Dark Crow Rising

Keeping my flustered face locked on the building ahead, I try to ignore the moist, towelled beauties walking out of it, "This will take some time getting used to..."

Feeling a lapse in the Ivy-Mother's grip, I walk away, towards the far edge of the building. Running a hand on the smoothly fitted wood, I knock my backhand on some of the decorative metal plating it has. Moving further along, I reach the edge of the largest body of water I have ever seen. I've heard of the great pools on Tobaballe's highest floors, but, this has to be even greater than them.

Even the one likely in the Crown!

I've never seen so much water before, only a fraction of it is contained by this building and its facilities. Even then, the amount the building has in its grasp is quite impressive. The edge of the main body is fairly shallow, it looks like it would go up to about my lowest ribs. The further I look, though, the darker it gets and many needle-legs are enjoying just diving into the dark blue depths.

A hand takes mine and turns me around and I end up looking the Ivy-Mother in the eye, "You seem to be quite impressed. Does our craftsmanship please you?"

Hearing her words, I look towards the building as my wrapped hand feels the rock wall around the water. Oddly, I can feel the rock. It feels spongey. Strange, but not mind occupying.

"We put this all up in less than a week, you know?" she informs me with a prideful smile. My eyes widen and I look back at how decorative and seemingly finely built it is.

"That's impressive." I let out as I nod at the craftsmanship. Though, I am not familiar with woodworking in the slightest. I am, however, quite jealous of the metal components, there's no way they just had all this lying around. Whoever made these plates and fitted them is quite good at their job.

Outstanding work.

Maybe I could ask for their help, if I ever get home, I can put that knowledge to use... Perhaps move up a dozen floors...

"The amount of water here is more amazing, though... So much of it, all clean and..." I start to explain before the Ivy-Mother splashes a handful of it at my open mouth.

Smacking my lips a bit, I pick up on the natural, crisp sweetness of the water, "Well, at least I won't go thirsty in your flower with this... Whatever, to drink from..."

"Lake." the Ivy-Mother answers.

"Lake, huh." I repeat as my lefthand swirls about the cool, refreshing water. A fish comes into view and its silvery scales sparkle in the clear blue. Popping its backfin above the water, it swims by and then splashes us as it speeds away. It leaves behind a lightly foamed trail and an evergrowing 'v.'

The Ivy-Mother giggles as my face drips with water.

"Champion, if I may, there is quite a bit of adorable ignorance with you." she comments as she lets go of my arm to go and sit down on the rocks. Glancing once, I keep my eyes on the water as her tail gently whips at it. Ripples ring away from her and I catch a glance of her legs crossing as well.

I turn away from the water and nearly jump at the crowd that had followed us upon seeing it.

"There are a few things I don't know about because I was never entitled to them. I still am not..." I explain as someone in the distance plays with some kind of ringing metal instrument. The Ivy-Mother, basking in the stares of the crowd, gets down and walks around me intentionally. I briefly follow her bouncing hips and the load they bear. As it was back in the tent, a bit of moisture has added a strange allure to her already flawless skin.

I gulp as my face heats up once again and she reaches for my closest hand, "Much as I enjoy the benefits cold water has..."

She closes up to me.

"...Such as stiffer nipples." she whispers with a lick of her lips.

"Yes!" I blurt loudly, eliciting another giggle.

"Or, we can head inside so that it is easier to clean you up. And you are filthy everywhere..." She gently laughs against me as her hands test my defences. Warding her off, I watch her lowered eyelids as she starts to guide me into the building. I gulp as we pass by an exiting group of wet needle-legs with nought but towels on them. Spotting me, many of them lick their lips and flash their soft cocoons open.

With several pairs of Aahtha's bounty in front of me, down south is screaming just as my mind is!

The laughter of naked women surrounds me and steam starts to cling to me. As if I am walking into something invisble, resistance forms in the air as we get closer to the building's entrance. I feel a lot more aware of all the filth on me now. It feels heavy and it is only getting heavier as it darkens with moisture.

