The Warmth of a Warden

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<Achievement Unlocked!>
Champion of the Azure Orbs
Bring someone to climax without orgasming yourself.
+5% testicle volume
+5% semen production
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<Achievement Unlocked!>
Magic Fingers
Bring someone to climax using only your hands.
+1 CHA
+1 LIB
+Secret Skill: Outercourse
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<Achievement Unlocked!>
In Bloom
Give a Warden an orgasm.
+3 CHA
+2 LIB
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<Achievement Unlocked!>
The Real Big Dick Energy
Successfully dominate a sub while following all of their rules.
+1 CHA
+5% penis girth
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<Achievement Unlocked!>
Hat Trick
Give a partner three orgasms in one session.
+3% penis length and girth
+3% semen production
+3% ejaculate volume
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<Achievement Unlocked!>
You Charmer, You
Raise someone's RP by 50 or more points in a single day.
+1 CHA
+1 WIS
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<Achievement Unlocked!>
This One is Just Because I'm Proud of You
Good Boy!
+1 LIB
+1 Free Skill Level
+1 Gamer Treat
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Okay, that’s a lot to take in all at once.

John took a little extra time after finishing his business to read through the handful of achievements he’d earned during his time with Moira. He wasn’t surprised to have gotten them, but they were more lucrative than he’d expected. His free Skill level went directly into Create Instance, since it seemed to be the hardest to build up. Unfortunately, he’d have to wait until he got home to learn what new options it unlocked. Outercourse was straightforward, at least. It was essentially the same as Intercourse but for non-penetrative acts. As an added bonus, it was already Level 3, likely thanks to having continued with Moira after first earning it.

Which reminds me… I totally just did that! I can’t believe it worked! Fuck yeah!

What had just happened was truly beyond John’s lewdest imaginations. While his encounter with Nazrinn was equally world shaking, John had fantasized about clandestine sex with June a hundred times. Never in a million years had he ever come up with something even close to orgasmically heavy petting with Moira. His chest swelled with pride. How many people could say they’d accomplished the same, let alone with someone so wildly out of their league? John had to admit to himself that, yes, he might have cheated a little, but he decided that using his own magic when dealing with magically induced lust was still fair game.

Regardless, he walked back to the tent with his ego a little healthier and his dick a little bigger, satisfied with how things shook out. He returned to find Moira fully dressed once more, but still a little red in the face from the exertion.

“Oh, John. Are you…” she trailed off, making a handful of sheepish gestures that represented nothing but John took to suggest jerking off. “Finished?”

“Yeah, I’m good,” he answered. “Do you feel better?”

“Yes, much.” Moira nodded. She knit her fingers together and **** herself to lift her eyes from John’s crotch to meet his. “I’m sorry. I should have… done something. It’s not… proper to receive so much and give so little. I hope you can forgive my selfishness.”

“And what, let you get yourself all worked up again and get us back to square one?” John joked, but he knew inwardly that at least part of him felt he deserved at least a handjob for his efforts. “Plus, no offense, I’m pretty sure you’d be so nervous that you’d rip my dick off.”

Moira let out an anxious giggle. John got the impression that even she believed that might have been a real possibility, unlikely as it was. He could practically feel his balls recede into his abdomen.

“You’re right.” Moira nodded once more. Her face fell into a remarkably demure expression. “It would have been counterproductive. So thank you for understanding and for your, um, help.”

“Don’t mention it,” John said as he sat down. “Like, really, don’t mention it. I remember my promise to never talk about this again, and your dad would **** me if he knew.”

“The less my father knows about how I deal with my trial, the happier we both are,” Moira said.

“Oh, I hadn’t thought of that,” John remarked. “I guess he knows what it does to you, huh? Shit, that’s gotta be awkward. Poor guy.”

“As if it is any less mortifying to know that your own father knows exactly when you are feeling those… sorts of things??” Moira snapped back, her cheeks freshly reddened.

“Okay, yeah, sorry, let’s skip to the not talking about it part!” John fumbled, realizing his misstep. The pair stewed in silence for a little while after that, not looking at each other. Eventually, John attempted to pull them out of it. “So, think we’ll finally make it to the Gate home tomorrow?”

“If we aren’t picked up by a search party beforehand, yes,” Moira answered, without turning. “I’m positive the Order has put together what happened by now. If they haven’t, the reconnaissance division will be hearing some stern words from me.”

“Glad I’m not them.” John grimaced. “Guess we should get back to sleep so you have enough energy to chew them out properly.”

“That isn’t funny, John,” Moira said, hiding a smile.

“I didn’t think so,” he said. “It’s probably really scary.”

“Don’t push it,” Moira replied, with a hint of real reproach. John straightened his posture.

“Yes, ma’am,” he replied. Moira rolled her eyes and shook her head, but the signs of her previous smile were still there. “For real, though, it’s been a long day.”

“Yes,” Moira agreed. She waited for John to lay down and assume his position dutifully facing away from her before turning off the lantern and following suit. “Goodnight, John.”

“Goodnight, Moira.”

