Ch. 102 - The Mobile One-Woman Tent

  Love Sparks As I

  Still Your Pain,

  And Glee As I

  Kill Our Foe

  Joy Sparks As You

  Return My Love

  And I Rest

  My Heart

  – Random love letter from Tinea to Leah, some time after they'd settled down together

  ***

  There were few cleanup tasks left to complete, and the heat like liquid honey between my thighs only motivated me to work faster. Between the simplicity of the tasks and the lack of any Leah-induced distractions, I found my awareness entirely free to focus on the sensations of the sexual tension. Of being a woman.

  As Aden, I'd stood anchored in a way that I wasn't anymore. I was lighter now, and the distribution of my weight had changed with my transformation. It was a difference massive enough that I'd had to get…physiotherapy, I supposed, in the dream training during my chrysalis.

  My balance had shifted forwards, leaving me almost dancing on my toes where previously I'd been rooted on my heels, and my tail naturally led my hips into a constant soft sway that felt…conditioned to appeal, somehow. It wasn't really, but that's where it took my mind.

  My thighs were smoother, a little less overtly toned even if far stronger, and deliciously, femininely squishy. The thought sent a blush up my cheeks and my heart soared with the giddiness of being Tinea.

  A little further up, the heat felt more internal than external. Instead of wanting to push my hips forward to present, it wanted me to tease coyly, to sway and seduce. It was beckoning, not pushing.

  The beckoning's pretty loud, though, if I read Leah's glances correctly, I giggled.

  And then, yet a little further up, my breasts were straining against the silken tube-top thing, all soft with bionite-nutrition solution. Which made me feel ridiculously curvy and I loved it.

  And sitting perky on top of those breasts, were my nipples. Which had my fingers twitching and itching to explore and poke.

  But I didn't because I was a good girl, yes I was. Even if one of my antennae wasn't listening to me and kept tickling my swells, until Leah chuckled.

  So, to take revenge, I turned away from her and bent over deep to grab the ancient PC from underneath, while keeping my legs straight.

  Success! I crowed in my mind when there was a small crash as Leah dropped something and I sensed a deep, shuddering breath being taken somewhere behind me.

  I looked and made big, guileless eyes at her, still bent over and giving Leah a perfect eyeful as I supported my torso on the rectangular case. Leah was flushed, from her throat to her cheeks and even the tip of her ears.

  I gently tilted my head and asked, barely keeping the laughter inside, "Are you okay, Leah? What happened?"

  She quickly caught herself, picked up the explosives-teleporting horseshoes she'd dropped, and cleared her throat as she straightened up again. She was so focused on not letting her gaze dip that she almost missed the twitching of my lips.

  Her eyes narrowed dangerously as I rose to lift the case and turned, tucking it underneath my jigglies and accidentally pushing them north to confront, uh, I mean, serve Leah full-on cleavage and jiggle physics on a platter.

  Mmm-hmm. I was still being a good girl, all innocent and unaware, of course. The chaotic giggles in the back of my throat weren't actually happening, really. Not at all, nope. Yup!

  Leah was squinting at me and probably thinking up all kinds of suitable…punishments as I slowly wandered over to her, and I really wanted to preen under her eyes, but instead I looked up at her with a cute little pout and made helpless puppy-dog eyes.

  "Leaah~" I lisped in a high voice, lifting the case slowly as I held it up to her and letting my breasts slide off of it with a satisfying jiggle, " 'm short. Help?"

  She leaned over and rested her hands against the underside of the PC, but didn't take any of its weight. She loomed over me, her lips brushing very lightly across my own and sending little shocks through me that made me want to whine quietly, and I almost did when she opened them to speak and her voice vibrated across me on a hot breath.

  "Help what, Tinea? What's the magic word?"

  "Oh. Um," I stuttered breathlessly. "Help, please?"

  "Mmm."

  My knees went weak when she smiled against my lips.

  "Good girl."

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  Then my eyes fluttered closed and I moaned properly when she softly, so softly, pressed an open kiss against my mouth, her tongue stroking mine. I wanted to follow her when she pulled away, but she laid her forehead against mine so I couldn't. I opened my eyes and her gaze captured me.

  "Good girls get rewards, don't they? Tinea."

  I shuddered from the velvet in her tone, and nodded eagerly.

  "Then," she said, flicking her tongue against my upper lip and lightly biting the tip of my nose, "you'd better be a good girl and finish your work, yes?"

  "Yes." I nodded again, quickly. "I will."

  "Good."

  With that, she petted the top of my head once or twice, drew her fingers through my hair, and kissed me on the forehead before taking the case under one arm and turning me around before shoving me forward gently. "Get to it."

  Unable to help myself, I twirled around and gave her a salute in the middle with a cheesy grin.

  "Yes, ma'am!"

  Snorting, she shook her head and lifted the case into the airlock of the spider that dipped down for her, before climbing after it to stow it.

  ***

  As I looked around myself, I saw nothing left lying on the ground, except for my Myriad standing sentinel.

  Well. This was it, wasn't it? Packed up and ready to leave. I'd throw one last look at the uplink, make sure it was properly hidden and safe.

  I skipped and dashed across the court to where I'd buried it, and actually had trouble locating it until AI-I threw its outline into my visual cortex.

