Beyond The Star Sea

"Same, really, leave that stuff for the teenagers and young adult," said Arkay, standing up. "Anyway..."

"One thing you know is that, while my main duty is being your bodyguard, I do have... other skills," he said, making his way over to Carlie. "For example, I've picked up some pretty damn good massage skills over the years. Lots of my clients, as you might have guessed, are incredibly stressed and wound tight, so being able to help them physically loosen up tends to make my job a bit easier... stress does a number on one's body, after all."

Gently raising her hand, he placed a finger in her palm. Soon, she would notice a... vibration and warmth spreading from where he was touching. "Little trick I picked up from Senara years and years ago. She called it the... uh, purring fist. Basically, it causes vibrations, which, properly applied, feel awesome."

He laughed. "Hisako often splays down on my lap and demands backrubs, actually. And she's just too damn adorable to deny. And sometimes my sister, Nerine, does the same." Though in the latter case, things often got... uncomfortable.

"It's been a long day, even if we were having fun. Any soreness you need taken care of?" This was a genuine offer, of course, and he had no intention of trying to push his luck. They had, after all, only met yesterday.

...as a young man, that might have been long enough, but these days he preferred to take thing a bit more slowly. Mostly. If I woman were all over him, he certainly wouldn't deny her, barring complete disinterest on his part.

Carlie hadn't expected Arkay to be good with massages but thinking about it, that skill made perfect sense for someone in his line of work. It had been something she had considered learning herself but it had always slipped her mind behind her busy work schedule. She couldn't exactly use it on herself, but she could use it for example on Sumia and other friends if they ever needed it.

The touch and then sensation from Arkay through the 'purring fist' was odd, but pleasant. as it flowed through the rest of her. The only thing that caught her slightly off guard was the admission of Nerine, not in a negative way just slightly surprised. She didn't comment mentally about it further however.

At the offer, Carlie perked up at that. She can definitely use one of these.

"I could use some work on my back, its been kind of sore lately. Maybe it be more comfortable in my room?" She..wasn't trying to do anything honestly, just get comfortable for a proper work on.

Heh, awesome. Setting aside the sensual--and, yes, sexual--aspects of giving someone a massage, it was just something he enjoyed doing, since it made people feel a bit better. Never mind that it showed she'd developed a good measure of trust in him.

...of course, the fact that she'd hired him was enough of a sign of that.

"Hm, thought so," he said. Acorians were stronger than normal humans, yeah, but with how, ahem, gifted Carlie was in terms of her figure, back pain would still be an occasional concern. Never mind the other things that could cause that sort of pain. "Not to toot my own horn, but I've got a pretty keen eye, and considering that I couldn't keep my eyes off of you today, it's only natural that I'd notice."

Leading her to her room, a thought occurred to him once they were inside. "Usually I try to use oils for this, but I get the feeling what I have available wouldn't play nice with your fur. Wouldn't happen to have any Acorian-appropriate ones laying about, by any chance?"

If not, no biggie, he'd just make do with his bare hands.

Once the two got into her room, she sat on the bed's edge watching Arkay a bit as if studying them. It wasn't a stare, even if she would fully admit he was very attractive to her personally, but partially out of habit. In her profession, studying and reading people was just as much part of the job descrpition just as much as research to a particular story or connections were.

What was more important then what someone told you, was what their body said instead.

Her tail slightly swayed slowly back and forth; she didn't notice. "Front dresser, should see them right in front and they're hard to miss. I just might have to learn to repay the favor. You had a massage yourself?"

Arkay opened dressed and, as Carlie had said, there was indeed some oil. Picking it up, he examined it, both physically and psychically. From what he could pick up, it was definitely formulated a bit differently than the usual. Hm...

...actually, now that he thought about it, there was probably a killing to be made in Acorian hair-care products. Three-in-one conditioner/shampoo/body washes were probably especially popular and profitable.

Setting aside that stray thought, he went over to Carlie, noting that her tail was swaying back and forth. That... probably meant something, but he hadn't quite figured out Acorian-specific body language yet. Hopefully it meant something good.