John smiled to himself. He hadn’t realized until now that Moira had stopped calling him ‘Newman’ and was actually using his first name. Was that thanks to his performance in the fight, or his performance in the night? He didn’t know, but he’d earned some measure of tangible respect from her either way. At another time, maybe he’d feel pathetic for feeling so much pride and satisfaction from gaining such a tiny amount of respect, but he willed himself to focus on the positive. As harrowing as things had been so far, he’d only been a mage for a little over a week and his lot in life was already improving. While still below average, his confidence was at an all time high. More than that, tonight was far from the first time he’d been uncharacteristically bold. He knew that he couldn’t afford to get a big head about it, but he could at least let himself bask in it a little bit.

Curling up against the cold, such thoughts helped John keep warm as he slowly inched towards sleep. It was only his third night without one, but he deeply missed having a bed. He missed pillows and a blanket and enough private space to stretch out without fear of getting smacked. With Moira back to normal, he was pretty certain things had returned to a strict no looking, no touching policy. Bold as he’d been recently, he chose to take Moira’s advice and not push it.

“John?” Moira’s voice softly pushed away the silence. He hummed an acknowledgement, trying not to fully wake up. Her voice called out again. “Roll over.”

“What?” he asked. More of a statement of confusion than an actual question. Any progress he’d made toward sleep fell away. He shifted, turning his head in her direction despite not being able to see a thing.

“Roll over,” she repeated. Her voice sounded closer than it should have been.

“Why?” John probed, cautious.

“Just do it,” she said. The gentleness in her voice hardened a bit as she huffed in annoyance. Without any reason to argue, John acquiesced and shuffled around to face Moira and curl up once more. He was met with an immediate embrace as her arms reached for him. Moira had the strength to overcome any resistance he might have made, smoothly pulling John into a cozy, if unorthodox, cuddle. Despite how much taller he was than her, he was bundled up such that his shins rested flush with her thighs, with his head on her lower shoulder. Her free arm draped over him to complete the **** of comfort, wrapping John completely in soothing warmth.

“Moira…” John began, but his voice faded away as he realized he didn’t know what words were supposed to come next. It wouldn’t have mattered even if he had, as Moira gently shushed him anyway. Outflanked by emotions battering him from two sides, it took John some time to gather his thoughts. Most expectedly was the panic. The abrupt display of compassion, if not affection, triggered alarms in John’s brain. His instincts shouted for him to abort mission and evacuate immediately, spurred on by a heart rate preparing himself for immediate action. A sizable chunk of his brain was dedicating all resources towards averting imminent crisis, rapidly simulating the outcomes of a variety of battle plans and assessing any available point of escape.

It came as no surprise to John; it was a procedure he’d run through a thousand times. What surprised him was that it was not the predominant reaction.

Fighting back against his prey instincts was a pacifying blanket of serenity. How both could exist at once bewildered John, but the ongoing experience had already put enough on his plate without trying to figure that out. Everything he’d felt this morning when he first woke up in Moira’s arms flooded back, carrying along a set of freshly unfamiliar emotions and amplified by the fact that, this time, she had done it on purpose. He felt as if he should be swimming through a turbulent current of uncertainty, and yet there was none to be found. Rather, it was pushed away by how natural it felt to be right where he was.

Moira’s warmth was more than just physical. It muted the tumult of John’s mind and let him accept the sensation of safety that enveloped him. How she, so well practiced at chilling souls from a distance, could present such a welcoming shelter was beyond John. Nevertheless, the simple act of being held melted away something inside him that he couldn’t quite identify. It was something that he felt had been there for a long time, something that felt intrusive only in retrospect of its absence. Like this, the comfort of a bed didn’t feel quite so necessary anymore. Only one nagging thought remained.

“If you feel like you have to do this to make it up to me, you don’t,” John said. He was confident that Moira wasn’t doing this out of a sense of obligation, but he still couldn’t shake the suspicion. The idea of such tenderness stemming from a sense of duty felt unbearable, unlikely as it was. He had to know.

“Let me take care of you,” Moira whispered back, subtly tightening her grip on him. Her voice was so soft that it bordered on maternal, but it was tinged with a fleeting trace of sorrow. The rest of John’s doubt disintegrated; no part of him retained the will to resist any longer. The fact of the matter was that he wanted this. Maybe he needed it. Maybe she did too.

John considered making some quip about how she said he was the one who was impossible to understand, but he let it go with the rest of his thoughts. If this accidental adventure had taught John anything, it was that he had sorely misread Moira. For every new thing he’d learned about her, it seemed there were three more behind it. Aspects of her personality and history clicked as much as they contradicted, and the more he uncovered, the more he realized that he barely knew her at all. He was probably the same to her. And yet here they were, two people who understood precious little about each other, curled up together against the darkness.

All John could do was acknowledge that being held in a protective cuddle was tugging heartstrings and firing synapses that were unaccustomed to it. He wasn’t sure if it was because he forgot they were there or if he never knew they were there in the first place. Part of him wanted to smile. Part of him wanted to cry. In the end, he drifted off into the most restful sleep he could recall.

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<Achievement Unlocked!>
You Can Put the Gun Down Now, K
Snuggle to sleep.
+1 CHA
+1 WIS
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