…or, Violet Opens Up
A healing ointment took care of my rash and all the small cuts and scrapes I’d suffered. Relief was the only thing on my mind when we started applying it. By the time Iason started in on a second coat “just to be sure”, I was starting to have other thoughts.
We stayed in his room most of the night. He darted out to get cold ham and rich elven bread for dinner. I enjoyed a nice, surprisingly rape-free bath. I’m not a big bath-taker, usually, but my muscles needed the extra relaxation.
We fucked a lot. We didn’t talk much. He might have counted that as a victory, but I didn’t care. I’ve never been the type to talk just to hear myself, and I’d said what needed to be said. Iason was better sex than he was company. That was a problem for his long-term plans, but I wasn’t going to ruin the sex by harping on it.
In the morning, we rose early. Iason draped his cape around me and we headed downstairs into the gray morning. I didn’t have classes until late, but I wanted a chance to crash back in my own room. Sharing a bed with Iason wasn’t a bad thing, but it wasn’t restful. Iason kissed me, and then with a touch I was back in the form of the stag.
Iason hadn’t said a word all morning, but he whooped and hollered as we raced down the tunnel to the river, crying in delight as my hooves skimmed the foamy surface of the rapids outside.
In his place, I would have done the same. Without my human voice, my heart cried out for joy.
My body as a stag was so much more powerful. I don’t know if any words can describe how it feels to go from a guy in fairly decent shape to an animal with more strength in one back leg than I probably had in my entire human body. I’d pushed my human body to the limit the day before, running from the worms and jumping over the gorge, but there was no comparison.
All that power was in my body. Iason had it beneath him, pinned between his legs. I didn’t have to be a subtle artist to understand the appeal for him.
I started to feel worried when we got back to the woods I recognized from class. Was he going to ride me up to the doors of the Nexus and change my back there for everybody to see? It was early but some people would be up and about, getting some orange juice from the corner store if nothing else.
He was as discreet as he’d been on the return to Treehome, though. We stopped in the same clearing Professor Bryony had been using for lessons. I let him help me into my clothes after he changed me back. It was like his hand on me getting in and out of the carriage. I didn’t need the help and he knew it. If I was going to fight with him, I’d fight over things that mattered, like him staking my ass in his stupid duels, not whose hand was on my belt buckle.
“Am I going to see you today?” I asked.
“That is an interesting question,” Iason said.
“It’s a simple yes or no,” I said.
“When I spoke of coming to bring you back to Treehome after your classes today, you were cold to the idea,” Iason said.
“I don’t like the assumption that I’m going to stay over every night,” I said. “That doesn’t mean I don’t want to hang a little. If you’re on campus for classes, come eat lunch with me.”
“Just with you?”
“Well, Marlot will probably be there.”
“Just Marlot?”
“I don’t see Missy tagging along, if that’s what you’re getting at,” I said.
“I’ll think about it,” Iason said.
“I guess you know how to find me if you make up your mind,” I said, holding up my wrist. “Barring any sidhe trickery.”
Iason shook his head.
“You have no idea how much that worried me,” he said. “When I was unable to locate you, it was as though somebody had cut off my arm.”
“You didn’t seem scared,” I said. “You came off angry.”
“I said worried, not scared,” Iason said. “And when I found you, I no longer had any reason to worry, did I?”
“Let’s not fight,” I said. “I’m sorry I wandered off. I’m glad I got to meet the fae, but I know it was a stupid risk. I could have met something much worse.”
“Even that same meeting could have gone very badly,” Iason said.
“I wasn’t going to do something stupid like—”
“Like going off into the trees by yourself, naked?”
“I wasn’t going to do something stupider,” I said. “I’d hit my limit. Look, I know it’s dangerous to be rude to the faerie folk, but I don’t make a habit of being rude to strangers to begin with.”
“I will think about lunch,” he said. “But you do not mean to eat in the dining hall?”
“No,” I said.
“Good,” he said. “A better huntsman than I could not track down the meat in most of the dishes they serve.”
“Yeah, that’s one reason we usually stick to the food court,” I said. “You eat a lot of meat, for an elf.”
“You disapprove?”
“No,” I said, shaking my head. “I’m just surprised.”
