Chapter 26 - On Conditioning: Chapter 25

On Conditioning
by Volpone

Chapter 25

          “Be honest,” Quinn said. “Did you intend for them to faint or was that just an accident that you took advantage of?”
          “Yu wa me t' ansur naw?” the green-haired Espada asked in surprise considering this meant she'd have to stop sucking Quinn's cock.
          Since coming to Phoenix, Troisieme had undergone a notable metamorphosis. She'd begun as a reserved, rather stoic female of limited sexual experience. Now, she was a much more hedonistic and even playful bedmate, enjoying sex when she could find a suitable partner but most of the time declining the offers she received as three-quarters of the time it was females doing the offering.
          Trois had no problem with women as partners. In fact, she enjoyed women very much, sometimes as much as she enjoyed men, but she was body-aware enough from her martial training to recognize the simple fact that she reacted better to men... one particular man more than others. Before Quinn, really satisfying sex had been... well... infrequent. Since her recruitment, she'd learned that wasn't always the case, but still she often chose to sleep alone rather than accept most of the offers she got. When asked, she would respond without the least embarrassment, “I admit, I'm spoiled.”
          Part of that was because there were few who understood her particular kink so well.
          Trois was, in the words of her childish alter-ego, a “serious maso-kiss”. There were plenty of sexually sophisticated men around Phoenix who could play “top” when needed, but Quinn somehow managed to serve up enough pain at the right time and in the right manner to boost the climax she was building up to without denying her the climax. He might not push her pain limit unless encouraged, but he was never disappointing.
          “Sorry,” he apologized, realizing he was asking a bit much by expecting her to suck cock and hold a conversation at the same time.
          “Ah ca' hel',” was Altair's response, her diction also impaired as she was sharing half of his erection though presently she was concentrating on his testicles.
          “You're doing just great,” he assured her. “Both of you.”
          This seemed to be a good response since both ladies began giving a very wet and profound kiss to each other with Quinn's rod trapped between their lips and tongues.
          “Damn!” he exclaimed, “have you two been practicing together while I wasn't looking?” Then he realized he was again sounding as if he expected a response when that was far from the case.
          “Never mind... just... ignore me... or rather just... go on with what you're doing.”
          Trois kept sneaking looks at Quinn since he was such an appreciative partner, but she was still paying plenty of attention to the woman she'd defeated in the arena earlier. Just because Trois preferred men (Quinn specifically) didn't mean she disliked a fun girlfriend upon occasion, and Altair was shaping up to be a very fun girlfriend indeed.
          The humorous part of Trois' behavior was how she enjoyed receiving a healthy dose of pain from Quinn, but when dealing with other females who had a similar swerve to their libido, she seemed more than happy to provide a bit of pain herself. He'd seen it on more than one occasion, even to the point where Quinn would do something to Trois that the green-haired masochist would then immediately perform on the other woman sharing their bed... a kind of pain/pleasure reflection based solely on “hey, this worked on me”.
          Quinn could tell that Trois was getting herself worked up as she was now paying more attention to his cock than the dark-haired Taimanin sharing it with her, swallowing more and more of it, and he caught her rubbing her clit frantically as she tried to get him to come in her mouth.
          Altair began to object to Trois hogging the only penis in the bed when Quinn slid his hand up the back of Trois' thigh so he could get his hand where her own was, and once in position, he pinched her erect clit and gave it a slight shake.
          Trois squealed and swallowed him to the base as she shook heavily, driving him down her gullet as she came from the painful tweak he'd given her.
          While Altair didn't mind the gorgeous green-tressed woman enjoying a good orgasm, she didn't feel it was quite fair for Quinn to reward Trois for monopolizing his tool while basically leaving Altair to feel like a third wheel.
It turned into a bit of a surprise for her when Altair felt Trois' feminine fingers take her by both fat, puffy nipples and give her a painful pinch and twist with both hands.
          Quinn watched as Altair's amethyst eyes welled with tears and lost focus, but she made no move to try to escape the cruel treatment.
          Trois raised up slowly, letting Quinn's junk slowly slide from her throat and mouth, all the while keeping her finger lock on both Altair's impressive spigots, holding the woman motionless by passing on more pain than she'd experienced at Quinn's hand just seconds before.
          Once she was clear, Trois gave Quinn a very clear wink as she towed her new female plaything forward a few inches until the head of Quinn's cock was bumping the Taimanin's lips once again.
          “Open,” she instructed, and Altair obeyed without hesitation.
          She then hauled the other woman down by her grip, stretching her paps to encourage her to take what she had objected to losing just moments before.
          Altair felt the head of his prick at the back of her mouth, but she stayed where she was as Trois had not let up the pressure on her nipples, leaving her nowhere to go for the moment unless she wanted to leave her favorite nipples (her own) behind in the process.
          Suddenly, Altair felt her left nipple relax some as it was freed from the hard pinch it had been receiving, but the slight disappointment/relief this brought was short-lived as Trois' hand found its way to the base of Altair's skull, wrapping into the Taimanin's long hair and then pushing her down firmly onto Quinn's tool.
