Chapter 13
Confidence

The trip through the forest went about as poorly as could be expected. It seemed like nothing ever went right after I left the front. I wondered how they were doing in all this madness. How many of them found their families? How many died or got turned? How many of them were darting through the forest like I was? I shook my head and dismissed the troubling thoughts, there were more important things at hand.

Like the snake Clay was playing with…

The snake was obviously very upset, but that didn’t seem to stop Clay from poking it with a stick. If anything it’s angry hissing and the way it thrashed and recoiled with every touch was only encouraging him to poke it and he giggled like a maniac every time it bit the stick.

Patches was just watching with his arms crossed and muttered something about “Darwinism.” Whatever that was. The deer of course were just avoiding the snake and shouting at Clay to get away from it.

Me?

I was looking for a stick as well.

I found one, thick, heavy. Had a big knot on the end. Perfect.

I walked up to Clay and hefted it. “Poke that snake again and I’m going to poke your head with this as hard as I can and see how you like it,” I growled.

The threat got through to him and he dropped his little stick of torment, right onto the angry serpent. It lashed out at the offending object and immediately slithered away into the bushes.

“I swear by the Sisters Clay, another delay like that and I will personally PUSH you onto whatever it is that you’re prodding. Understand?!” I snarled as I released my own club.

He gulped and nodded silently, his arms drawn in close to his chest as he shrank away from me.

“Good! Now let’s get going. AGAIN,” I said as I motioned the group forward. We had been traveling for maybe six hours and that was the eighth fucking time Clay had stopped us for something. He had to be the neediest pony I had ever met and my patience was already at it’s end. At the rate we were going it would be three days or longer before we reached the town.

First we had to stop so he could find his glasses in his pack, he ended up dumping the damned thing all over the ground in an effort to find them. He did. They had been on top of his pack and were buried and broken by the cascade of his pack’s contents. Thankfully Patches had some twine and tied them back together, then he was bug-eyed and had twine on his face. He blamed a rock for the incident, I’m serious. A rock.

The second delay came about two hours into our hike when Clay realized he had forgotten something and demanded we go back. I was having none of it but he broke down claiming it was an important family heirloom and he couldn’t leave it behind. So we doubled back and got his necklace, I could appreciate something that important. What escaped me though was how something that important could be left behind in the first place.

The third delay occurred when Clay wanted to stop and rest because he was tired. I’m not kidding, he sat down and refused to move. Thankfully it was a very short rest, good thing Bryon can make a deceptively accurate bear’s roar.

The fourth delay was breakfast, while I insisted on eating on the move, which Patches and the deer approved of. Clay wouldn’t budge, yet again. He claimed it was improper to eat while doing anything other than sitting. All his life he had never eaten on the move, laying down, or standing. I did not believe him. I’m certain he just wanted to rest his legs. What a lazy pony he was.

The fifth time we stopped was because Clay had tripped over an anthill that we had all seen and easily avoided. After we chased the stripping Earth pony through the woods and he jumped into a nearby river to get the agitated insects off his body, he claimed he couldn’t see through his glasses properly and it was making it harder to notice objects on the ground. I bought that one, they did sit on his face awkwardly with that twine wrapped around the bridge. They had the potential to block some of his lower peripherals so we agreed to point floor hazards out to him in the future.

The sixth stop I guess I couldn’t really hold against him, but he did start it. The call of nature. Turns out everyone had to go. I didn’t really notice the need, but I took the opportunity to make sure a stop solely for me wouldn’t be needed later.

The seventh stop came about when Clay started screaming and dragging his rear across the ground. He had used poison ivy… Why couldn’t it have been poison joke? I could have used a laugh at his expense by that point. He ended up retreating to the river we had encountered previously and much to his dismay, the water did little to comfort his burning ass. Losing that much progress in a day? Make it four or five days to reach that damned town.

The eighth stop was of course for the snake, it was thankfully one of the shorter stops but I was about to pull my mane out by this point.

“Hey Clay,” Patches said, that shit-eating grin stretching across his muzzle as he spoke. “How’s your ass?”

“It hurts…” He moped as he reached back and rubbed it.

Patches raised a hand to his muzzle in an attempt to stop himself from laughing. What came out was a rather loud snort and he stomped on the ground in an attempt to stop himself. He lost that battle quickly. He doubled over, leaning on his rifle as he let loose with a laugh that shook the forest.

I sighed and looked on at the deer who were both suppressing fits of laughter and faring far better. Daisy’s expression showed pity for Clay, but she really did find the joke hilarious. Bryon’s face was contorted so badly I couldn’t really tell what he was feeling. The hand on his face didn’t help either.