“Your mother does not come from a family of hunters, I take it,” he said.
“They do hunt, but they’re mainly craftsmen,” I said.
“I’ve heard it said that among humans, the cobbler’s children go without shoes,” he said. “And yet someone who has never taken up a spear or a bow can go to the supermarket and buy a slab of beef. Among elves, the hunters are rich in roasts and the cabinetmakers rich in cabinets. We trade among each other for what we need, of course, but while a well-made table can last for centuries, the meals laid out upon it must be replaced daily.”
“Blessed are the food-makers, in other words,” I said. “I guess I never thought much about the economics of it all. I just noticed that most of the meat I ate during summer vacation was of the ‘hot throbbing’ variety.”
I tried to chuckle at my own joke, but I noticed that Iason was frowning. He’d known I wasn’t a virgin. He had exclusivity, for now. Was he going to get jealous of my past now?
“I’ll think about lunch,” he said again. “But I probably won’t see you this evening. I expect I’ll be trouncing Melos and claiming my prize.”
“Does he really have a brother at Treehome?” I asked. Elves usually spaced their children out much further than a century. They recognized sibling relationships, but they often didn’t mean anything more than competition for heirlooms.
“Yes, Melos and Linus are twins,” he said. “It should be quite a memorable night for me.”
I fought the urge to scowl. I didn’t care how he spent his nights when he wasn’t with me. I’d been the one to strike down the idea of spending two nights in a row together. Maybe I could have compelled monogamy by making myself available without restriction, but given the choice, I’d take my freedom. Anyway, if it took two guys to take my place, I’d be flattered.
“On the other hand, I would not have time for idle dueling if I were tending to my new mount,” he said. “If you felt the need—”
“No, that’s fine,” I said quickly. “I’m not feeling any needs at the moment.”
“Very well, then,” he said. “It should be a good night. The twins have rarely slept with anyone else individually in the decade they’ve spent at Treehome. I believe I shall be the first at Treehome to bed the both of them at the same time.”
“That’s great for you,” I said. “But what if Linus isn’t interested, though?”
“He would honor the bet his brother makes, even if for some reason he wasn’t,” Iason said.
“Being obligated isn’t the same thing as being willing,” I said. “I don’t want you making any more bets involving me.”
“What if I consult with you first?” he said. “You cannot tell me that you found Melos unattractive.”
“Even if I did want Melos, don’t you think it’s disrespectful?”
“I cannot say that I do think that,” he said. “Were there no such bets among your elven kin?”
“Sometimes it seemed like people took any excuse to get it on that they could,” I said. “Swimming contests where the winner got his pick of the losers. Rules like if you found a flat black stone and gave it to somebody, they had to give you head. There was a lot of stuff like that, but all the rules and bets boiled down to we were a bunch of horny kids without a lot of supervision.”
“We are not ‘kids’ in Treehome, but the rest applies,” Iason said. “Did you ever turn down somebody who bested you at swimming or who presented you with a black stone?”
“Actually, I was one of the best swimmers,” I said. “But not that I can think of, no. I was a little shy about actual fucking at first, but once I’d gotten used to it, I didn’t see much point in passing up an opportunity.”
Iason pursed his lips, then shook his head.
“You see?” he said. “You overthink these things, Iamie. Are you not comfortable because I wagered you, or because I accepted the inclusion of Melos’s brother in the wager?”
“I’m not comfortable with either,” I said. “The fact that his brother had no idea the bet was being made just reminds me of my own position.”
“Even if it had never occurred to Linus to desire me, he would have no reason to regard the occasion as anything but a pleasant surprise,” Iason said. “If for some reason he did not enjoy it, it’s only sex and it would only be for one night.”
“Lie back and think of the Mother Isles,” I said.
“Oh, I doubt very much he will simply be lying back, or that he will have the presence of mind to think of anything but his immediate situation,” Iason said. “In the event that I never have another chance, I intend to fuck the pair of them within an inch of their immortal lives.”
“Iason, would you be more comfortable with me seeing a human guy than another elf?” I asked. It was abrupt, yeah. But hearing Iason talk about nailing guys got me hot, and not only because I imagined myself in their place.