          “Gak!” was the only sound she managed before she lost the ability to make any kind of verbal noise with the firm cock she'd been wanting was now fully down her own throat. Her conditioning helped her not to fight in spite of the loss of her ability to breathe. Altair's instinct warred with her training briefly, but the submissive in her won out as she reveled in being forced in this manner. The feeling of Quinn's thick cock down her throat as Trois punished her nipple was almost a perfect combination of stimulus for the lovely purple-haired shinobi, and she found her excitement flaring higher than she'd ever anticipated at the hands of a woman.
          Quinn didn't try to interfere. In this kind of situation, he knew the two women would manage to work out their particular dynamic without his interference. While he wouldn't have been quite so rough with a first-time paramour unless she had clearly shown a desire for such treatment, it was obvious Trois was picking up signals Quinn had missed... or perhaps she was teaching Altair “this is how a masochist likes to be treated”. If she objected, you couldn't prove it by Quinn. True, tears were running from both Altair's lovely eyes as her gag reflex was violated (not that she had much left after her slave-prostitute training at the hands of Ryal), but she didn't fight or struggle to stop the treatment in either way.
          Holding the other woman down on Quinn's erection, Trois seemed to decide she wanted some encouragement of her own and pressed her lovely round derriere against Quinn's idle hand.
          Ah... my bad, he thought, and he brought his hand down hard on her taut ass with the sound of a firecracker.
          Trois gave a little whinny as she shook a moment, but rather than letting her plaything up, she kept up the pressure on Altair, denying her the breath she would certainly be needing any time now, and the hand that still was abusing the Taimanin's right nipple renewed its pressure with a twist.
          It seemed this was the breaking point for the Taimanin as she started to slap at Quinn's hip, the most convenient thing to allow her to show her distress. Her face was growing red, and Quinn finally said, “Trois... play nice.”
          Pulling the other woman up off of Quinn's equipment, Troisieme let the other woman gasp and then cough a moment, then as soon as she had calmed down enough, Trois leaned in close and told the Taimanin, “You're incredibly sexy... do you know that?” and then proceeded to kiss her hard.
          Thinking she might not be expecting it quite so soon, he gave Trois' other ass cheek a loud smack, bringing up a pink hand-print to match the one he'd just given her, and the Espada reacted as if she was teetering on the edge of a wonderful orgasm but falling just short.
          It was fascinating to Quinn to watch one woman flip effortlessly between top and bottom without any sign of emotional conflict whatsoever. He'd discovered her willingness to play both roles the very first time she'd shared Quinn with another woman. In that case, the other female had been Valley Goddess, the stacked shinigami who had been one of his lovers while he was in the Bleach universe. While he'd discovered Valley's willingness to be submissive before that, he had not known that Trois was happy to provide discipline and pain as well as receive them until that evening.
          But Trois clearly had different relationships with different females sexually. She'd shared Quinn with no less than (he did a quick count) four different Bleach females on different occasions, and two (Freedom and Isis) she treated as dominant partners while the other two (Valley Goddess and Rikka) she treated as submissive. Why this was, he didn't know but as none of the women seemed to object he stayed out of others' relationships and let them find their own way.
          From the look of things, at least in the bedroom, Altair was going to be Trois' bitch.
          This was quickly confirmed as the Taimanin gave a cry into Trois' mouth and shook heavily, enjoying a nice mid-range orgasm from the treatment she was receiving. When she hadn't been touched below the waist, this told him something.
          Quinn laid there and watched the women feel their way along (both literally and figuratively) as they discovered what the other liked... and clearly Altair was happy to let Trois be in charge of her in the boudoir... every bit as much as any other female he'd seen her around.
          Then Trois was holding Altair by her throat, pulling her upright as they both knelt on the bed, one on each side of Quinn's reclining form, and as he lay there observing, the former Espada proceeded to put her new plaything through her paces.
          First, she held Altair there with her chin raised, unresisting, as the smiling zanni reached out and flicked each of Altair's erect nipples firmly with her free hand. She changed how she did this, trying different methods to see what got the strongest reaction from the dark-haired submissive. First she gave a simple finger flick, but she grew more aggressive, giving a cruel swat but only catching the tip of Altair's nipples to sting them firmly. The way Altair closed her eyes and shuddered but didn't resist let Quinn know to stay quiet.
          After abusing the Taimanin's chest this way for several minutes, Trois seemed to have discovered what she needed to know and moved on. She kept Altair in position and gave her a hard spank on each cheek. After several swats on each side (each of them harder than Quinn had given Trois minutes before), pink hand prints glowing bright on each side of her ass, Trois pushed Altair down to the mattress, still on her knees but with her face and chest firmly pinned to the bedding. Once again, Trois gave Quinn a wink, then she reached down and began rubbing vigorously at Altair's labia. The wet sound this made showed how well she was finding Altair's buttons and pushing them.
          Keeping the lush-figured Taimanin pinned down in this way, Trois started to masturbate her firmly, the blatantly sexual sounds this caused adding to the atmosphere of sex and domination. 
          Altair began to cry out after just thirty seconds or so, her voice reflecting exactly where she was in regards to her next orgasm, which from the sounds of it...
          “I...tai!” she shouted, the dark-haired shinobi shaking all over as Trois forced the climax from her.