Clay just moped and continued onward, either oblivious to the joke or not caring about the humor at his expense. It was strange, an hour ago I was wishing for a chance to laugh at him and when one presented itself I didn’t take it.

I settled for giving Patches “the look.” It worked, after about a minute of him huffing and trying to get his laughter under control.

“Sorry Clay, that was a dick move of me,” Patches apologized. I really wasn’t expecting an apology out of the Pegasus who normally didn’t seem to give a shit about the feelings of strangers. But it felt like he was trying to make another dick joke at the same time.

Clay just shrugged and made some noncommittal noise before moving on again.

The next hour of travel was mercifully silent, I think some people would call it awkward. I never understood the term awkward silence, I quite enjoyed it. It made it easier to listen for incoming threats. I know Patches was usually doing his sonar thing, but I couldn’t rely on him alone, and assuming he was always listening was about as dangerous as poking that beehive with a stick… What…

“Clay, I am NOT going to help you when those bees come out and attack you!” I warned as loudly as I could. Patches actually took a few steps back this time, Daisy and Bryon had both tensed up and looked ready to bolt away.

“Nah I think it’s empty,” Clay said, giving it a solid smack. If anything, this could count as the ninth delay.

…

“Nothing! See? Totally devoid of flying stinging insects!” He turned around with a smile. “Let’s see if there’s anything inside!” He whirled back around and smacked the stem connecting the hive to the branch with considerable force. It didn’t budge.

“Looks like it’s stuck on that branch pretty good!” Patches noted as he walked over, pulling a knife from his belt. He sawed the hive off the branch and set it on the ground. “Eh, we might get lucky,” he muttered as he chopped the hive open. The inside was completely bare, just a few strands of the material the bees used to make the hive.

“Damn,” Clay muttered. “No such luck,” he said as he pushed his glasses up his muzzle slightly. They had nearly fallen off when he looked down.

“Whelp, that’s that I guess,” Patches said as he rose and resumed blazing a trail through the forest. It seemed like even Patches was growing tired of the delays, he was cracking fewer jokes about them.

I grabbed Clay and pulled him aside for a moment. “Clay, I want you to please listen to me for just a moment and do your best to fully understand and do what I am about to say, alright?” I asked quietly.

He gulped and nodded, his entire body had tensed when I grabbed him.

“Please, just focus on getting to the town. If we keep stopping like this it’s gonna take three, four, or maybe even five days to get to that town instead of two. Do you understand what I’m asking you to do?” I asked him, my voice barely above a whisper.

He nodded.

“I don’t want a nod Clay. I want to know you understand what I’m asking,” I hissed.

“I-I understand,” he stammered, seeming to get more and more nervous by the second.

I felt myself sigh. “No… Argh... I’m asking you to do something, what am I asking of you?” I clarified. “I need to know you are listening and you understand.”

He nodded again. “Yeah you want me to not stop a bunch right?”

“Exactly, now let’s go catch up with them,” I said as I released his arm and quickened my pace to catch up with the rest of the group. Hopefully that got through to him.

It seemed like it, well that is until we decided to have lunch. I was just snacking on the move, Patches was too… At least I think he was… Do pinecones count as snacks? He ate five or six of them. That oddity aside, when Clay decided he was ready to stop and eat, he did. There was no moving him again.

“Can we just carry him or something?” Patches asked.

“No Patches,” I responded.

“I got some rope! We can just bind him an-”

“NO Patches!”

He let out a huff and sat, producing a few carrots from the garden we raided. “Friggin’ sittin’ ‘n eatin’ ‘n not movin’ ‘n shit,” he grumbled as he devoured the vegetables.

Clay just seemed to be slipping into that oblivious place again, as he ate he just stared off into space. He didn’t seem to be looking at anything in particular, his expression was just vacant. I did my best to ignore him as I had another snack of my own, just enough to keep myself full a short while.

As we got moving again I found myself wondering if Clay had only pretended to understand what I meant and just parroted me, or if he simply didn’t care. I’m not sure which possibility scared me more, could he really be that dense? Or was he some kind of sociopath? Maybe he just thought I had no authority over him? I was starting to think he couldn’t get any worse, then his paranoia struck again…

“There it is! I told you! SEE?!” He hopped up and down like he was standing on burning coals. His lunch was discarded and forgotten. The object of offense happened to be a rock. It had a few distinctive lumps but was otherwise fairly smooth, like it had spent some time in a river but not enough time to round out completely. With a flick of my ears I noticed the sound of a river nearby, maybe two hundred meters or so through the trees so this rock hadn’t come far. It had an odd reddish hue that many of the rocks here lacked but I didn’t think it was something to get this worked up over.