“Ah, Iamie,” Iason said, putting his fingers beneath my chin and tipping my head up. I reminded myself that this only worked since he was in his heeled boots and I hadn’t put my shoes on yet. “If you do not wish to continue our relationship, I would prefer that you say as much.”
“I didn’t say that,” I said. “But I’m not used to being on bottom.”
“You will learn to be,” he said. He leaned down and kissed me. “Goodbye, my beautiful boy.”
I choked on my reply. Beautiful. That kind of compliment shouldn’t disarm me, but it did. He headed out across the clearing, turning at the edge of the trees to blow a kiss. I put my socks and shoes on and headed back towards West Campus, then over the footbridge and back to the dorms.
I saw no one but birds until I got back to the campus proper. Pelinor was pretty quiet, though I could hear water running in the bathrooms as I climbed the stairs up to the third floor. I heard a bed creaking and feet hitting the floor with a thud as I passed Violet’s door. I’d already stopped when I felt a noticeable tug on my belt and a wave of purple vertigo in my head. Her door flew open. She was fighting to get her arm out the sleeve of a nightshirt as it closed silently behind her.
“Good morning, Violet,” I said.
“Jamie, hi!” she blurted out, loudly. She winced at the sound of her voice and then said more quietly, “I need to talk to you.”
“Okay,” I said. I glanced at her room. If her roommate was sleeping, it would be some miracle. If she wasn’t, she’d probably hate us marginally less if we moved away from the door. “You want to come into my room?”
“That’s what I need to tell you about,” she said. “You didn’t come back to your room last night.”
“Yeah, I was with Iason,” I said.
“Yeah, being a deer,” she said, nodding. Her eyes bugged out when she said this. “Wait, what?”
“A stag, to be specific,” I said. “It’s a long story. Well, a short one that doesn’t make any sense.”
“It’s fine, I’ll get it from you later. But the thing is, I knew your room was empty, and I knew you had a couch,” she said. “And I figured you wouldn’t mind, since you’re a nice guy.”
“Mind what, Violet?” I asked. “I did leave my door locked, didn’t I?”
“Right, yeah,” she said. She gave a little laugh. “But, you know you can just unlock the dorm doors by twisting the knob inside?”
“You really don’t have a well-developed sense of boundaries, do you?” I said.
“It was for a good cause!” she said. “She doesn’t have anywhere else to go, and the guys wouldn’t leave her alone. I don’t think she’s had a good night’s sleep since she got here, and that’s before her friends ran her out of Harlowe.”
“Wait, what?” I asked.
There was one person in particular I thought of when the subject was a Harlowe girl. That could fit. A half-demon might not be too popular with all the semi-humans in Harlowe. But she’d never seemed to lack for company that I’d seen, and even if the Harlowites turned her out, she and her hot guy friend had seemed from a distance to have patched things up at the dance.
“Oh, no, not her,” Violet said, shaking her head. “She’s the one who got her run out in the first place. Please don’t be mad, Jamie, but I figured you’re a typical enough guy that you wouldn’t mind having a nymph crashing in your room but decent enough not to take advantage when she’s down.”
WOW how long were you planing this I wonder.
Yay! It’s Barley!
Wow, as soon as the person from harlowe was mentioned, i suspected her, but to see your suspision come true is quite another thing! Thats bound to be interesting! Great work!
Oh my.
There we go. I forget how long it was since you mentioned Barley being in MOARMU, two or three weeks or something. But she’s here now, and now we get to find out what happened.
Hooray, Barley! Well…maybe not hooray, but very interesting. And Violet knows her? Curioser and curioser…As always, I’m very excited to have more MU to read : ). Thanks, AE!
Barley.. is crashing with Jamie…
Oh, this will be fun indeed! =D
Also, good to see Jamie and Iason split up for the day without another massive argument.
ooo so that’s where Barley went
Hope we’ll get to know what happened to her soon.
I’m not sure if you’ve noticed or if it’s been pointed out yet, but the link from the Master update feed goes to chapter 45 instead of chapter 55.
Yay for Barley! I’m so excited.
BARLEY!!!!!!!!
also, top 10!
First, like everyone else, I have to say, “Barley!”