          Once this hurdle had been cleared, Trois used her holds on Altair to position her where she wanted her, namely kneeling very low between Quinn's thighs, her face over his still-erect equipment. 
          Knowing what she was meant to do, the lovely shinobi went to work sucking Quinn's cock as Trois kept her from escaping by holding her in place, one hand between her shoulder blades, the ring and middle fingers of her other hand sliding rapidly in and out of Altair's wet cunt.
          If any of this was new to Altair, it would have surprised the hell out of Quinn as she was clearly in her element. She started to moan louder as Trois brought her nearer and nearer her next climax, and Altair showed how she was perfectly happy in this position by trying to get Quinn to fill her mouth with his spunk as her “mistress” drove her to her next peak.
          Then Altair gave a loud whinny before going silent as she pushed herself down on his cock, her tongue reaching his scrotum as she tossed her head, and then next thing Quinn knew, she was coming and squirting all over the bed.
          And this wasn't a quick hurrah-team-what's-next?. The Taimanin was gyrating her hips madly as Trois' fingers dug the climax from her and she ejaculated... and kept ejaculating... and then more... 
          By the time she was done, Altair had utterly soaked about a third of the bed, her eyes rolled high as her body shook and she tried to swallow Quinn's rod.
          Oh, what the hell... why not? he thought, and he let her have what she was clearly wanting.
          Then Altair was swallowing all right, doing what she could to gulp down the load he pumped into her greedy mouth. She was soaring incredibly, but when he started fucking her mouth and jet after jet of his slick cum washed over her tongue, she lost it. The dark-haired shinobi convulsed hard as she tried to gulp down her reward while the sexy Espada abusing her pussy refused to let her stop coming. 
          And then he felt her mouth stop sucking, and then she slowly toppled to the side, passed out completely from the overwhelming assault on her pleasure center.
          “You seem to have that effect on her,” he observed, this being the second time that evening Altair had lost consciousness at something Troisieme had done.
          “I'm special that way,” she responded with a smile as she snagged a towel from the side stand, the comment humorous because Trois was undoubtedly one of the most modest members of Phoenix, not having a truly egotistical bone in her body.
          It took Altair a minute before she regained her consciousness enough to recall where she was and what she'd been doing. She shifted and gave a wince, Trois being a bit rough on the tender membranes lining her vagina.
          Rather than making Altair assume this was what sex was going to be like whenever she favored Quinn with her presence in his bed, he asked, “How are you feeling?”
          “Tired. And little chafed,” she admitted, still trying to come back into focus.
          Trois leaned over to get a better look and asked, “Are you still... interested?”
          The implications of the words took a moment to percolate through the fog muddling her brain, then she remembered that she was still in bed with two individuals who were far from sexually sated for the night.
          But Altair's conditioning was still running much of her sexual response, and she found herself growing excited at the thought of more sex like she'd just experienced in spite of the discomfort of her pussy.
          “I think I can keep going,” she admitted, wondering just what might be in store for her next. If it was more intense than what she'd just experienced, she doubted she'd have any better luck at staying conscious, but the prospect didn't bother her nearly as much as she had expected it to.
          “Oh, good!” responded Trois and she leaned in to give her favorite new plaything a kiss in appreciation.
          It took just a couple of seconds before Altair was moaning once again, rubbing her E+ cup chest against Trois' slightly more modest mammaries, hands searching for somewhere for her to be able to demonstrate her eagerness to return some of the pleasure she'd enjoyed. The shinobi got a hand down between Trois' thighs and began rubbing her, and the Espada gave a happy chuckle in response, glad to see that her playmate was not just talking about being ready to go on.
          Quinn relaxed a moment as he let the two ladies concentrate on each other, seeing which direction things might evolve before he got involved again.
          Trois seemed to have temporarily slaked her desire to dominate Altair, happy to enjoy the sensation of her lovely new fuck-toy's amazing chest against her own as their tongues dueled back and forth.
          Then she felt the bed shift and Quinn's rich male voice commented in her ear, “How about you? Are you up to some of what you were dishing out?”
          Her answer was to keep kissing Altair, but her left hand came back and found its way around Quinn's mostly limp dick, pumping him in a way that left no doubt what she wanted next.
          “Good answer,” he responded, his cock quickly rising to her touch as he caressed her smooth ass.
          It took him a moment to decide how to get himself into the action without interrupting what the two ladies were doing, but with the position they were in, Altair was almost entirely occupied by Trois, the green-haired strumpet doing a good job of monopolizing the shinobi's erogenous zones.
          Then Trois felt the drizzle of coolness down the crease of her ass and she realized what Quinn intended. This was fine idea to her as she gave a moan of rising desire and shifted her backside a bit to encourage him.
          Then his fingers were tracing around her puckered rear entrance before they began to explore more deeply, Trois giving a quiet shudder as she continued to kiss Altair while preparing herself mentally for what was coming up.           There was no doubt that Trois loved to fuck, but she had discovered the first time she'd been taken to bed by Quinn that there were some things that tripped her trigger far more than others. Some positions were better for her even though she could climax in any of them.  She'd had Quinn drive her senseless just as she had Altair, masturbating her until she came so hard she passed out on more than one occasion.