"It's been a while, actually," he said, dabbing a drop or two of the oil onto his fingers, then rubbing them together and taking a sniff. The scent was... subtle, but distinct and pleasant. Considering their enhanced senses, smelling pleasant was probably even more important for Acorians than it was for humans. And it was pretty damn important for humans as is. "I can actually give myself a sort of telekinetic massage, but as I'm sure you can imagine, that lacks the... intimate quality a massage from someone else has. If you want, you can practice on me after your massage."

He dabbed more on his hands and rubbed it in. "Anyway, I'm sure you know the drill with these things, so once you're situated, I'll begin."

Practice on Arkay had a very, very strong appeal to Carlie and she be lying to say a good part of it was because she found him very attractive. She wasn't trying to get laid though, at least so soon but she felt if she had wanted to Arkay wouldn't have minded with the general impression he gave.

Plus Succubi or Incubus blood to be technical; there was definitely stuff going on behind the hood so to speak.

After a moment, she silently took her jacket off, pausing a bit. "Turn around for one second."

Once he had done so, or at least not looking she took off her shirt, leaving her in a red bra. Carlie wasn't vain but she did take some womanly pride in her looks, and if she said so she looked damned good even if she was getting older.

Carlie laid down onto her stomach, closing her eyes. "Done. Go ahead and work your magic fingers."

It was just to make the massage easier, but she admit being a slight tease was there, even if uninteitonal. She guess it was the fox part of her with mates.

Arkay turned around and silently took in the sights for a moment. And boy did he like the curvy profile he saw. From what he'd read on the 'net last night, curviness was apparently a very common feature of Acorian women. No one was really 100% sure why, but to him, the reasons didn't really matter.

...shit, he was getting distracted. He was here to give a massage, not get a boner.

Moving into position, Arkay got to work, gently (for the most part) massaging her back, using his mental powers to get a 'feel' for which spots needed the most attention, opting for a slightly more firm massage technique in those spots, in addition to the soothing vibration of the 'purring fist'. Of course, he did 'tease' her a bit, since he could also use his powers to get a feel for more... sensitive areas. His fingers never lingers overlong, but they did always seem to find and pass over such areas.

After a short while, he spoke up: "You really were a bit tense in places... how's it feel so far? I'm pretty good at finding alllll the right spots, yeah?"

It felt really damned good.

With Arkay's touch, she was almost feel herself drifting off due to the constant and gentle attention but she kept herself up. It also did almost cause the young woman to purr, but she stopped herself; she wasn't cat. Then again she also didn't particularly at this moment either.

"Hm, yes very much so.." Carlie said, somewhat sleepily. "Someone teach you or you self taught?"

Arkay continued his ministrations. "A woman named Celia taught me. She was, at the time, my lover. Magic fingers, that woman, though I suppose that's par for the course with succubi." He neglected to mention that Celia was the very woman that had introduced the succubus blood into the family. Ah, what had she been... his great grandmother times nine or something?

Didn't really matter. With that number of generations between them, they weren't any more related than complete strangers.

He chuckled. "I'd like to think I've gotten better since then. Maybe not in technique, but in learning how to integrate my powers into my massages to make them more pleasurable. There's not a whole lot of things I like more than making people I like feel good."

As he worked, he glanced at Carlie's tail, and a thought occurred to him. "...huh, now that I think about it, Acorians probably have tail-massage... uh, traditions, yeah? Might be a good thing to read up on, if I'm right..."

Or get some practice at. Truthfully, he had this really... really sudden urge to 'fluff' Carlie's tail, but he restrained himself. No matter how fluffy, soft, and appealing it was, and how unfamiliar he was of Acorian customs and mores, just doing that would definitely be a social faux pas.

If Arkay was this good with his fingers, a part of her couldn't help but think what else he could when or if they got intimate. She wasn't trying to rush into the sack with the man but she could freely admit she wouldn't mind finding out one day. That was getting slightly ahead of herself though, as she wasn't sure how things would turn out but so far so good.