My grip on my crotch protection tightens and the Ivy-Mother's tail lashes out at it. She plays up her innocence even as a familiar tint of mischievousness shines in her eyes. I try to ignore her and instead focus on the way the building is venting steam from all of its orifices. But, then, hot air comes directly onto my face.

"Can we just get into the warm water, please?" I ask as her immediate presence performs a better task of heating me up than the steam.

"Of course, Champion. I will even find a quiet corner for all three of us..." she explains and I stop myself from looking around as she grins at me. Glaring at her does nothing and she just keeps it up. I whine on the inside as I just want to get cleaned up. But, like her, I need to get ready for this upcoming adventure.

Voices giggle around me and voices yell inside my head. Voices of all kinds, all mine and 'Go get her!,' they scream. The boys are trying to drive me towards her obvious hospitality. I gulp again as I try to stick close to the walls of the building.

My nose erratically blasts embarrassed air out and I hide my right arm...

Stepping into the building fully, my dirty feet stain the wet tiles with dark, brown footprints. However, the Ivy-Mother just taps across it without issue, though, she sticks to the gaps between tiles. Walking after her, she seems to slip against me, but I am suspecting it is no accident. Whatever her reasons, however, she is enjoying the fact she gets to lean against me.

Taking advantage of some of the smoothly bumped tiles, I try to wipe my feet on them. Looking up, I spot what appears to be the staff of this place and I immediately look up at the lit-up ceiling. Everyone that is wearing fabric is completely soaked by the moisture in the air. It's clinging to them with see-through delight, ready to be peeled off by anyone courageous enough.

The bulbs on their head light up and the Ivy-Mother delights in whatever it means. Hers light back up at them and they giggle at me jealously as we walk by. My eyes land on a sign that I cannot read and I listen to the laughter coming from beyond the entrance. Reacting as most men would, my eyes widen as memories of a time long gone come to mind.

Teenage years.

All the attempts to sneak a peek in the girls changing rooms, their public baths...

"To think how difficult it would be to explain how the reality is..." I mutter to myself, almost hissing as my legs grow weak. But, the Ivy-Mother's insistence pulls us through and she lets go as her tail wags. Staring about the chamber I now find myself in, I blink at how much work has been done in here as well. A week at most to do all this...

"Champion, come, please sit." the Ivy-Mother encourages as she gets down onto her knees. Using her arms to push her chest together, she eagerly awaits me as I gulp again. With a slight, unwanted spring in my step, I walk towards her as she prepares a stool. I have nowhere to lock my eyes on, there are naked women everywhere!

Why couldn't these needle-legs be ugly...?

"No... That would be worse." I shiver at my recent thought as I reach the stool. Placing herself against me, she guides me down onto it and she rests her head on my shoulder.

"As much as we'd allow you your rest. Let me help you clean up. There is a lot that needs a firm, focused hand." she explains rather seriously in contrast to everything up until now. I focus on the somehow unsteamed mirror ahead and frown at it. How am I going to occupy my mind with artistic masterpieces like this? It's clear, clean glass!

I am disappointed...

Feeling a hand touch my back and draw down it, I tighten the grip on my crotch-protecting cloth. I straighten my lips and look over my shoulder and meet the smile on her face head-on. One of her hands turns my head back around and she starts to pat my body. Or stroke it.

"Perhaps a massage? You seem to be quite tense at the moment, Champion." she offers as she slides her chest up along my back, resting it on either side of my head. My ears are pressed down as she knowingly pushes this soft grip on me.

"I wonder why..." I struggle to say as she breaks her grip, laughing sweetly at me.

She whispers some kind of song into my ear and tickles it with her breath.

"There we are, clean and strong." she lusts for as the cloth she uses to wipe my back down keeps getting wetter, somehow. Though, she is not just wiping my back down with that flannel... I try to distract myself from it by picking up a cloth to wipe my front down with. I squeeze it and look at the white sapphire threads as they glow, producing a bit of soapy water.

I scrub diligently and wash each layer of bubbles away. I am not having her come around here. No... Most certainly not...