          But there was one thing that Quinn did for her that was the perfect combination of pleasure and pain for the masochist in her. It was the one way she knew that would almost certainly make her squirt before they were done, and that was something she would never turn down if she had any choice in the matter.
          His fingers were sliding into her snug anus, loosening her up as he made sure the lube was well distributed,
and she was pushing back to meet him even as she tried to concentrate on enjoying Altair at the same moment. It was hard to manage, but she kept reminding herself she was going to get exactly what she wanted so long as she didn't do something to change his mind.
          Then she felt him get into position and the head of his erection pushed against the resistance of her ass.
          Altair felt the change in Trois' behavior almost immediately. She'd been getting Altair more excited by the second, then there was a shift in weight as Quinn moved, and then a few moments later the pressure on her from Trois' lower half increased notably.
          The next thing Altair knew, her lower lip was caught between Trois' teeth (not enough to draw blood but uncomfortably exciting) as Trois rocked her pelvis back to meet Quinn's easy rhythm.
          But that only lasted a few moments. Just as Altair was deciding this Trois sandwich was rather fun, then she felt him shift again, this time Trois being lifted entirely off her.
          “Come on, sweetheart. Up you come,” he said, and Altair opened her eyes to watch her delightful female bedmate become putty in Quinn's hands. It took her a moment to realize Trois was not being done doggie style but that Quinn had her impaled by her much more sensitive portal. He used his leverage to get her into a kneeling position, her back to him, his cock deeply in her pink derriere, her expression one of exquisite pain and willing acceptance.
          Did I look like that before I passed out earlier? I sure hope so, Altair pondered as she looked up at the spectacular Espada, thinking that there weren't many things she'd seen that were any sexier.
          Quinn got himself stabilized on his knees with Trois kneeling right in front of him, her eyes closed, head back on his shoulder as she bit her own lip and leaned back into him, giving Quinn total control of what was going to happen next.
          What was to happen was Quinn began to fuck Trois' lovely round ass, and there was no doubt it was both painful but overwhelmingly effective. His hands started at her rib cage and then ran up until he had a handful of outstanding Espada breast in each hand, his fingers clenching firmly enough to make her gasp, her nipples dark and so tightly crinkled they looked as if they had been in the icebox for the last hour.
          Altair was surprised to see Trois eagerly accepting the same kind of treatment she'd been giving Altair herself just minutes ago, but that surprise was quickly overpowered by the sexiness of the green-haired zanni as she turned from strong, forceful lover to willing plaything of the man who knew her so well.
          Wow! Was she that rough with me? she wondered. (Ironically, the answer was yes, and more, but then Quinn believed in whatever got you there barring hospitalization afterwards. He felt if someone says “yes”, take them at their word.) Altair had been lost in the moment when it was happening to herself, so now that she was more observer, she wasn't sure if she should say something to Quinn or not. It looked more painful than Altair believed she might enjoy, but she truly didn't realize she'd happily accepted more at Trois' feminine fingers than she was now simply watching. It was perhaps ironic that all three of them sharing the bed at that moment were more concerned over what they witnessed than what they were involved in.
          Then her perspective shifted as she watched Quinn's strong hands grasp Trois by her tight nipples and give a lift and twist, and Trois' reaction told her a different story than she'd expected.
          Trois' eyes came open in shock, staring off into nothingness as her mouth dropped open, and her hand waved in a kind of loose, almost random manner until she started to tap her hand against Quinn's hip, not telling him to stop or even slow down, but looking more like it was her body's way of saying “that's the spot”. She arched her back up involuntarily, but Quinn kept up the tension on her breasts, lifting them enough to keep Trois from being able to relieve any more pressure without rising from her knees, but to do so would remove the cock from her ass which Trois wasn't about to let happen.
          “Stay right there, gorgeous,” he growled in Trois' ear, and his hips started to drive with more force, her body shaking with each thrust of his pelvis as he slapped against her marvelous derriere.
          My god, she's like his fuck toy, Altair realized. It looks like she's enjoying it, too. 
          Just about that time, Trois gave a wordless cry that rose briefly, then cut off a moment before she shook and then came.
          It was then that Altair had a fantasy of what it might feel like to be Trois, or rather to be in Trois' position with the confident Quinn fucking her ass like that. She immediately felt a sudden ache between her thighs, and her anus clenched involuntarily at the thought, but she felt her lubrication telling her that her subconscious seemed more than willing to try given the opportunity.
          This motivated the Taimanin to figure out some way of getting herself back into the action, and she considered the exotic Espada as she hung in Quinn's grasp as he ravaged her ass. 
          Deciding she needed to see this for herself, Altair shifted around so she was face-to-crotch with Trois, not more than a foot away and with an unobstructed view of Quinn's thick cock as it disappeared up Trois' rear entrance.
          Damn! How does she take that? It looked way too painful from Altair's viewpoint, but just at that moment Trois gave another loud gasp and had another climax.
          Then Altair had a flashback to her very first training session at the hands of Ryal. He'd been a bastard and a fiend with no redeeming qualities whatsoever, but he had proven that in spite of her virginity, Altair could squirt a lot.