I remember him mentioning a rock of Tartarus that was red and lumpy after we encountered the first one while he was searching for his glasses. He mentioned something about it being part of a curse of bad luck, considering everything that had happened today I was at least partially convinced.

“It’s the second rock of Tartarus! If we encounter the third rock of Death one of us will die!” He screeched as he dropped to his knees and threw his hands into the air. “CURSE YOU ROCKS!!!” His voice echoed through the forest for several seconds.

“Ok, I’m gonna squish him now,” Patches said as he walked up to the keeling pony and raised a hoof.

“Damn it Patches don’t!” I shouted as I strode over with a hand raised.

“Alex he just rang the dinner bell for any vamp within ten square miles!” We won’t need a damned rock of Death to lose someone as long as this asshole is around!” He thankfully planted his hoof back on the ground and pointed a hand at Clay.

“We have to wait until tomorrow to travel again or one of us will die!” Clay exclaimed as he rose.

“Bullshit!” Patches spat as he turned to stare the Earth pony down. It didn’t work this time.

“That’s part of the curse! If you see the first rock of Tartarus it curses you with bad luck! If you see the second one things will get even worse! If we don’t make camp and put the rock in our campfire to heat it as an offering, the third rock of Death will appear and take one of us for failing to make a proper offering!” He exclaimed, refusing to back down with the giant Pegasus looming over him.

“That’s gotta be a bigger load of shit than an overused minotaur outhouse!” Patches bellowed, throwing his arms out.

“Clay, what happens if we do see the third rock of Death? How many of us die?” I asked.

“You don’t seriously believe him do you?!” Patches exclaimed.

“Considering the strange things we’ve both encountered I’m actually surprised you DON’T believe him,” I responded.

“Look Alex, I’ve traveled the world. I’ve seen weird witchcraft, hexes, curses, omens, and weird pieces of paper that make it impossible to move. I’ve seen demons, mutants, monsters, ghosts, skinwalkers and all other sorts of fucked up stuff. I’ve fucked damn near every sentient race on this planet and learned a great many things from damn near every culture on this planet. BUT ROCKS?! NO! I draw the line at cursed rocks!” He shook his head and sighed.

Clay looked at me and pushed his glasses up again. “The rock of Death will claim just one of us. If we split our group up it will claim one person from each group,” he explained.

I spotted Patches about to interrupt him again and held up a hand. “So it’s GOING to happen if we keep traveling? There’s no chance of avoiding the rock of Death?” I clarified.

“Correct, it’s possible to encounter the first rock of Tartarus and not encounter the third rock of Death, but since we’ve encountered the second rock of Tartarus we WILL encounter the third rock of Death,” he said.

“Can we split into a group of four and one? If you are seriously buying into this you can all stay back here and toss that damned thing into the fire and I’ll scout ahead and try to blaze a trail to speed us up tomorrow to make up for all this lost time,” Patches said as he crossed his arms over his chest. “I feel like there’s some serious citation needed on this so-called curse. Besides, if we were cursed, there’d be some residual magic in the atmosphere and I can’t feel any of it,” he said as his wings twitched and ruffled up.

Clay spun and looked up at Patches. “If we split up and you leave you’ll die! I know you’re kind of a jerk but I don’t want you to die!”

I suppressed a snicker at the jerk comment.

“I’ll take my chances, if that rock comes after me I’ll just fly away or something,” Patches said with a shrug.

“You can’t escape from it!” Clay exclaimed, getting more worked up by the second. “If you see it you’ll be marked for death! It might not happen right away but it WILL happen!”

“Eh we all die eventually,” Patches said with a shrug. “Besides, I can’t die yet, I have a mission to accomplish!” He puffed his chest out with pride. “I have to get that guy to Canterlot!” He said as he pointed at me.

Clay let out a concerned grumble. “I’m not sure but I think we can start a fire to dispel the curse before you leave and it might reduce the chance of encountering the rock,” he trailed off as he thought. “I wish I had the book with the rest of the details… But I wouldn’t chance it if I were you!” He pointed at Patches, his finger mere inches from his nose. “You would really risk your life over one day’s time?!”