  Huh. The mud and drizzle had completely removed any traces of my labor, the fallen tree that the Three had gnawed on just looked miserable and naturally sick until it collapsed, and the place was fundamentally uninviting.

  Yeah, couldn't have done better myself.

  Shrugging my shoulders and happy with the results, I decided to not mess with things, and moved back to the spider just as Leah dropped out of the airlock herself.

  For a few moments, we both just stayed silent as we looked about, really taking in the fact that we were done. That we were free. That we'd survived this dreary, sick place more or less intact, that we'd come out a lot stronger, and that we were looking forward to getting to the place where we wanted to be.

  Leah smiled at me warmly, took my hand, and pulled me in front of her, tucking me in under her chin with my back to her chest and my antennae splayed to the sides. It'd become a familiar comfort, this hug with her arms around my shoulders. Warm and soft and just…comfy. My tail lazily circled around one of her legs, my fingers curled around her forearms, and a soft sigh escaped me.

  "Job's done?" I asked her.

  "Yup. Job's done." Leah answered.

  ***

  "Gadget reveal!" I yelled and threw my hands upwards after Leah invited me into her mech for the first time. She laughed her ass off and almost tumbled out of the airlock again.

  Quickly grabbing the Myriad, I followed her by hopping upwards into the hatch and catching myself with my arms on its circular inside rim.

  The tiny cabin was lit in a soft, cozy red-gold by a smattering of glinting LEDs across the ceiling. Immediately next to me, towards the rear of the abdomen, lay Leah's egg—now turned into the spider's piloting pod and escape vehicle. It was stuck halfway into the rear wall, with its legs settled into slots in the hatch holding it. A crawl space next to the egg revealed that the wall hid a modest cargo compartment, and that's where we'd stow most of our crap, nice and not underfoot.

  A small bunk sat recessed above the pod and cargo, with only a meter's space to the curved ceiling. It could just about fit me, and Leah would either have to rest in her piloting creche, or on top of me with her legs detached. That image woke a longing in me for the warm weight of my girlfriend on top of me, and I was determined to make that happen. No matter what.

  Leah was currently sitting on the floor, studying the tiny high-tech kitchen niche integrated into the side wall.

  I finally pulled myself all the way up into the spider, and glanced down as the round hatch automatically closed up behind me. The thing had a thick rim with tough fabric folded into it.

  "That'll inflate if we need an actual, airtight airlock," Leah explained from her spot on the floor. "It's also the head—There's even water nozzles if we want to shower on the way."

  "Oooh…" I mumbled. That was so luxurious, holy fuck. I'd had my experiences with the clan's transporters back in Germany, and they were nothing like Leah's accommodations. "Amazing."

  Leah nodded in satisfaction.

  The living space was effectively a one-man—scratch that, one-woman—tent that could fit two in a pinch. Small, cozy, and very reminiscent of our cocoon with every hard surface cushioned and soft. Which, looking at Leah, who was completely relaxed in here, I figured wasn't an accident.

  I secured the Myriad next to the airlock with a few quick dabs of silk against spontaneous ballistic tendencies, and then I was ready to jump Leah for a quick squeeze, who was only too happy to gift me a warm smile.

  Which I had to kiss, of course. Obviously.

  "Hey, love," she said, and I absolutely melted with mushy joy at the endearment.

  "Hey yourself, sweetie," I replied. "Ready to go?"

  "Yep." She nudged my nose with hers. "As soon as you've nailed everything down. I want to give Daddy-Long-Legs a good shakedown, figure out how he moves and what I can do with him."

  "The implant not enough?"

  "Nah. It'll let me control the body naturally, but it won't teach me combat maneuvering, or how to employ the tactical computers."

  "Can't you get a skill download for that?" I asked. The idea of heading into action untrained and unprepared didn't sound appealing.

  "I will, but I've got a lot of options to choose from—won't know what makes sense until I am faced with a situation."

  "I see. The delay of the…installation won't be an issue in battle?"

  "Nope, the limited scope ones are real quick, and the more I learn about the spider before I need the download, the less intrusive it's gonna be, which is why I want to try and stretch Daddy-Long-Legs' legs first. Might wanna make sure the insides won't turn into a blender, meanwhile," she added with a grin, pointing at the loose PC, weapons, and other gadgets we'd picked up over the last few days.

  "Fair enough," I giggled, and got up to handle the internals of our mobile home and hearth, while Leah disappeared into the pod and familiarized herself with her new toy.

  I grabbed the ancient PC and extruded a few soft rolls of silk to cushion it, before bending over to shove it into one of the crawl spaces. Leah's misty, white eye showed up on her pod's rounded surface again and followed me. It—entirely by accident, I'm sure—kept staring at my bum. Which I was wiggling—also entirely by accident—while I was on all fours, securing the PC with more silken ropes and glue.

  Hmm… I smiled sneakily.

  "Better use extra rope to make sure it'll stay…snug. And tight. Yes." I said quite audibly, quite unnecessarily.

  There was a moment of silence. I figured Leah was quite occupied, imagining what must've been a highly fascinating picture of me tying down…things with a rope.

  I giggled at her helpless groan.

  ***

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