316 Putty
"I think you went too far." Diana gave Donovan time to cool down after his show of force, leaving the issue until the next day to discuss his mistakes. "I get putting your foot down, they needed to be humbled, but mocking them for the situation is not an effective method of garnering goodwill."
"Any mistakes I made would be entirely your fault." Donovan had been giving her the cold shoulder ever since the throne room fiasco, and continued to do so whilst their party trotted off to the forest. He had even chosen to ride on the same 'horse' as Titanyana, denying her desire to enjoy such an intimate moment. Worse still, his excuse was reasonable enough to make pushiness on her end appear childish. "You could have told me at any point. You could have given me a script to work off of. You chose not to, so I had to improvise."
"Titanyana wanted to confess on her own terms. I wasn't going to ruin that for her."
"So you had the crowd force her hand, got it." Even though he was sitting behind Titanyana, she was the one 'teaching' him to ride. Diana was simply having her 'horse' led by one of the hunting party. "Was that the way you wanted it to go, Titanyana? Forced to rush such an important moment instead of having it happen on your own terms?"
Titanyana kept her composure, but her ears flattened. Donovan and Diana were speaking in English, concealing the contents of their conversation from the others despite their full volume. She was the only one who could understand them.
". . . no?"
"Hear that Diana? You ruined her confession. She had one first chance at it and you ruined it."
"Come on, it wasn't that bad. She got a hug and kiss out of it."
"She would have gotten a hug anyways."
"No kiss?"
"I can't guarantee I would have offered one. If the mood was proper it might have been on the table." Donovan hunched down, further encompassing Titanyana before whispering in her ear. "Is that how you wanted your first kiss to go?"
"Huh?" The combination of increased skin contact, breath on her ear fluff, and subject of conversation sent a flush of heat through her body. She found herself subconsciously pushing back to maximize and intensify the sensation. "Uh, no?"
"Did you want it something more like this?" Donovan shifted behind her, the gentle push of his hand on her chin alarming Titanyana slightly yet not invoking resistance.
"?!?!" Any shriek or cry of surprise was silenced by the pair of lips covering her own, a situation which lasted only a few seconds but felt like minutes. It was a bit of an awkward position, at least for Donovan, however the bliss she experienced more than made up for any discomfort. As he retracted himself to a normal riding position, Titanyana's head remained stunned in place, the perfect position to see Diana's reaction to the event.
Had physiology and the restrictions of matter not limited the extent of it's depression, Diana's jaw would have been on the floor. That was clearly something she wanted to do, or rather have done to her, and yet she had been forced to watch Donovan give Titanyana the treatment she so coveted. Of course, her emotions weren't negative, the sparkle in her eyes betrayed joy at Titanyana receiving affection so openly, however there was a clear conflict inside about not being the 'first'.
"Donny."
"Hmm, not as uncomfortable as I thought. What do you think, Titanyana?'
"Donny!"
"Never mind, I shouldn't have asked. You clearly don't have anything to compare it to."
"Donovan!"
Titanyana wished she could see the look on Donovan's face as he wrapped his arms around her, his right snaking around her waist to pull her tighter to himself while his left took the high road around her chest, hand ending up on shoulder. The result was a much more complete and even pressure across her back, but he clearly did it to further irritate Diana.
"Hmm, maybe it's because she's so small, but Titanyana is a lot more huggable than you." He rested his chin atop her head, supporting its weight so as to avoid burdening her neck. At this point she could hear her own heart beat. "If you aren't careful, you might lose your spot as body pillow of choice."
"Okay, that's too far. I can forgive scolding the Grandmasters, I can overlook pampering Titanyana with my bucket list, but threatening the position promised to me cannot be tolerated." Titanyana had zoned out of the conversation at this point, the glares of concern and rage from all around not even entering her mind. The urge to abandon her image and beg for more affection restrained only by willpower and the fluffy bliss encroaching on her conscious. "Besides, she can't be your body pillow. She's my body pillow. Mine!"
"You dare to deny her the affection of her beloved?"