“Yes,” Patches replied simply as he turned and strode away into the forest. “Better start that fire fellas! That rock might get angry!” He wasn’t kidding about blazing a trail, he started knocking trees over and uprooting plants in his way, leaving nothing but churned dirt in his wake. He could be a veritable engine of destruction when he put his mind to it.

Clay scrambled to gather some sticks and stack them into a small pile. “Hurry! We have to get a fire started before he gets too far away or he’ll die!”

“Clay, this is NOT what I meant when I said we needed to minimize delays. You do realize how fast Patches is gonna push us tomorrow right?” I asked as I helped him gather wood and searched for my firestarters in my pack. “Even if we do make up for lost time and progress it’s going to take at least three days to get there now.”

“I know, I’m sorry but we can’t keep traveling or one of us will die! You remember seeing the first rock this morning right? It’s been nothing but bad luck since then!” He claimed as we got the fire started.

“Yes I saw it, but I wouldn’t call all of our delays just bad luck,” I said as I strode over to the rock and squatted. “What exactly did you do before the outbreak?” I asked as I picked up the cursed rock. I felt strange while holding it, chills crept up my spine and an unprompted sense of dread filled me as I held it. Maybe there was something to this curse after all…

“Oh, I studied obscure curses, geology, and history. I wanted to teach a combination of them in Canterlot’s Magic University!” He said as he rose from the slowly growing fire.

I set the rock down quickly, I wanted to get away from it. Why the fuck was I afraid of a stupid little rock? “It isn’t easy to become an instructor there, you really think you had a shot? How would you teach a combination of everything?”

“I was actually one thesis, 46 lab hours, and a final certification away from meeting minimum requirements. The book I was working on publishing would have put me beyond their qualifications. Based on my interviews I was maybe two or three months away from being accepted,” he said with some pride as he puffed his chest out. “It isn’t that hard to teach all of it, most obscure curses have important events in history around them. So history comes with the territory of curses, you know, the curse’s origin, who came up with it, how it was use. Or if it’s a natural curse, who discovered it. Geology has many applications in the field of magic as well, magically charged crystals for example can be used to allow ponies who can’t use certain magic or spells to actually do them!”

“Well, that’s pretty impressive,” I said with a nod as I watched the fire.

“Thanks! I just hope we were quick enough with the fire to save your friend,” he said worriedly as he sat by the fire and watched the rock. “Were you some kind of soldier before this all happened? Your armor doesn’t look like the Royal Guard stuff and your accent doesn’t sound Canterlotian,” He commented. “Plus you walk around like someone replaced your spine with a steel rod.”

“You’d be right, I wasn’t a Royal Guard. I was part of the Elite Fighting Pegasi. You’re also right about me spending time away from Canterlot, didn’t realize it changed my accent that much,” I admitted as I sat down as well. Daisy and Bryon were setting up a small rain shelter, ever since the collapse of society weather was much more unpredictable and it paid to be prepared. “My posture is a result of where I grew up, everyone was expected to be presentable and proper all the time.”

“Your special talent have something to do with fighting or did you just choose that life?” He asked, leaning a bit closer to me. His magnified eyes looking more and more alien.

I held my ground when I responded. “Yes, something along the lines of fighting. But I chose the life before I knew what it was,” I narrowed my eyes at him. “There something on my face or do you normally just do that?”

He leaned back a bit. “Oh sorry, I didn’t notice I was doing that,” he paused and looked at the fire. “You just seem familiar is all,” he muttered.

“I did a fair bit of traveling before I got sent to the border of the Changeling Dessert,” I commented. “I met a lot of people who I don’t remember so you might have seen me before.”

“Hmm, maybe,” he said with a nod. His brow furrowing as he seemed lost in thought. He stared almost angrily at the rock, like it was hiding answers from him. “I feel like I’m forgetting something extremely important about the curse of these rocks but it just… Agh,” he shook his head in frustration. “It keeps eluding me, and it’s extremely important!”

“Hey calm down Clay, if it really is important you’ll remember it,” I tried to console him, wasn’t sure if it worked though.

Daisy sat next to me and smiled, then got a strange look on her face. “Oh, dear,” she scooted away a little and chuckled. “You need to wash yourself Alex,” she said with another giggle as she shook her head.

After a little thought I realized it had been awhile since I had bathed. I was sleeping in my armor every time I laid down to rest and the clothes beneath the plates were probably getting pretty nasty. I let out a groan as the realization came to me. I had been so caught up in the day-to-day of avoiding vamps and taking care of the addicts I had forgotten bathing completely. Plus the smell in the nest really didn’t help anyone realize how bad they smelled.