          Propping herself in position so she didn't need both hands to keep her balance, Altair started to reach out for Trois' smooth mons, then she stopped as she noticed the Espada's vaginal juices running down the inside of her leg.
          With a coy smile, Altair ran her free hand up the inside of that thigh, gathering plenty of the liquid as she did, then she reached up and slid her fingers inside Trois' vacant pussy.
          The Espada didn't react immediately. She was still on the downward slope of her last climax, and while she was aware of the fingers invading her, she didn't have any ability to resist or even react for the moment.
          Let's see. As I recall, he did this...
          And then Altair had three of her fingers driving up into Trois' feminine fissure. There was no subtlety or finesse. She was trying to match Quinn's rough fucking of the green-haired strumpet's ass, being as rough as Ryal had been with her... about as rough as Trois had been with Altair herself earlier, but that was what she judged worked best from her experience.
          The sound of wet digits abusing Trois' sex added significantly to the erotic atmosphere, and Quinn felt Trois begin to arch up more, not in any attempt to escape her situation but simply because her body couldn't help itself.
          Being assaulted at pussy, ass and breasts, Trois began to make small, mewing squeaks with her breathing, hanging there in Quinn's grasp, unable to do a thing but accept the outrageous treatment.
          And then Altair got what she had been after as Trois cut loose, ejaculate squirting and running off the back of the Taimanin's hand as she kept driving her fingers into the other woman's eager cunt.
          Then, for the first time of the night, Trois got truly vocal. The mewing grew louder as pure biological pressure built within her, the sound swelling until she was crying loudly, the incredibly wet climax running right up to the limit of her endurance and hanging her there. The bedding was still damp from earlier, but Trois proved she was every bit as much an ejaculatrix as Altair as she proceeded to soak the bed.
          “There's my sweetheart,” Quinn's pleased voice told them.
          If the Taimanin hadn't gone through something similar so recently, she might have let off much sooner, but she knew that as long as Trois was able to squirt, she was enjoying herself, and Altair intended to keep her enjoying herself every second possible.
          Quinn knew a bit of Trois' capacity in this regard. He'd been impressed by her on more than one intimate occasion, both with and without female assistance in the bed. It was just one of the things he loved about Trois because it was a reaction that was impossible to fake. It was simply Trois, a healthy hedonist/masochist, enjoying herself with utter abandon and her surprising Skene's performing as it was intended... simply doing it far more than most females he'd encountered.
          The two of them kept Trois on that plateau of ecstasy for more than a minute, juices flying about and Trois crying like the emergency valve of a steam engine under too much pressure.
          Knowing this was going to finish off Trois for a while (if not for the night), Quinn decided to do the only thing he could that might drive the lovely anal fuck-bunny higher (at least without “cheating”), even if it was only for a brief moment.
          He released the block on his own climax, and then Trois felt Quinn's teeth bite down on the muscle that ran from her neck to shoulder on the right side. It wasn't intended to inflict pain, but it did give the unmistakable message that “right now, you're mine”, and then she felt the warm, slick, stickiness of his cum inside her rectum.
          Trois reacted as if electrocuted, going silent, shaking all over, muscles trembling but incapable of any voluntary action. She hung there and shook as more of her ejaculate rained down onto the bed, Altair laughing aloud at the amazing reaction of her new girlfriend.
          And then Trois went limp, the overload simply being too much for her.
          Quinn shifted his grip immediately, going from sexual to supportive, his hands releasing her breasts (as loathe as he was to do that considering the breasts involved) and his arms going around her so he could hold her against himself without any chance of her falling right off the bed.
          Altair could sense the difference almost as quickly, but in her case she wasn't used to a bed partner suddenly passing out even though she'd done the same herself earlier. Spotting the towel Trois had used before, she snagged it before it could slide off the bed and began giving the sexy former-Espada a quick wipe down so she wasn't uncomfortable when she came around. (None of them considered it ironic that she was being concerned over “comfort” when they had both been playing on Trois' masochistic tendencies just seconds before. They both knew that there was a big difference between the pain that fanned sexual desire and the clammy, unnecessary discomfort that simply served as a reminder that they were all in need of a shower.)
          Trois regained consciousness to find herself being tended to by both her lovers, and since the one she was facing at the moment was Altair, she gave a kind of dreamy smile and reached up to cup the side of the shinobi's face and give her a kiss in appreciation.
          “Mmm...” she moaned gently, savoring the afterglow of such an amazing climax, and Altair gladly responded.
          But Altair discovered her body had been getting more excited even while she had been totally engrossed in Trois' pleasure, and though Trois didn't do anything to make the kiss particularly sexual, Altair found herself reacting sexually in spite of that.
          She was quietly trying to figure out some way of slipping off by herself so she might see to her needs when Quinn seemed to read her mind as gently took her by the hand and asked, “And how about you? Did we finish you off for the evening, or are you still hoping for more... fun?”
          Considering what Quinn and Trois had just done, and that there was absolutely no doubt on Altair's part that both had enjoyed massive climaxes, she was somewhat confused by his question.  They were both done, weren't they?