"Not with you..." I mouth at my crotch as it practically riots away in its prison. However well I have cleaned my thighs, it is enough. I deny her every opportunity to get around here. Though, this doesn't stop her from gasping gently as something thick and viscous starts to leak onto me.

Curiously, I can trace the sensation to her chest, like a pair of ball-point pens...

"What are you putting on me?" I ask her as my confusion grows. Looking back slightly I spot her reddening face and I look back at the mirror. With shaken confidence, she continues to wash my back. More of the strange liquid spills out onto me and she starts to get somewhat aggressive with her efforts.

I watch as she hesitates to answer, her reflection is increasingly bashful and she hides her face slightly...

"My deepest apologies, Champion... B-But I seem to be leaking honey onto your back... Defeats the point of trying to clean you, doesn't it?" she tries to laugh off at the end.

But, I can't help but think of the camp for some reason. The last meal I shared with the four of them. Me, Vapooliar, Vadei, Heiya and her father, we had meat with honey... Honey.

This word is quite the mind-halter.

"I ate a meal with honey not that long ago..." I tell her loudly and in the corners of my eyes, I see quite a few surprised reactions happen. The woman behind me freezes up halfway through wiping my back down. I glance at her red cheeks through the mirror as they shade themselves to match her petal-shaped hair.

"Did you?" the Ivy-Mother asks as my mind feels like it was suddenly dropped from the Crown. Splattering across the rugged, stone floor of the ground floor.

Heiya fed us needle-leg lactation that day... Oddly, I can't find the willingness to gag. My mouth waters slightly and makes a wet smack. I frown.

"W-Well, it was probably from an insect or something!" the Ivy-Mother explains with an embarrassed blurt.

"Do you not use your honey in food, then?" I ask as I turn around slightly. More so surprised to hear that there are multiple ways to make honey.

"Only a mother with her freshly-sprouted child produces honey one can eat... For them alone. Normally it's an aphrodisiac. Though, who knows where curiosity leads some of us." she stammers to explain as I slowly nod.

Hmm, I wonder...

"I don't remember getting excited back then when I ate it... A lot. Does heat damage its potency?" I ask as I start to recall rumours of the kind of stuff the higher floors used. Many things up there that we on the lower floors never got the slightest drop of.

"Not that I recall... In fact, I distinctly remember speaking to another ivy-mother from a fellow Ahnelges flower. She explains how she likes to... Fill and boil a pan of her personal supply... In order to see which of her flower's males are the boldest." she explains with a flushed, but distant tone. She is certainly thinking something up, but it's hard to tell where her mind is. Her grip isn't teasing me, it seems to be elsewhere with her mind.

Her expression suddenly and literally lights up and she turns away from me.

"So other things make honey?" I decide to ask so I can at least try not to look at future meals with it as something to get me going.

"Obviously, did you think that only the bosoms of my kind can make such sweet treats?" she asks as her more familiar attitude returns.

I roll my left hand at her as I refrain from being sarcastic with her.

"Some insects make it as well, often bees. Theirs behaves quite differently than ours, however, as it is sweeter. Though... I am now immediately regretting my words, because if you prefer sweet things..." she explains then lustfully suggests as she covers up her chest with a towel. She returns to washing my back as I go back to washing my front. Keeping my back clear of further spills, she seems to finish up with my backside.

"I'll go ahead now." I tell her as I quickly get back up. Then, scooting away, I keep my crotch away from her as she keeps to her knees. Pouting my way, she seems to get playfully angry.

"Will you not help me, Self-Centred Champion?" she teases as I keep on leaving. I shrug at her and walk around the wall. Sighing and groaning, I take the quiet moment on my own and enjoy it. Then, I step through the exit and partially emerge outside.

"Huh, so I could've washed myself outside, then come inside over the wall?" I realise as I glance out at the open view this place has. The water doesn't seem to be as hot as it was indoors, but, it's a wide, open pool now. A place I can just sit and rest in, supposing I can find a spot. A quiet spot, however, might be a challenge.

Everyone's already looking at me...