"Aren't you doing the same to me?"
"Titanyana has done nothing to deserve such denial. She is a precious little cherub, you are a devious and corrupting succubus. If anything, I should be doing everything in my power to keep her from your sinful touch." Donovan's hand migrated from her shoulder to her neck, then to the back of her head, sliding up until his fingers rested just beneath her ear. The sensation of sparks ran through her even before he started scratching, a sort of preemptive response to the feeling she knew was coming. She had been anticipating this for a long time, ever since Diana had given her scritches in the bath.
Diana had promised a heavenly experience in Donovan's hands, and already he was delivering.
In spite of her excellent hearing, sound no longer reached her. Only the hollow reverberation of his scratching in her ear, her own breathing, and the beating of her heart could be made out. Focus was no longer possible, eyes failing to settle on a single point as her vision became fuzzy. If she had been able to think clearly she might have been thankful her 'horse' could maintain its position in the crowd, however the entirety of her mental capacity was now dedicated to maximizing this new experience. She shuffled into the most comfortable position she could manage and pressed her head back into his hand, slowly tilting and twisting it to guide him towards the spots most in need of his attention.
What had become clear to her was that this wasn't the erotic urge she developed when first she realized her connection with him. If she had been of a clearer mind she might have realized why, however in the moment she was more occupied with the experience. Where before Donovan was a little sweaty, having been in the same clothes for a few hours in a relatively stressful environment, now he was freshly bathed and not exerting himself. She had also been facing him indoors, buried in his chest for an extended period of time while distressed whereas now she faced away from him with a gentle breeze to disperse any odors despite the distance. It was a scent based reaction, after all.
- - - - -
". . . is she purring?" There was a few yards of distance between them, but Diana could faintly make out a grumbly hum from the dreamy little kitten. She made it look so good Diana almost wished her ears were the same.
"She is." A brief response, Donovan tilted himself back slightly to carry some of the weight the blissed out Titanyana. "Have you heard her purr before?"
"I haven't." Their argument had gradually faded once Titanyana zoned out, this particular spat more bickering between children than a legitimate lover's quarrel.
"Neither have I."
Diana's past scritching sessions had been more experimental than a legitimate effort to comfort her, longer nails seeking to evoke the most bombastic reaction rather than maximize pleasure. It never hurt Titanyana, however she was left so exhausted from the experience that her heavy breathing precluded such a gentle sound. The same was true for Donovan's encounter in her bedroom, the tension of the situation simply didn't allow for such a gentle purr to develop.
"When I do it she gets all jittery and starts flailing, but she's like putty in your hands. What's your secret?"
"Secret? I'm just scratching her ears?"
"No need to hide it, Donny, you've got magic fingers." A devious smirk spread across her mug, the less than child friendly insinuation hanging for a second or two before she continued. Titanyana simply hadn't reacted. "Don't you want me to get better at massages?"
"You don't give me massages anyways."
"I could start! It would be a good way to destress after all that exercise, right?"
". . . I don't really think about it though? How would I teach you how to do something I don't do consciously?"
"Uh, I mean, I could watch?"
"You want me to give Titanyana a massage?"
"Not right now, but maybe on our way back to Nectar?"
"This isn't a ploy to get me handsy with Titanyana, is it?" Donovan knew he wouldn't get a concrete answer, but making his suspicion known might turn her off to such a plan before she enacted it. "I need to set a boundary here, Diana. I'm not sure if I want those kinds of relations until I know her better."
Diana didn't mind him holding off on tying the knot with Titanyana for the time being, he was still avoiding having a child with her, however she could not say how such a position would be perceived by the Nekh. They appeared desperate to have a successor in case Titanyana perished, and it did not look like Petunia's son was their first choice. Could they come to accept Boromir after further deliberation? Probably, but at the moment they were bullish on it being Titanyana's child in spite of her bond with Donovan.
The conflicted glances their direction was all the proof she needed.