“Yeah, I’m gonna head to the river nearby… That’s not gonna be too far away is it?” I asked looking back at Clay.

He shook his head. “Nope! As long as you’re within oh… Say a mile of us and at least one of us is watching the rock burn we should be ok. But we do have to spend the night near it and it has to be on fire until the sun rises tomorrow. I do remember that much about breaking the curse,” he said with a nod.

“Alright then, I’m gonna go wash this stuff off,” I said with a sigh. I rose and retrieved the soap I found at the old fishing hut, the rag I used to scrub my armor with, a towel, and a spare set of clothes from my pack, then headed off to the river nearby.

I stopped a few feet from the riverside and removed my helmet with a little sigh as I heard a soft hoofstep behind me. I looked over my shoulder and caught the slightest bit of movement as someone hid behind a tree from me.

“Daisy?” I asked, fairly certain she had followed me.

“Yeah?” I heard her call back.

I groaned softly and looked at the ground, shaking my head a little. She was persistent, I’d give her that. I set my helmet down and continued taking pieces of my armor off. I’d been naked in front of several ponies before, the facilities we had back at the front left a lot to be desired. I wasn’t about to put a show on for her, but I wasn’t going to stand there and get nothing done either. By the time I got the last piece of armor off I definitely noticed the smell, Daisy wasn’t just trying to get me out here naked.

“Oh, okay you weren’t kidding,” I turned back toward the trees to see Daisy was much closer now, working her own dirty shirt off. “Whoa I didn’t invite you!” I said as I took a step back.

She threw her head back and laughed at my reaction. “Wow Alex! I didn’t realize I needed your permission to use the river! Have you claimed the whole thing as yours?” She teased with a giggle as she tossed her shirt aside. “You aren’t the only one who needs a wash,” she said with a wink.

She was right, by then everyone could have honestly used a good scrubbing. I looked away from her, feeling a little smile on my face. I worked my own clothes off before a thought came to mind. I turned to tell Daisy. “Hey-” Thwack!

She threw her pants at my face. I heard her run past me while my face was covered and by the time I had removed the obstruction and turned around she was already in the water.

“I beat you!” She said with a laugh and a triumphant pump of her fist. How were they in such good spirits all the time? Daisy, Bryon, and Patches were all just having the time of their lives while the world burned around them.

“I supposed you did,” I said as I scooped up as many pieces of my armor as I could carry and strode over to the side of the river. After I found a suitable rock to sit on I dropped the pieces off and went back for the rest. First things first, my armor needed to be cleaned and taken care of. Then I could take care of my clothes, finally I could clean myself. Gear first, the way it always had been.

I hummed an old post-battle tune passed down my family as I worked to clean my armor. It was designed to calm the mind after the stress of battle, and I was glad I had remembered it. It reminded me of home, I’d have to stop at Sanctuary at some point in time as well. It was a fortress, my family was definitely alright.

Daisy strode over through the waist-deep water and leaned on her side on one of the rocks to watch me. I looked up from my helmet for a moment at her and stopped humming, she was smiling at me and I noticed it falter a bit.

“Didja have to stop? I liked that little tune of yours, it was really pleasant,” she said as she settled a bit more on the rock. I unintentionally took in more of her physique. I didn’t mean to look, but she was trying pretty hard to get me to look at her. She had a runner’s physique, her muscles were toned and her body was lean. Then I saw a glint in her eyes, she saw me looking.

“Like what you see?” She asked as her short tail flicked.

I exhaled sharply and crossed one leg over the other, looking away from her and back at my helmet. Focus Alex. I could feel myself blushing as I scrubbed at a stain, thank the Sisters for fur. In my peripherals I could see her leaning over to try to see past my legs. Her eyes widened slightly and she smiled as she spotted my stiffening member.

“You know I never figured you for the bashful type,” she commented. “Glad to see you do have some drive,” she teased. “But seriously, you stomp around and put monsters to the sword on a daily basis! Why are you so against sex?” She paused for a moment and before I could respond she spoke again. “You’re not a virgin are you? Because if you’re saving yourself for someone I understand.”

It was my turn to chuckle a bit. “No, I’m not a virgin,” I admitted. “Nor am I saving myself for anyone,” I said as I set my cleaned helmet aside and looked at her. “I don’t have anything against sex either, it’s just,” I shrugged a little.

Her arms were crossed and her head was tilted slightly, her brow was drawn down slightly as she thought. “The only other reason I can think of that would cause that much of a lack of confidence is…” She put a hand to her chin and tapped her cheekbone as she looked at me, her smile widening further as her eyes narrowed. “You haven’t had sex in like a month or something crazy like that… Am I right?” She asked as she grinned.