Also: “You have no idea how much that worried me,” he said. “When I was unable to locate you, I was as though somebody had cut off my arm.” It sounds like you wanted ‘it was as though’ instead. That, or it just reads wrong in my head. >.>
I’m sure people will be annoyed that Violet just basically skims Jamie’s mind as soon as she meets him, but at least she’s forward about it.. kinda like the way Iason is about his attitude. He doesn’t pretend to be someone else.. it’s accept him as he is or get lost. Though, with Violet, I assume it’s harder to ‘get lost’ BUT perhaps she doesn’t hold back because she knows Jamie’s fine with it. *shrugs*
Yay Barley! I can’t wait for the next chapter! ^_^
Maybe I should be annoyed with Violet, but I just can’t bring myself to be.
Iason, on the other hand, just keeps pissing me off more and more.
I’d already stopped when I felt a noticeable tug on my belt and a wave of purple vertigo in my head.
So maybe purple means “giddy”.
And it seems that Violet is telekinetic (or psychokinetic, if you prefer). As well as being pyrokinetic (psychocreative) and of course, subtly artistic (redactive and farsensed, to a degree). What are the rest of her abilities? Is she also a coercer? What could she do to Iason, if she were pushed? (Yes, I do like Julian May’s Exiles/Intervention/Milleu series!)
I did like the mental/verbal double take:
>:=)>
So Mack “got Barley forced out of Harlow”. Is that Violet’s reading of Barley? Can Violet read nymphs? Or was she forced to rely on Barley’s distraught account, now delivered second-hand.
Oh man, we FINALLY get to find out about Barley! That’s been bugging me for a long time!
And how did Violet twist thje inside knob of Jamie’s door? Is she telekinetic too or am I just forgetting something?
ooh, I wanna see how Iason reacts to *his* mount sharing space with a gorgeous (icky) female? Because somewhere in the next few chapters I can see Jamie saying to himself “well, he didn’t say I couldn’t go with *girls*”. Also, Barley was always the cooler nymph. Frankly, one of the cooler characters outright.
Oh crap. Barley’s come over here now? She’s going to have her long-and-drawn-out breakdown in Jamie’s apartment?
And… if Violet can pick out stuff like “Jamie was being a deer” without even trying, how does she not know that Barley is trouble and ought to be stayed away from? x_X
@14 why do you say Barley is trouble? cricket has found that there are always at least 3 sides to any story, each persons and the truth; in this case it would be Makenzies, Barley’s and the truth. Only Miss Erin knows the truth at this point… And isn’t college about finding oneself, exploring the limits of behavior and discovering who one is deep inside? cricket knows she certainly did some stuff in college that she shouldn’t have, nothing like rape or attempted rape, but stuff that landed her in therapy. A lot of college students land in jail for a night as well…it doesn’t necessarily mean that student is a total loss or screw up. just that they made a mistake; who hasn’t?
Ummm…Wow!
Plot twist much? (grinz)
Oh, MOOK! The return of Barley! Excellent!
I second – how long have you had this planned?!
Wow…
@!6: if Violet can pick out stuff like “Jamie was being a deer” without even trying, how does she not know that Barley is trouble and ought to be stayed away from?
She’s telepathic, not omniscient. Whatever she’s picked up about this is going to be from Barley’s mind, so it’s going to be from Barley’s perspective, not everyone else’s and not the perspective of an objective narrator. So unless Barley herself thinks that she’s “trouble and ought to be stayed away from”, that’s likely not the impression Violet is going to get.
Whoooooo! Okay, so does this mean that the only reason you started writing More Tales is to finish the Barley thread?
Hg
@Hydrargentium: Not the only reason, by any stretch, but I knew this was going to come up here before I had any definite plans for what More was going to be.
why is Barley icky? uhm, attempted rape? you can chalk it up to drunk, confused, whatever, but it still means not taking no for an answer. college may be about exploring limits and boundaries, but that’s one that’s pretty well established, no means no. i have to wonder if this was a normal human male if the Barley’s ok, just confused sentiment would be as strong. i had assumed that she had lost her divine connection, because of the clothes she is in later, amongst other little possible hints/clues, it should be very interesting to see this play out.