"Titanyana and I agreed that I will have your baby first, by the way." Diana used Split when speaking, subtly communicating a key tidbit of information to their entourage without tipping Donovan off that she had done so. Ear flicks and scowls told her the message was received, if not enthusiastically then at least with begrudging acceptance. "I'm first. Don't forget it!"
"When was this decided?" Donovan hadn't picked up on the subterfuge, too focused on the purring mass to care.
"A while ago." She was growing ever more envious of Titanyana. Why couldn't the horses support that much weight? "Don't forget it though! I have a feeling that these guys are going to want an heir sooner rather than later, and I expect at least a three month head start."
". . . I think I'll flirt with Titanyana a bit more."
"Huh?"
"Om."
- - - - -
Fireworks exploded inside of Titanyana's mind, the numbing bliss suddenly accompanied by a shock of erotic discomfort, leaving her twisting in the saddle to relieve the building tension.
"Grrmmmm." Groaning away the brain fog, her attention was once more drawn to her situation, wrapped in a tight hug atop a 'horse' amidst a crowd of her subjects whilst receiving ear scritches. If her cheeks weren't already red they would have quickly become so.
"Good morning, sunshine." Sparks traveled the length of her spine at the soft voice in her ear, Donovan's lips having only just released themselves from the tip of it. They weren't in the fields anymore, in fact they were quite deep into the forest, however Titanyana could not remember how long ago this change occurred.
"Mhm." Titanyana countered by pushing her head up into his neck and rubbing, getting him to loosen his hold on her enough to free her arms. She could stretch her legs well enough in the stirrups, but her arms needed to be free to relieve the tension.
"You dropped the reigns, by the way." She hadn't noticed the lack of leather in her hands upon regaining clarity, however she wasn't particularly concerned. A quick bend over was all she needed to retrieve them.
"Ahem."
"Hm?" Titanyana stopped while fully extended, arms draped down around the neck of the 'horse'. Innocent though her intentions might have been, the slight arching of her back combined with angle her posterior pushed back into Donovan's lap proposed a much lewder motivation to those observing. However Titanyana was blind to this interpretation owing to the remaining fog, leaving the impression of a somewhat bold lover in the eyes of her followers. "What is it?"
"We will be arriving at the camp soon, my lady." Lasse's 'horse' trotted alongside them, closer than necessary in a bid to shield the spectacle from others. "The scouts believe they have found a charge worthy of your hunting party."
"Have they?" Slowly returning to a normal riding posture, Titanyana immediately ruined any sense of professionalism by wrapping one of Donovan's arms around her once more. "Is it a Tillet?"
"They found traces of a Brist, a large one at that, though they have yet to determine if it is hart or hind." Lasse's eyes betrayed a hint of dissatisfaction with Titanyana's displays of affection, but he said nothing. He had yet to express any qualms with Donovan as her mate, so his issue was likely with the image rather than the relationship. "Would you like them to search for a Tillet?"
"No. A Brist would be a much greater feat than a Tillet. I was simply wondering if they had found one."
" Is there a particular reason you were wondering?"
"Their fur was a favorite of my mother's. It isn't a big deal though, we will hunt the Brist."
". . . I will inform the warden to keep an eye out for Tillet tracks."
"Thank you." Lasse nodded before navigating his 'horse' towards the front of the crowd, his contact with the scouting party waiting for him there.
"Alright, what are they."
"What are what?" Titanyana nuzzled his bicep, subconsciously trying to extract more ear scritches.
"The Brist and Tillet. What do they look like, act like, sound like, et cetera."
"Oh. Brists are sort of like those deer things from Terra, but a bit shorter and with paws instead of hooves. I can't speak much to their behavior as I haven't seen many alive, however I know they eat leaves and the males are very territorial. Tillets are more like those wild pig things in size and build except they have six legs instead of four, and they can climb trees. I don't know a good animal analogy for what they act like, so I'll just say they are ambush hunters that will also eat fruits and such. Tillets are harder to find and difficult to kill, while Brists are not afraid to charge you and represent a serious danger to hunters working in groups smaller than four."