          Then she saw the wicked smile on Quinn's face, and it confused her even more. It was the kind of look she imagined she might get from a man who had plans for her, not the look of a male who was sexually sated. And considering Altair knew he'd entertained two ladies before them, she was baffled.
          Cutting short her silent speculation, he told her, “Typically, Lyta and Merope would have spent the night with me except for the lack of room in the bed for five of us, so they went off together out of consideration for you and Troisieme, not because it's expected. I enjoy the feeling of skin so I prefer sleeping with female companionship, but not until the ladies sharing my bed are actually ready to sleep.”
          This seemed counter to what she'd learned about men so far. Her time with Ryal had taught her that it was her partner's pleasure that was important, not her own. If she enjoyed herself, it was incidental, not by design.
          Then it was Quinn who realized where the disconnect was occurring.
          According to the Records, before being captured by Ryal, Altair had been a virgin. She had then been heavily conditioned to act as a slave-prostitute. Her ability to enjoy sex was a side effect of the training, not the reason for it. As coders might term in, it was the bug, not the feature.
          So Altair had never had a real relationship, and here she'd been thrown into the deep end with Quinn and the other zanni as if her new circumstances were “normal”. He knew just how abnormal Phoenix was culturally, socially, and sexually when compared with most of the societies their members had been recruited from. Still, Altair seemed capable of adjusting. Just as anyone introduced to a new culture, she simply needed someone to help her navigate until she understood where her new social boundaries were.
          He was going on, not thrilled to sound like an instructor but knowing he needed to reassure her.  He smiled and ran a hand over Trois' shapely back as he continued.
          “I know Trois gave you a quick explanation about Phoenix Group. We try to be very relaxed in behavior. Everyone has lots of freedom. No one is under any kind of obligation here... especially around the bedroom. So don't assume the rules from your former life have any bearing here. You are entirely in control of your own love life from now on. You're not here to make Trois happy, or me happy, or anyone else happy. You're here to make yourself happy.
          “If there's something you want... ask. If you don't say anything, I assume you're doing fine and I'll mind my own business.”
          As he'd said this, he'd moved closer to the buxom shinobi, well inside her personal space, his behavior clearly telling her he didn't want her anywhere else.
          “But don't assume that your pleasure is any less important to us than our own. You're one of us now, with all the perks that entails. A very fulfilling sex life is one of those perks.”
          Getting even closer, he looked into her eyes and asked, “So what do you want?”
          Everything about his behavior told her he was speaking the truth. While Trois was looking like she could happily slip off to dreamland at any moment, Quinn was showing every sign that he wanted Altair.
          And she suddenly realized, He thinks I'm sexy. Even though he just had sex and had a huge climax, he still thinks I'm sexy.
          It was the biggest compliment she'd had in her limited experience.
          It also put her on the spot. The choices she'd been offered before this had been the “do this or that will happen to you” choices Ryal had limited his females slaves to.
          Honestly, she'd been enjoying herself so much, the idea of choice hadn't really been anything she'd considered. She'd simply been along for the ride.
          The big problem was that between being conditioned to be submissive and discovering her strong masochistic tendencies (which she had never considered might simply be another result of her training), Altair had no experience in control and wasn't positive she wanted it. It was unsure territory, and despite their reassuring behavior, she was scared she might do something that wasn't acceptable. In her current circumstances, she'd rather be mistreated than embarrassed. How was she to know? And it had all been enjoyable (an understatement!) to this point. Why were they making it up to her now? 
          The reason Quinn wanted Altair to express her desires was because he wanted her to learn she had the right to say “yes”, “no”, or “go to hell” if she wished. That was part of being with Phoenix. She was her own boss now.
          But being a fellow masochist/submissive, Trois understood that in some cases, choice was not what was desired. In her personal experience, Quinn could be dominant but not a sadist. The pain he employed was never the goal. No one had ever needed to use a “safe word” around him because he seldom went as far as a genuine masochist desired. Still, he was incredible in spite of that.
          She recognized Altair's situation and so understood the hesitation.
          The lovely zanni put a hand on Quinn's chest to make him pause, and pushing him back a bit so she could whisper in Altair's ear (Quinn deliberately began to hum softly so he couldn't overhear their exchange). It took them a few moments, Altair at first shaking her head and then nodding to what Trois said next.
          “Quinn... would you be a dear and...” She thought a moment to come up with something that might get him out of the room briefly. “...go wash up for a few minutes. I promise to come and get you when we're ready.”
          This was a slight surprise to Quinn as he thought Trois had been ready to fall asleep, but it seemed he had underestimated what it would take to wear the gorgeous Espada out tonight.
          Maybe she's taking lessons from Nova, he considered in spite of knowing that was silly.
          Rising, he confirmed, “Are you sure you need me to come back?” It wasn't impossible for a couple of females to decide they were going to finish the evening without his assistance... unusual, but not unprecedented.
          Trois' suggestive look told him he was being needlessly chivalrous.
          “If you don't come back, I think Altair might take it the wrong way.”
          And so he excused himself and went to the 'fresher, taking advantage of the opportunity to actually do a bit of cleaning up considering the various bodily fluids he was wearing.
          Just as he was finishing up, Trois rapped on the door and announced, “Quinn? I think she's ready now.”