BARLEY RETURNS!!! ^-^
Now this’ll make things intresting for Jamie and Iason. Hmmmm. . . I wonder what Iason’ll do when he finds out about this. I’m also wondering a bit more about Violet and Jaime’s comment about her “well developed sence of boundries” or some such thing as that (don’t remmeber the exact qoute >.<). Oh well, I can only wait for the next update 9and the one after thata and the one after that. . . ) Have a day
OMGOMGOGMGOMGOMGOGMOGMOGMOGMOGMGOMOGMOGMOGMOGMOGOMGOMGOMOGOMGOMG
Sometimes you have a real comment to make.
SOMETIMES YOU HAVE TO SQUEE YOUR FUCKIN BRAINS OUT AND NO ONE ELSE WOULD UNDERSTAND.
HI Barley!
Before turning to Barley, a few thoughts on the Iason-Jamie part of the chapter. As a stag Jamie can make a truly resounding bellow to show his exuberance. When Jamie notes that he isn’t comfortable with always being on the bottom, Iason once again demonstrates that he has no respect for others by saying “You’ll get used to it,” (quoted from memory, in case its not quite correct).
As to the question “What makes Barley ‘icky’?” From Iason’s viewpoint her gender.
Mother Khale’s interview indicates that Barley is still a nymph. But the from the other “facts” sghe seems to be on some sort of probation. Certainly Barley considers Mack responsible for all her problems; Mack stole Amy. In Barley’s view, everything else was a consequence of that.
ARF, MOOK, whatever
When I was in a Marvel tabletop RP, it tended to be a habit for any telepath to automatically “scan” people when they saw them, or bleep out for other minds and if any are familiar. This was a good way to keep up from being spied on, and usually stopped doppleganger plots in their tracks. = P I can totally understand why Violet does that without thinking.
I’m curious to see how Iason reacts to Barley. On one hand, she’s not exactly human and so not exactly female–while on the other hand she represents everything feminine. But he’s okay with Marlot…But Marlot may be much more tolerable than Barley…
Barley was unknowingly drinking Puddy’s posh-spiked alcohol (unknowing that it was spiked with a seriously dangerous psychoactive substance, that is) and that it seems that unlike Amy she doesn’t *like* to be objectified and fucked by endless hordes of males every single night, perhaps because unlike Amy she realizes how much they really respect her. She deserves some sympathy.
I’m still a little fuzzy on comparative timelines.. so..
Is this Barley ‘Kicked-Out’ of Harlowe after her attempted rape of Mack? Or is this Barley ‘Kicked-Out’ of Harlowe after attempting to feed Mack and getting smacked in the face with her fallen nature?
The latter seems most plausible, since IIRC Barley went over to shack-up on the boy’s side of Harlowe after the near-rape incident and if Barley were still full-on Nymphly the attention from the guys wouldn’t bother her at all would it? On the other hand, it seems a bit early for this to be Barley after the later incident.. or am I wrong?
@27 – I’m pretty sure that Barley was more upset about Amy stealing Mack. In Barley’s head, there’s always been a rivalry between her and Amy, and both of them wanted Mack. Mack wanting Amy back and ignoring Barley was just too much.
I wonder if Violet’s lack of “boundaries” will cause her trouble when she meets Mack.
Buh-Buh-BARLEY??!! Very interesting.
Since the strains are crossing, how do nymphs play in with the elven culture? They would totally work for all the sex elves seem to get up too, but anyway.
I think I adore Violet.
holy crap barly is back. i hope she can push jamie into realizing how much hes giving up to iason so much the better
… AE, has anyone ever told you that you are evil?
Pure, awesome evil.
Hm, just a thought, a meeting between Violet and Dee should be interesting. That would probably the first time for Violet meeting a person who is a stronger telepath than her.
I like where this is going. I can’t wait to learn more about what happened to Barley after her disappearance. It’ll be interesting to see her play the victim for once.
…Proceed.
DUN DUN DUN
“you can just unlock the dorm doors by twisting the knob inside?”
Sounds like TK, but dorm rooms are not top grade security, so mundane methods may well be good enough. It amounts to the same thing either way.
“the guys wouldn’t leave her alone.”
She’s a nymph. Is it even possible for her to have too much? I would think this unwillingness would be much more more of a problem to the goddess than Amy’s playing around with a half-demon. Of course, since sex seems to be somewhat like eating for a nymph, the goddess may feel that a nymph refusing sex is going to be a self-correcting problem.