"Mhm. You're not wrong. There is in fact things about tails. Different Acorians have, well, different little stuff about their tails. I guess pressure points is the thing? I remember reading about it and personal experience with friends being a thing.."

After a moment of being quite, and half way dozing, she had a question that had been on her mind. "So..how hard is it? I mean to have so much control over your powers all the time? You're so strong you could probably tip this station into a star, but yet you can do this with out hurting me. Or breaking stuff. How long did it take?"

Arkay was enjoying this. Yes, part of that was getting to be... hands-on with a very attractive woman, but it was mostly the satisfaction from her clear enjoyment. And it was clear that Carlie took care of herself. The fur made it hard to notice, but she quite athletic.

Nice.

"How long? Well, right from the beginning, I had a pretty good level of control over my powers, though I think that was Ramziel--that Archangel that used to be inside me--helping me in the background. Especially considering how fast my powers grew. When I first went to Arcadia, I could... maybe destroy a house at full-blast? Less than a year later, I'd grown to become a literal walking nuke, and yet I never really lost control..."

He paused for a moment to further think on the matter. "Still, I didn't really start to work on my precision until I came here, to Meus Carus. So I'd say... 'little over a decade to get this far? I've still got a long way to go, though...."

Yet another pause before he continued. "During my adventures as a student of Arcadia, I actually visited an alternate universe or timeline of my world. Met another version of myself who makes even my current self look like an amateur. In that world, the Earth was under siege by... hm, I think it was an entire alien race of... eldritch things with incredible psychic powers. However, it took them years to actually get *onto* Earth, because that alternate version of me was able to protect the entire planet with his powers, stalemating the combined might of the invaders for something like a decade. I've still got a long way to go until I'm that strong. Not that I'm unsatisfied with what I've got. That other me's life kind of sucked otherwise..."

"Hm... so, tail-massage okay?" He did want to just 'go for it', but he was being very careful not to overstep his bounds. It was odd... for women he didn't expect to have lengthy or deep associations with, he'd always escalate real damn quickly. With the inverse, he'd still move at a brisk pace compared to your average schlub, but he was considerably more... measured in his approach.

Carlie still couldn't wrap her head around people who could effect things on a planetary scale or even more . She knew about them for a while but it was still seemed like a foreign concept to her simply because of the pure scale of everything. Just being able to snuff out a city or a space station was a bit much in her mind.

The massage was so damned good though. It kind of distracted her from any further thoughts she may of had.

"Yeah, that's fine.."

The young woman had lulled into a more comfortable state at the moment. Enough in fact she had actually ended up dozing off to sleep without meaning to which left her in the interesting position she was now in. Luckily she wasn't shy.

Having been granted permission to touch Carlie's tail, Arkay gently grasped it. It was even better than he expected. Very soft, yet with a surprising... firmness to it. If he were a betting man, he'd have placed good odds on Carlie's previous lovers finding it to be an excellent makeshift pillow.

Don't bury your face in, don't bury your face in it...

...the feel of the tail gave rise to some very weird urges within him, so he distracted himself by trying to figure out how he was going to massage the tail through the fluff. Maybe...

Wait, her breathing...

Releasing the glorious fluff, he knelt over and found that... she had fallen asleep. Well, that was unfortunate. Not an uncommon reaction, and it meant his efforts had definitely relaxed her, but... hm. Probably best to just let her sleep.

He did, however, take a moment to admire the sight, though. Damn, what a bod... to say that he wanted to touch it more would be an understatement, and just this little massage had gotten him a bit... excited.

With no outlet.

Crap, that meant he'd have to just wait it out. Ah, what to do...

Hm...hm... well, Carlie would wake up eventually, and he was sure that Lina and Galan would eventually get hungry, so cooking up a meal for everyone sounded nice. Yeah, sounded like a plan.