          He opened the bathroom door and found Trois fully dressed and standing by the bed.
          Altair, on the other hand, was going nowhere. The naked shinobi was on her back and bound to the bed in a simple shibari manner, soft ropes leading from her wrists to both the head and foot of the bed, keeping her sideways to the mattress, her head tilted back over the edge of the bed. Her knees were bound high and wide, tied so she couldn't straighten them and placing her in an utterly vulnerable position sexually. There were also no less than six different vibrators and marital aids layed out on the bed next to her. The entire scene was designed to place her at the mercy of whoever came along.
          Clearly, they intended Quinn to be “whoever”.
          Trois smiled sweetly and said, “I'm going to go get some rest, but Altair still needs some attention.”
          She moved to Quinn, gave him a kiss on the cheek, and told him, “She was a bit shy to admit it, but when I asked her what she wanted, her response was, quote, 'Everything', end quote.” She brought out a riding crop and placed it very deliberately in Quinn's hand. Dropping her voice, she said, “Altair doesn't want a hero at the moment. And her safe word is 'Oboro'.”
          And giving Quinn a brief but highly appreciative kiss, she told them, “Enjoy!” and left them to themselves.
          Trois knew perfectly well what she was doing. She was setting the rules so Altair didn't need to worry about overstepping, and Quinn was being told “don't be a gentleman”.
          He gazed down at the helpless shinobi, and quickly realized Trois had judged her desires better than he had himself. Even though he hadn't come near her, her breathing was already faster than normal, her nipples were standing tight and tall without the slightest stimulation, and his keen sense of smell told him she was ready to fuck... or for whatever act he decided to carry out on her.
          “I have to admit,” he told her, “this isn't what I expected to find, but I can't say I object.”
          He began to tease her with the crop, just running it over her skin here and there... starting at her upper arm, then inside and along her armpit... down her ribs on the one side, then up and across her impressive breast, playing just a bit around her nipple which brought a quiet whimper of anticipation from his purple-haired plaything... across her belly and over her mons... then tapping gently directly on her labia several times, and she twitched involuntarily but didn't complain... then up the inside of each thigh.
          He wandered around her to build her anticipation, looking down at her as he contemplated what to do next. She was already wet, her lower lips glistening with the dew of her excitement. Her clitoris was already standing up from its hood, and Quinn flicked the keeper across it several times, making Altair whine and strain up against her bonds.
          “Okay,” he said, and he pulled the crop away quickly, stinging her clit as he did, and she gave a gasp, her pelvis tilting up as if hoping to pursue the crop as it went, but with her knees bound as they were, she had very limited movement.
          “Let's wait on this a bit,” he told her as he set aside the crop, but he knew she was obviously excited over the idea of his using it on her so he'd certainly return to it before they were done.
          Kneeling on the bed with her, he leaned over to where he could watch her face as he ran his hand up and down her labia, feeling how wet she was. Altair bit her lip briefly, but the moment his fingers slipped inside her, her mouth fell open and she started to make encouraging sounds, needlessly tipping her hips up since he had all the access he could possibly need.
          As his fingers started getting stronger reactions from her, she tried to strain up so she could watch what he was doing, but then he slid his fingers as deep inside her as he could and after just a moment, he was shaking his hand rapidly with her still impaled, his fingers keeping most of the pressure along the roof of her pussy as his fingertips rubbed against her g-spot.
          Her expression took on an “oh, my god!” kind of disbelief at what she was experiencing, but Quinn had watched Trois do as much to her just a bit earlier with outstanding results. Her hips started to gyrate as much as they could, but for all purposes he had a mostly stationary target and he intended to take advantage of her position to see just how orgasmic she could be.
          Sure enough, her head fell back and she cried, “Ohhhhhhhhhhh, goddddddddddd!” the note rising abruptly at the end and turning into a kind of squeal as her hips shook and she sprayed juices around as he drove her to ejaculate.
          But rather than letting her peak and then take a breather before continuing, he kept up the assault on her sex, his hand shaking and driving his fingers inside her roughly, giving her no chance to relax as he forced her to keep climaxing.
          And Altair lifted her head, her face shocked as her body ignored what she wanted and stayed right at the leading edge of her climax cycle, her pussy grabbing at his hand as she squirted again and again.
          He kept her at it for at least a full minute before he snatched his hand away, leaving her sex unobstructed. She kept shaking as her ejaculate arched entirely off the bed to splash on the floor a few feet off the side.
          And since it worked the first time, he went right back to it, digits digging the pleasure from her as she cried out and slid effortlessly into her next orgasm which was every bit as noisy and wet as her last.
          “I do love a woman who enjoys herself,” he told her, his words at odds with the roughness of his actions had it not been resulting in her doing an impression of a lawn sprinkler.
          He drove her to three massive, prolonged ejaculations, and she was starting to sob half way through the third session but kept right on squirting.
          No wonder Trois is drawn to her, he realized. They're mirror images sexually, right down to their unbelievable capacity to squirt.
          Her entire torso was shaking uncontrollably in the aftermath of such driving, overpowering orgasms, her voice reflecting the tremors running through her as she lay back and tried to regain some measure of control.
