Chương 39: (Rewritten) Ch. 39 - Leah Likes

Ch. 39 - Leah Likes Modern-day humanity is extremely starved of physical contact, with a large variety of consequences. It began roughly with the advent of the internet, and has only become more extreme as our digital technology advanced. How is it possible for an entire species to starve themselves of something so vital and proven necessary for life… voluntarily?

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Leah nuzzled deeper between Tinea's antennae and allowed herself to relax as she was half supported by the smaller woman, and half held up by the tree behind her. It was time to second-guess herself a little. There was absolutely no doubt in Leah's mind that she liked Tinea an awful lot. Her easy presence, the softness and warmth, her willingness to provide freely was… arresting.

Even that strange, extreme degree of openness didn't feel like it came with overbearing expectations, probably because Tinea wasn't shy with it. She'd left no hidden catch in her words, no sneaky bullshit. It didn't help (or, maybe, it helped too much) that Tinea was also rather ridiculously cute—suspiciously so. Leah had a feeling that the girl's level of physical beauty and sheer adorableness wasn't by accident.

It wasn't so doll-shape perfect that it appeared unnatural, but Leah was pretty sure that intentions and high beauty standards had gone into the design of Tinea's body. So, yeah. Leah was hella in trouble. She needed to know, to understand, how much of her attraction was born from the situation they were in, that she'd been rescued from by the object of her growing affection, how much of it was about how well she actually knew Tinea, and whether she'd still like Tinea as she got to know her better?

Could she commit, as it stood? What if she found out she couldn't? Leah didn't doubt that Tinea would return her feelings with scorching intensity, which… might cause her pretty severe damage if Leah found out she needed to end things, no matter how much Tinea claimed emotional stability. But then, nothing she'd seen so far made her think that she would end up liking Tinea less, the longer she knew her. It didn't feel like the adorable rescuer would behave in questionable ways around the littles.

And even if there was a problem, Tinea had shown enough self-awareness that she'd be able to sort out issues without them turning into petty, soul-leeching messes. So… where to go from here? Dive in head-first? Fall in love? That didn't quite feel right either, but was that just healthy caution, or a deeper reticence that had nothing to do with the duties Leah ascribed herself? Which is it? Well, why'd she decide to wait until she saw how Tinea behaved around those under her power that weren't adult, anyway?

She'd wanted to make sure that no bad person would enter the children's lives by her hand. Her job was to be a protector, a caretaker, and a teacher. She and her colleagues worked as one, and they all understood how difficult it was to keep foreign… interests away from the littles. Foreign interests. A flash of rage went through Leah at the thought of the kidnappers approaching any of the children, hot blood clenching her fists and grinding her teeth.

She forced herself to breathe deeply, to step back from that picture. It wasn't of any use, right now. Responsibilities. Yeah. Being careful about who she gave herself to, that was perfectly reasonable. Mandatory, even. Ah. She hadn't yet figured out how she was already so sure that Tinea wasn't dangerous in that sense. Hmm. There was something there. Like her subconscious already knew something that she didn't consciously see. What was it? Tinea…

Hadn't tried to convince her otherwise, at all, when Leah said she wanted to wait until she saw how the woman behaved around children. That meant something. It told her that Tinea had been fully aware of the power dynamics introduced by their circumstances, and that even if she could have provided a reasonable and correct explanation as to the unnecessity of Leah's caution, doing so would have been the opposite of letting Leah figure it out herself, and thereby introduced more imbalance between them.

Then there was all the other stuff, like how naturally Tinea invaded Leah's personal space without making it… cringe. This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. But did Leah's own desire to be with Tinea blind her to actual issues and highlight only what she wanted to notice, or did she see true? Okay, that's the real question to answer, isn't it? And… yeah. It wasn't one she should answer herself, by herself, even if she probably could.

She needed a third opinion. That was the real responsibility she had as a caretaker. So. For the moment, no change. Leah wouldn't shy away from the closeness they both so enjoyed and—she couldn't kid herself—which she desperately needed. But she would not allow herself to go further, either. Not yet. Soft fuzz tickling her underneath her jaw distracted her moments later with a shiver.

I wrinkled my nose. Leah's Sleeve was taking care of her hygiene where it covered her, but the same was obviously not true for her hair, or even the upper half of her throat and neck. I figured she hadn't had a chance to actually wash properly for at least a week now, and honestly? It smelled like it. I remotely commanded the Sleeve's neck to open up at the front down to the collarbones, and spun a sheet of silk across Leah's throat. Ahem. As…

delicious as Leah's shiver against my tail was, I still needed to focus on the weaving. Finished, I took the silken rag in hand, and carefully rubbed her down underneath her ears and jaw, wiping away a layer of grimy sweat until the silk was smeared black with dirt and dust. Leah sighed slightly at my gentle touches, looked down at me with a grin while the top half of the Sleeve unfurled itself from her torso and left her bare all the way down to her navel.

It was a little surreal, seeing functional arms and hands 'float' away from the shoulders like that. I dutifully took my antennae into both hands before my puppies could sniff at her puppies, and wove a big ball of soft, fluffy silk, which I let drop into her presented palms. Leah giggled as the tips of my antennae still wiggled in her direction while she rubbed herself down, making me grin too.