“I figured you’re a typical enough guy that you wouldn’t mind having a nymph crashing in your room but decent enough not to take advantage when she’s down.”
I suspect many of our female readers would deem this a compliment, but a lot of our male readers would have their doubts about that.
[“You have no idea how much that worried me,” he said. “When I was unable to locate you, I was as though somebody had cut off my arm.” It sounds like you wanted ‘it was as though’ instead. That, or it just reads wrong in my head. >.>]
Both can be correct. “I was tho..” implies action. Maybe Iason started running around at that time.
“It was tho…” would imply emotion. It would more mean he was feeling a loss.
Of course most of the time, either covers both aspects.
[So Mack “got Barley forced out of Harlow”. Is that Violet’s reading of Barley? Can Violet read nymphs? Or was she forced to rely on Barley’s distraught account, now delivered second-hand.]
Given ““Yea, being a deer,” she said, nodding. Her eyes bugged out when she said this. “Wait, what?””, Violet is not able to read that deeply, at least casually. She would presumably catch a direct lie, but if Barley believes something [and most people can believe 6 impossible things before breakfast, even before we count self-interest], Violet is pretty much going to take her “word” for it.
Cunning linguistics:
“Melos” means obsidian
“Linus” flaxen-haired
Jamie’s beautiful—
And I suspect, as a stag,
He has a nice “rack”
Jamie’s opinions
After meeting Barley may
Leave him misinformed
Oh my fuck. THIS will be interesting.
I was actually thinking it might be the sylph chick (whose name I forget), but yeah, she said nymph, so it can only be Barley.
Hm… I wonder if “taking advantage” of a nymph means NOT having sex with her?
Glee!
I swear when I read nymph, I could hear Alexandra Erin cackle in the background.
I wonder what’ll happen when Iason meets up with Violet and Barley, and if Jamie will survive the encounter with his sanity intact.
Anyway, methinks people are imputing far too much humanity to Barley. She’s a nymph, folks. Her current body is just a “mobile” constructed for interacting with humans; she herself is actually back in her field. She probably had to study humans a bit in order to pass among them, because her interactions with humans so far had been mostly just sex in her field, and a few encounters at planting and harvest time. The rest of human society was probably utterly alien to her a month ago.
I also wonder whether rape might be as offensive to her as to a human female (or male
. Sex is a way of getting energy for her field, after all, and the sort of energy you get from rape could well be damaging to her crop. If so, I can see the question coming up: “What?? You tried to rape a nymph? Are you crazy or just stupid? Why didn’t you ask her nicely? You’ve gotta be the only man she’s ever turned down.”
(I’ve also wondered whether nymphs might have a second body that’s male, for the benefit of any females that wander into the field looking for a good time. Maybe only in parts of the world where women usually work the fields. If a nymph wanted a mobile that would be maximally energizing to human females, what would it be like? But that might be outside the range of this story.)
@40 jc
Nymphs can only have a female body. They are the female fertility symbol. The male equivalent is either a faun or a satyr… can’t remember which, and the MU wiki is not clear… but I’m pretty sure that one of those is the male fertility symbol.
…
Marlot had sex with one near the start of MoarMU.
“You don’t expect me to have unprotected sex with an incarnation of male fertility, do you?” Marlot, chapter 3, and she’s talking about Jay the satyr.
Wow, so we get the other side of the story… Err, does this mean we get to see Mother Khale’s interview with Barley? Maybe Jamie gets to talk with her, also? I was a bit disappointed when we didn’t get to see that directly over in ToM, but I can understand – Mother Khale would be pure destruction to Mack at this point.
This could get really, really interesting. Was Barley wearing Jamie’s sock? Hummmm.
Barley’s back! Yay! I’ve missed her. I wonder what she’s been up to?
OOK!
OMG I wonder if Barley is one of the reason Jamie seems so rude to Mackenzie at the dance, maybe Barley’s tale of the half demon who wouldn’t love her made him feel sorry for her…hmmm can’t wait til we’re that far in here…anyway SQUEEEE for the Barley, I liked her best, but now I love Amy too.
barleeeeeeeeey! yay for tying up loose ends!