Chapter 384: Reconnecting – Explicit
Although she'd had many, many children over her past lives - most of them in her hedonistic days as Prince of the Fallen Tower - Xenia herself had only ever been pregnant once. On top of that, the event was centuries ago and in a lifetime where she did not have a dungeon core's perfect memory.
Some things though, you just don't forget.
Granted, the sensation Xenia just got an hour ago isn't quite like anything she'd experienced while pregnant with her daughter Billie. In particular, it seems very strange to experience the sensation of a baby kicking before you've even begun to show a baby bump. Although maybe her avatar will never actually display any visual signs of a pregnancy? It certainly felt like it was coming from her gut, despite the fact that Xenia doesn't physically possess one of those. Maybe a dungeon baby starts developing from the feet up, like some sort of 3D printer, and that's why they started kicking so early?
These are the questions running through the reincarnator's mind as she lies back in bed, her mind wandering. There's probably more important things she could be doing right now to prepare for a potential attack. She could be designing new traps, test-trialing new monster hybrids, or tweaking her floor designs. But it's late enough now that the mortals not on watch are resting and relaxing, and it occurs to her that even a dungeon probably needs to rest every now and then as well, if only mentally. All she needs is a distraction from her thoughts...
Doing a quick scan of the dungeon's 'public' spaces certainly reveals plenty of those. Cramming dozens of healthy, fit young men and women into a confined space and then giving them little else to do besides drink or prepare to fight for their lives tends to lead to rather predictable avenues of...stress relief. It's probably made even more severe by the way worship of Kahlia seems to be spreading through the population like wildfire, perhaps unsurprisingly. With Mother Hammerdown's people fleeing to the dungeon the Church of Bounty is well-represented in the place, and the fact that it's quite well known that the dungeon is favored by the Goddess of Fertility means that quite a few mortals are spending their alone moments praying to her for salvation.
And perhaps even more of those mortals are spending their not-so-alone moments doing forms of worship quite a bit more strenuous than prayer.
Letting her mind wander, Xenia begins to follow a few of the more interesting-looking threads of activity...
"Alright, alright, you've spent enough time getting to know the troops for one night, Thaddeus. How about you get to know your wife for a bit instead, eh?" Tizzy grins as she pulls her husband though the portal leading to their room.
"Haha, well, I suppose I better listen before you decide you'd rather spend an evening with a copy of me rather than the original, hrmm?"
The imp blushes violet. "I still can't believe I told you I did all that. I'm even more surprised you're okay with it!"
"Well, you did seem quite contrite. And you had your ways of smoothing over any...upset feelings..." Thaddeus wears a grin of his own as the two push open the door leading to their private chambers.
"Oh, you know I do. You know, I've been working on doing illusions of myself, if you'd like to help me test them out with me..."
Nope, nope. True, Xenia's probably separated from the prince by a good half-dozen generations or so, not to mention centuries of time and a whole different universe. But no, she's really going to try not to peek in on that particular encounter. Even if Tizzy is making it rather tempting...no.
Xenia takes a deep, pyschosomatic breath. Time to find a new distraction, and fast...
"You know, you really don't need to be avoiding me like this."
Grizza looks up in surprise as he finds Tassa leaning against the bar next to him. Although the part-dwarf minotaur is short for one of her kin, the two are just about at eye level as they clutch their nearly-empty mugs.
"Avoiding you? I haven't been avoiding you, Tassa. Things have just been...very busy, as you've noticed."
The woman snorts. "Please, it's been like this ever since I came to Grassbrook. Ever since I started staying with that army garrison - everyone there noticed how you started spending more time than not up here at the dungeon. Honestly, I'm not sure what you're worried about. I'll admit, some of my memories of our parting might be a little...fuzzy, given the other concerns I had on my mind at the time. But I thought we parted on good terms, did we not?"
The drider frowns. "We did, of course! But it was those other concerns that I was worried about. I didn't want to be a reminder of what all happened the last time we were together here, you know? I mean, I thought it would be bad enough being back here for you to begin with. Although now that we're here...are you doing alright, Tassa?"
The former soldier stares off for a moment before answering. "In a way, I thought coming back here would be more...dramatic. Personally, I mean, I'm not saying that war outside is some sort of minor sideshow, mind you. But I thought I'd return after perfecting myself, after decades of training, proving that I could even approach the skill the dungeon spirit displayed when she...well, kicked my ass. Not to mention I'm fairly certain the dungeon had some sort of ban against me after we left. But now here I am, barely better trained than I was back then, and all I got from the dungeon was a 'under current circumstances, consider us good for now.' message from the staff." Tassa chuckles as she shakes her head. "If anything, the dungeon's grown so quickly that the idea that I could be some sort of threat to it is even more laughable now than ever."
"Did you want to be a threat to the dungeon?"
Tassa quickly shakes her head. "Not a threat, no! I just wanted to be...worthy, heh, of myself, I suppose. My potential. To prove myself."
"Well, training or not, I think we'll all have plenty of chances to prove our worth in the coming weeks." Grizza reaches out a hand and rests it on hers. "For what it's worth, I'm glad you're here."
Tassa turns to look at that hand for a long moment before a slight smirk appears on her face. "You are, hrmm? You know, some of the soldiers had a different theory for why you were avoiding me..."
The drider's ebon skin flushes even darker. "Well...to be honest, I wasn't sure how to act about...all that. After all, you were partnered to another, not I, and I wouldn't want to presume that there was something there that there was not..."
This time Tassa's hand cups his, and even as a relatively small minotaur it's still much heavier. "We never would've invited you into our tent if I didn't think you were attractive, Grizza. And no, I'm not looking for romance right now. But...perhaps companionship, if you still have an interest."