With a nudge, I had her turn around, and repeated the process on her back, where I noticed she had a slight rash on one shoulder blade.

"Leah, is the Sleeve uncomfy, somehow? Your skin's complaining, here." I asked, lightly touching the spot. Leah seemed surprised as she tried to look at the spot, so I sent her a video stream of my own vision.

"Uh, no. That's just a…stress reaction. I haven't had that since late childhood. I guess I shouldn't be surprised it's back…" Ah. Yeah, that made sense, considering how things had gone for her… I gave her a tight hug from behind and asked, "Want me to weave something like a shirt for you? Uh, a top, rather, 'cause of the synaptic connection at the lower spine."

"Sure!" I smiled at her enthusiasm, and got to it. This project was a little more difficult, because unlike myself, Leah couldn't just change her skin to let sticky silk fall off. I couldn't glue it to her, so I had to experiment a little to find a proper way of doing it, and really, the only reason I was willing to do it at all was because I could spin silk so quickly.

In seconds, I created several strips that curved around her throat as the neckline, around her ribcage as the bottom hem, and around her shoulders, like spaghetti straps, forming a frame that let me see how the thing would hang across her body. Next, I filled in the panels, slightly adjusting tension here and there, until it looked like Leah was wearing a skin-tight, fuzzy tank top that stopped a few centimeters beneath her breasts. It was as ragged as my own shift, but still really soft and nice to touch.

What do you even call this thing? A sports bra? I wondered, but… I had no fucking clue. I'd have to study up. Maybe Leah would enjoy teaching me? She cooed at my work and adjusted it slightly here and there, obviously charmed by the fuzzy texture. Then I took complete advantage and buried my face in Leah's welcoming cleavage. Yup. That's the life. Leah's giggling vibrated me a little, and I felt her hand stroke down my hair. I liked that. I really, really liked that.

It made me look forward to the day that she'd have a better prosthetic, for better stroking. Uh. Bad Tinea. After a few moments, I let go, and got another good look at how everything was seated, for a final few adjustments. I was no seamstress, and even with my ability to just weave something out of thin air, it was obvious that the top wasn't tailored professionally. But it did well enough, I thought. Leah too, got back to business.

"Tinea, I'm done with my calls, for now. My people are safe, and they were aware that I… was disappeared, from damage to my door. It seems not every one of our kidnappers was skilled enough to avoid leaving traces."

"Oh, that's very good news. Especially since they could've just hacked the door and opened it without touching it at all, right?"

"Not quite, I also have a mechanical lock. Just a simple steel bar, but that's where they caused the damage. Maybe 'cause nobody's had to deal with anything non-electronic or magnetic for decades? We'll have to see if we can find anything else. My friends were smart enough not to disturb the place in any way."

"Awesome. Let's do that as soon as we get back. The kids?"

"Safe and well. They miss me though." Leah gave a slightly sad sigh, filled with bittersweet happiness.

"Aww." I squeezed her tightly and kissed her on the collarbone. Our symbol of shared emotions. It made me kind of giddy to have one. She hummed with satisfaction and straightened up.

"There's other stuff I had a think on, but let's talk about that when we have a little more time, alright?"

"Sure." I let go of her, and readied myself to move again after closing up her Sleeve for her. She could've done it herself, but her wry grin told me she liked having me zip her up anyway. I highlighted a group of five model Threes roughly a minute's walk away, on a shared video feed, and then shifted a little further to a larger group of twenty aliens.

"We're starting to get enough points to accelerate the gain. I think once we've taken out these Threes, we'll have enough to upgrade properly for this big group."

"How many points have we made so far?" With a quick glance of my counter, I said, "We should have a combined one hundred and forty points, or so?" One hundred and forty-three, to be exact.

"Ah, thank you, Tynea. That's enough to get you a proper gun, Leah. If we kill those Threes in the first group, we'll be at roughly two hundred again, with the bonus. I think a hundred and fifty sounds reasonable, that'll leave us with a bit of a buffer."

"Hmm. Frankly, I need some sort of melee weapon, but I don't think that'll work with the Sleeve. Maybe something that's more automatic in nature?" She shook her head.

"That's starting to sound expensive… Gun first. But I'll still need something to defend me in close quarters soon, or you'll have to start carting me around when shit hits the fan." The mental imagery made me giggle. Tall Leah riding little me piggyback, with legs so long she was practically running herself.

"Yeah, I could, actually. But that kind of defeats our purpose here. We're trying to get stronger, not awkwarder." Leah snorted at my wordsmithing, but nodded.

"Let's do it. The Threes at least should be easy."

Yay, another illustration! This is Tinea, as imagined by EllamAtion_s. Her antennae are a little different, but that's okay, especially since her biomodding allows her to change their characteristics, if she wants to. So, it's actually kinda canon! Chronologically, this art is an amalgamation of two separate events. There's Tinea waking up and playing with her antennae to get used to them, and there's Leah's design of the emitter she has yet to gift Tinea.