“Uhhh, been a bit longer than that,” I admitted, trying to stay calm. I could feel myself getting more nervous under her scrutinizing gaze.

“Don’t tell me it’s been a year or something crazy like that,” she straightened up, giving me a slightly worried look.

“Try three,” I said with a nervous chuckle.

Her jaw dropped open. “No way, you’re serious aren’t you?”

I nodded slowly, wanting to just get back to my work.

“No wonder you’re in such a bad mood all the time!” She exclaimed, an incredulous look on her face. “You need to work that stress off or you’re just gonna snap Alex!”

“Can I just get back to this?” I asked, holding up the next piece of armor. I really wanted her off the subject.

“Worried you won’t be able to perform?” She teased. “Seriously, you’re not getting that confidence back without some practice. And you could really do without a bunch of that tension,” she said, putting that teasing tone away.

“You’re not going to let this go are you?” I asked, looking down at the shoulder pauldron as I started scrubbing it.

“Definitely not now that I know how long it’s been for you!” I heard her moving a little closer. “Plus the way you keep dancing around the subject and trying to keep up that tough appearance.”

“Doesn’t it bother you that I’m practically a stranger? I mean you know Patches and Bryon, but you’ve only heard so much from me and known me for like two weeks,” I commented as I looked at her, I could feel my own expression hardening slightly.

She stopped her advance and tucked her chin in a little. “Really, Alex? You’re gonna throw that one out to try to stop me? You wouldn’t be the first stranger I slept with. Plus I feel like I know you pretty well! You told us your stories, answered dozens of questions about yourself, you even saved us from the vamps! I’d consider you a good friend!” She said with a smile that softened my own expression.

“Every time I come up with some reason not to-”

“I counter it?” She asked with a smirk. “It’s because you honestly don’t have a good reason not to. It’s feels good, it’s fun, it gets rid of the massive amounts of stress we’re subjected to every single day, that release of stress will help you keep your head too, and best of all it can kill time when you’d normally be sitting on your ass twiddling your thumbs,” she said leaning in closer to me.

“What if you got-”

“Pregnant? Don’t worry about that Alex,” she said with a dismissive wave. “I can’t have fawns, found out awhile back, dealt with it. In hindsight it’s a bit of a blessing, I’d have a three year old to look out for right now if I could,” she said turning slightly, still smiling at me. I was running out of excuses… “Any more last-ditch efforts or reasons you can’t do the deed?”

“Actually, yes,” I said with a genuine smile as an extremely important reason came to mind.

“Well, let’s hear it so I can shoot it down too,” she challenged, her smirk only growing.

I held up the piece of armor and wiggled it. “Gear and chores first, fun second,” I said triumphantly.

“Is that a yes?” She asked.

“It’s a gear first fun second,” I repeated.

“Are you really gonna make me sit here and watch you clean your armor and wash your clothes?!” She asked with a laugh.

“I’m not going to make you do anything,” I said as I looked up in thought. “But it’ll get done faster if you help,” I said with a smile, looking back at her.

She quickly grabbed a rag and climbed onto the rock to sit next to me. “Scooch over,” she said whilst snapping the rag at my face.

“Aaaah,” I mock screamed as I moved to make space for her. “Tactical withdrawal!” I said with a chuckle as she sat.

She picked up the other shoulder pauldron and hefted it. “Ooof, how do you move in this stuff?”

“Just got used to it I guess,” I answered.

“Kind of like the way you got used to not having sex?” She teased as she elbowed my ribs. “Dang, feels like I’m poking another rock, you really are tense!” She reached over and poked my side again, then felt my wing. “Ok that’s nice and soft,” she said as she ran her hand along the inside.

My wings flared out at the touch, that felt really good…

Daisy leaned back and laughed. “Not used to people touching your wings?! You fight with em all the time! Then I give them a little stroke and poof?! Just like that?!” She rocked back and forth and snickered at me.

I just chuckled and shook my head as I resumed cleaning.

After Daisy caught her breath and got back to scrubbing the pauldron we sat in silence for a few moments, just listening to the river as we scrubbed.

“Hey Alex?” She stopped as she asked her question.

“Yes?” I responded.

“Can you hum that tune again?”

“Certainly.”

Author's Note

I'll bet you all were expecting an actual sex scene with the way Daisy and Alex were talking! Well you know what they say, good things come to those who wait!

-Jake