After covering Carlie up, Arkay's form suddenly disappeared without so much as a peep, appearing in the kitchen. There, after taking stock of things, he got to making a meal for Carlie, and the others, when they came downstairs again.

Judging from the left-over salad, that friend of Carlie's, Lina, was probably a vegetarian... or at least had a strong preference for veggies. Considering her bovine nature, that made sense. For everyone else, he had more flexibility.

...heh, as weird as it sounded, despite his above-average power and skills, he really preferred the simple, down-to-earth things in life. More... domestic sorts of activities. Huge difference from his adrenaline junkie teenage years.

Galan woke up a bit tired but overall happy from the long love making session they had together. He of course had fantasies and dreams about it though he never thought it would happen like this; not that the young man was complaining. Lina was still asleep peacefully and he didn't want to rouse them, so he carefully got out of bed but kissed her forehead as he sneaked off.

First was a shower to get cleaned up, that and he heard people coming into the home so it likely must of been Arkay and Carlie. He wasn't exactly self conscious of what happened but he didn't need 'hey I had sex' all over him.

Once he finished getting cleaned up, he headed into the kitchen trying to act as casual as posssible while Arkay cooked. "Welcome back. How did your date go?"

He didn't doubt the two probably already knew what he and Lina had been doing, esepically since they had been a bit of a haste to get into the bedroom. Luckily, the woman hadn't been in heat or they be having sex in different parts of the house.

Arkay looked at Galan, a knowing grin spreading across his face. "Not bad. Had a good meal, took a walk, got back--nice mess, by the way--and gave Carlie my patented massage. She's sleeping now... though I'd prepare a little meal for when she wakes up."

The grin deepened. "So, my day was pretty good, but it doesn't seem to have gone half as good as yours... but I won't pry too much. Buuuut... did it live up to your expectations?"

Yeah, he'd just met the guy, but he was curious. A lot of people found sex to... not quite live up to the hype, at least at first. An experienced, considerate partner helped a lot, but sometimes you just weren't compatible with someone or... well, they sucked, despite the experience.

"it did." Galan didn't have to really think about it. "You hear about it all the time, so it has a lot of hype. I won't say it was the best thing that'll ever happen or anything but yeah. I think a part of it is because of feelings involved and, uh Lina being a good partner.."

He scratched his head. "So, if you don't mind me asking how was your first time?" If he didn't want to talk about it that was fine, but Arkay was older as well as more experienced and since he asked he figured it wouldn't hurt.

Arkay fell silent for a... long time. Too long, for one as talkative as him. At long last, he answered.


"Nowhere near as fun," he said. "I won't horrify you with the details, but I was young and it wasn't consensual. Really messed me up for a long time, and it's probably why I'm so damned protective of children."

Another pause.

"Given that a lot of child abuse victims go on to become abusers themselves, I suppose it didn't mess me up as much as it could have." That was probably because he had his family to help keep him on the straight and narrow... and Ramziel, too, maybe.

"My parents were great, and so are my siblings, but our extended family is... was demonically corrupted, at least on dad's side. Unlike here, demons back home have an inclination towards evil, so it's... best not to traffic with them." They could be redeemed, of course, but it usually wasn't worth the effort. Atavistic demons, like Neri, had a much better chance--the inclination was there, of course, but could be suppressed and eventually beaten with help.

Yet another pause before he changed the subject to something more... lighthearted. "So, I'm curious, Carlie is, ahem, quite... curvy, and from the, er, impressions I've got, so is Lina. Is that normal for Acorians or are they just exceptional?"

Galan maybe expected a light hearted or maybe even fun story. He hadn't expected a much more darker and sobering one that made hims shift uncomfortably. The young man hadn't meant to pick at any old wounds and would have apologized but it seemed Arkay was over and dealt with it. He had to be just be talking about this instead of side stepping.

Luckily, the older man gave him a out which he eagerly took. He didn't truly know what to say to that besides obviously being disgusted and a 'sorry' but that seemed to be not enough. "To your question? Yeah, that's common. I don't know why though."