A small bit of confidence returns to the mage as he smiles back. "Well...I have learned a new trick or two since that night on the mountain..."
"I had no idea it was this strong!" Tassa gasps as she finds herself suspended horizontally, strands of webbing holding her to the ceiling of Grizza's room. Her heavy breasts sway pendulously beneath her, and Grizza takes firm hold of one as he leans in to speak into her ear.
"It's a matter of proper reinforcement. It's really about proper positioning more than the webbing, actually. If you suspend someone in the wrong way, pinch the wrong spot, it can be painful or even dangerous. How about you? Feeling good? Comfortable?"
"Ha! The only thing pinching me right now is you and your - ah!" Although interrupted, Tassa's point is made for her as Grizza tugs at one of her thick, brown nipples. Both of the Challengers are fully naked at this point, but to her shame Tassa would have to admit that the rough treatment seems to be doing more to arouse her than her companion. "It's not - not just the webbing you learned, is it? You were not nearly so confident the last time we shared a bed!"
"I'll admit to a bit of experience, in and out of the bedroom. Just a bit, mind you. But the past few years have been very...educational." The man's smile turns a bit more devious. "How about you, Tassa? Any...interesting experiences?"
"That's a bit personal - ah!" Grizza adjusts his position so that while he can still grope one of Tassa's heavy tits, his other hand can probe at her back door with a lubed digit. "My ass!? You have grown bold, little spider!"
"Let's just say I want to get to know you a little better, after being out of touch for so long. If you're not going to tell me about your adventures, then I suppose I'll just have to settle for a little...physical exploration."
"Gah! Fine! There wasn't much, but...there was a..." Tassa mumbles something so quietly, even the man standing next to her can't hear it.
"A what, Tassa?"
"...An orgy! In a, a festival to Kahlia! Now, will you leave my poor ass alone? I'm not quite...prepared down there, and it's not quite what I had in mind."
Grizza blinks at that, although he does his best to recover his control of the situation quickly. "Perhaps." Instead of pulling out, a second finger joins the first, making the minotaur groan. "But you can't leave it there - tell me, just what did you get up to at this orgy?"
Tassa swallows, but from the corner of her eye she can notice as Grizza's long, slender cock is beginning to grow. It seems the man really does want to hear about her exploits, so...perhaps it wouldn't hurt to indulge a little. "It...it was mostly boarkin. We were in their home city, at the time. They're very...stout people. My first partner stretched me...I could handle it, but it was a rare feeling..."
Grizza's left hand finally releases her molested breast, and moves towards her slit. Lightly rubbing it while his other fingers continue to massage her pucker, Grizza continues with the questions. "First, was it? So you didn't stop there."
"He had a...a husband, I didn't know it at the time. The first bent me over the arm of a couch, while the other used my mouth. The taste was...unpleasant, to be honest. I don't know who or what he had fucked before me, but the flavor was strong. But boarkin are also quite assertive about their wants, and as a guest..."
The drider chuckles. "Yes, only polite to suck the cocks of those hosting you. It's common courtesy, really." His fingers pick up speed as they massage the area around Tassa's clit, even as his cock reaches its full size. He steps forward so that his tip is touching her, just barely pushing between her folds - but he stops there, extracting a moan from the suspended woman.
"Gah! What more do you want? Do you want to hear how I swallowed his seed? It was thin, not his first release of the night, but it left me hungry for more..."
Removing his fingers from Tassa's ass, Grizza instead begins to rub his cockhead up and down her lips, but he doesn't push forward.
"Keep going. I sense your evening doesn't stop there."
"I saw...a lizardkin with some of the others, they have two cocks, so one partner could ride him while the other...prepared his second manhood. But he was occupied, so instead I found a rabbitkin. They're nothing like the monsters in this dungeon, you know. Much shorter, and their faces aren't like a drider's at all. But their stamina..."
Grizza furrows his brow. "Is that so? I thought rabbits were notorious for being rather, well...quick shots when it comes to it. Eager, at least."
"Oh, he was that." Tassa smiles at the memory. "Yes, he too had finished a round before I had my turn, and was rather drained. But apparently this man had quite the force of will." She turns her head back as best as she can, and looks Grizza in the eye. "He could stay hard for as long as his mind demanded it. Or his partners. And I demanded it...several times. I must've rode him half a dozen times, in different ways, before he finally found the energy for a second - hrnnn!"
Her story is interrupted as the drider finally pushes forward, and the man's length easily slides to the hilt on the first thrust. A cock designed for the anatomy of a female drider would normally be too much for partners of most other races, but Tassa's dwarven heritage lends her a certain amount of flexibility in that arena, and it's pushed to the limit as Grizza claims every inch of her. Their mutual arousal does much to aid in the endeavor as well, with Tassa quite well-prepared by Grizza's efforts, and Grizza himself by Tassa's explicit honesty.
The fact that both of them have been rather pent up the past few days doesn't hurt, either. The amount of fucking going on in the dungeon was impossible to hide, and in fact wasn't hidden at all in certain parts of Floor Five. Or perhaps it could be said that their pent-up state does hurt, as it turns out neither of them has the willpower to hold out for long. Grizza himself barely lasts for half a dozen thrusts before he releases himself inside his companion, and the fingers still rubbing at her button bring her to her own climax not long after.
Still, Tassa doesn't seem displeased by the short showing as she looks back at Grizza once again. "That was...good. I'd hate to have wasted all the time spent stringing me up like this, though. I don't suppose you'd be willing to show off your, ahem...rabbit-like qualities?"
"...Now that you mention it, I do have a certain pair of ears sitting around here somewhere..."
Elsewhere, Xenia licks her lips before looking for a new point of interest. One thought does occur to her, though.
You know...maybe it's for the best I never killed her when I had the chance...