and was running her thumb down the back.

“I promise.”

“I lied to you earlier. When I realized what my transformation was doing, I didn’t need to experiment in the bathroom. Or at least, I wasn’t actually experimenting with how the transformation worked. I was experimenting with how I felt about it once I understood what was happening.. When I asked to hold your hand, it wasn’t to see if it would activate the transformation. I knew that it wouldn’t. I asked because… I had wanted to hold your hand.”

Stella looked down at the floor, her bravery from the cooking lesson spent. Her confession sat in the air and despite his promise, she waited for some sort of blowback.

That blowback never came. “That’s alright. I don’t know why you are anxious so much, but it doesn’t need to matter right now. If it made things easier in the moment, I don’t mind if you lied to me for a good reason. I think Hel might have lied to me a thousand times for chrissake, and the two of us will always be family.”

She stood up again and hugged him a fourth time that day. He loosely put his arms around her, letting the hug linger for as long as she was comfortable. After she’d withdrawn back to her seat he asked: “Now, is there anything else you wanted to do tonight? Any show you wanted to show me, or game you wanted to play?”

“Not that kind of thing, but…” Stella paused. Her brown hair shifted down, partially obscuring her eyes, as her gaze shifted down to his hands. “Would you be open to giving me a massage?”

“What kind of massage?” Richard asked.

“Nothing complicated. Just rubbing my back while I lay on the bed.”

“Sure, I’ll give you a couple minutes to get yourself situated.”

When he came into the bedroom, she was still in her dress facedown on top of the sheets. A pillow was under her breasts, allowing her a bit of room to breathe.

“Not that I’m trying to tell you to get naked, but are you sure you want a massage with the dress on.”

“Yes.”

“Even if it’ll activate Overstimulation?”

“Mostly because it will activate Overstimulation. Although you also won't need to see what I look like.” She said facing towards the headboard.

“Alright then, just separate your legs a bit to give me room to work, and I’ll start.” After she followed his instructions, he climbed onto the bed, resting on his knees. He leaned over her, and decided to start by pressing his hands into the middle of her back where they’d first felt it happen. Hearing the gentle sigh escape her, he shifted his hands slightly, feeling every crest and curve along her upper back. She continued making small sounds, reacting to his touch as just for this moment, she stopped worrying.

He moved up to her shoulders, feeling the tension there. Despite the fact that this was not supposed to be a normal massage, he still wanted to do something about it for her. Using the strength of his forearms, he worked at the knots in her shoulders with each thumb. “Can I ask what it feels like for you?”

Her words took a moment to come. “I can feel what you’re doing, how much strength you’re putting into my back right now. But that’s not the only thing I’m feeling you do. Even though you’re behind me, I can feel your fingers tracing down my neck and-” her breath caught again. “And along my chin. Like you’re inspecting me.”

“You’ll let me know if we need to stop?”

She nodded.

Richard continued to work on her shoulders. He listened to her breathing, how it hitched as he put more pressure in. After several minutes of work, he felt her shoulder begin to loosen and so he moved back down her back.

As she felt him move down, she got louder. She knew in the back of her mind that she should be quiet, but just for this moment she felt like she could let go. So she let herself moan as she felt his hands work their way down. She felt his hands on her back and that felt nice, but she also felt his hands inching back onto her ass, squeezing her firmly. And that felt heavenly.

She could feel herself dripping. She wasn’t sure if she’d ever trusted a man like this. But she was fine. It was just a massage, the kind of thing a friend might do for another. “Ohhhhh.” She’d gotten distracted and moaned louder than she meant to. But it was just a massage.

Above her, Richard was having trouble concentrating too. Listening to her moan under his touch was his distraction, as her reactions were blurring the line for him on it being a simple massage versus the sexual encounter with her it’d become. She squirmed as he put his hands on every hill and valley of her back. Her ass jerked up as if he’d touched it. He stopped for a moment, leaning back from her to adjust his pants.

“Richard?” Stella asked, as she felt him pull back. “Is something wrong?”

“No, sorry. I just needed a moment.”

“Go- good. Oh dear. You can go a little lower.”

He moved his hands just slightly, to her tailbone. “If I go much lower, I’d be on your butt.”

She braced herself on her elbows, turning her head to look at him. “I know.”

As long as you know what you’re getting into. He used the opportunity to adjust his crotch again then put his hands on her, squeezing for rear like she’d been feeling for the past several minutes.

Stella Steward, +3 VP (Handsy)

She lost balance on her elbows and fell face first onto the bed. Both his real and his phantom hands squeezed and kneaded her over her dress. She had a vague sense of which set wasn't real, as they were more focused on outlining her curves. So as she felt Richard squeeze her ass, the other set of Richard's hands was firmly tracing around her with two fingers on each cheek. She moved the pillow that’d she’d been using for leverage up to muffle her moans.

She came to his touch, with her last grasp of confidence waving a hand behind her hoping he would know to stop.

Stella Steward, +2 (Orgasmed in front of the Master)

He understood, standing up and moving to the chair at his desk until he knew how she felt about the experience. All this had been completely unexpected, and he knew that it’d taken several layers of veils to become this forward.

“T-thank you for all this.” She softly said. He couldn’t see her face over her brown hair, which had fallen over her in her spasms. “For not getting angry that I lied to you, for checking on me so much, for the…massage.” She was still hiding behind the idea that it was just a massage she’d asked for.

“Of course.” He said, getting off of the chair and onto the floor next to the bed. “May I kiss your forehead?” He offered, trying to offer aftercare for the new experience.

She shrank back. “Not yet. I’m sorry that I’m not ready for more, or that I’m not ready to return the favor, but…”

“That’s alright. If you need space, I think I’ll be in the kitchen to get some water before bed. Let me know if you need me.”

She nodded. “If it's alright, I’m going to go take a shower. I might be a while, you don’t need to wait up for me. But Richard?”

He raised an eyebrow.

"I want to tell you that I l... I appreciate you."