          As he observed her, he noticed how her anus was flexing rhythmically, the tight rosy sphincter reacting just as the rest of her muscles were as it moved in and out just a fraction of an inch but drawing his attention all the same.
          Quinn, you're getting predictable, he told himself, but then he looked at the twitching Taimanin at his mercy and had to admit it was working so far.
          Let's see how she reacts to this.
          He returned his hand between her thighs, but then she felt his fingers insinuate themselves into her ass, first one but then quickly added more until she was uncomfortably stretched.
          And then he started to move his hand exactly as he had when he had her vaginally impaled moments before, fingers flat and stiff as he jammed them inside her cruelly.
          Her head snapped up, eyes wide as she strained to see what he was doing to her as if this might somehow help her through the experience, and she made high wordless sounds in time to her rapid breathing. He watched her fingers flex and instinctively try to grasp something... anything... to give her just a tiny bit of control.
          “Ohhhh, goddddd, nooooooo!” (Translation: “Please, don't stop!”)
          And then she was squirting again. With his hand abusing her anus, it kept her pussy clear and he was pleased to see her come just as hard this way.
          “Come on, you gorgeous little trollop... how much can you come this way?” he asked, clearly not expecting her to respond so much as demonstrate the answer.
          “Eeeeeeeee!!!” she whined out as she showed him her response in a liquid manner.
          He kept to the exact same pattern as last time, not seeing any reason to change a winning strategy. She was clearly just as anally responsive as Trois, which told him he'd likely have to be just as aggressive as in the previous case.
          Then again, when he looked at the numerous sex toys Trois had layed out, he was reminded of her statement about how Altair “doesn't need a hero”.
          As he drove his fingers firmly up her back door, he watched her ejaculate every bit as much as the first time she did that night, telling him she wasn't likely to run dry any time soon. Physiology did change from universe to universe, Quinn being as aware of this as anyone since the size of his dick changed depending on the universe, some making him utterly ridiculous (he was almost a tripod in certain extreme cases) but none making him any smaller than the twenty-five centimeters he possessed back at his home on Tertius.
          By now, Altair was breathing so hard, he knew she must be suffering from hyperventilation. If he didn't want her to pass out soon, he needed to change his tactics. This drew his attention back to the sex toys.As he jammed his fingers cruelly up her ass one last time to drive her to a strong peak, he stopped moving his hand and let her squirt herself out until she was finished with her climax. As he prepared to remove his hand, he picked up an anal vibrator that was shaped like a goose egg on a pedestal with a flat foot at the base. When dealing with the tender membranes inside the anus, he knew that pain was acceptable but physical damage was to be avoided at all costs (such issues putting a sudden end to the evening's amorous plans), so he moved carefully and got the business end of the vibe well lubed up before sliding it in as he slid his fingers out.
          Altair reacted, but just enough to say she was aware that things had changed, not to say it was either better or worse than before. Her sphincter drew in slowly until he knew the toy wasn't going to be dislodged accidentally, but other than that, she seemed to be handling it just fine.
          Taking the remote in hand, he started the vibe buzzing silently inside her rectum, and her pelvis hunched as he turned it on but settled down almost instantly.
          We can't have that, he thought, and he turned the vibration up until she was unable to keep her hips still, twitching her pelvis around but her bound legs preventing her moving much. He wasn't touching her at all and she was still reacting in a way that told him she was hovering just a little ways short of her next orgasm, just as he'd hoped. The anal vibe was keeping her stimulated nicely without his needing to monitor it any longer, so he let her lay there and be stimulated as he considered his next action.
          And the crop still lay there from when he set it down earlier.
          Altair's head was again hanging back off the edge of the bed when she felt the unexpected sting of the crop kiss her right nipple. It had been a great shot as it had only touched her nipple and areola, making her cry out and jerk but she was still unable to do anything to prevent it... not that she would have wanted to. The nipple throbbed as the pain receded, but before it had gone far she got the same on her left nipple, making her try to twist, shaking her large breasts but not making them any less a target. 
          The next was on the inside of her thigh just inches from her crotch, then she sensed him moving and the next sting of the crop was on the outside of her right breast. This wasn't as sensitive as her nipple by far, but it stopped her from being able to anticipate where the next stroke would fall and so made them all more effective.
          The first snap of the keeper that caught her squarely on the labia might have made her leap off the bed if she had not been so well-trussed. It made her cry and then whine, but Quinn saw how she was still reacting to the vibe deep in her ass, and her movements said she was reaching for her next orgasm.
          His next shot with the crop almost derailed her orgasm as he caught her clit without touching the surrounding flesh at all, all the pain concentrated on her tiny pink bundle of tightly-packed nerves.  It was such a shock that she briefly thought, What was the safe word? but then realized how close she was to tipping over the edge into her next orgasm.
          Oh, pleasepleasepleasepleaseplease!
          Instead of the sting of the crop, she felt his fingers take her still-burning clitoris and give it a firm pinch.
          She jerked hard as the climax she'd been straining for arrived. The combination of flashes of pain against the constant background of vibrations from her ass were an ideal mix of sex with abuse, the two supplementing each other far more effectively than either one might have managed alone. 
          Then before she expected it, her left nipple was nailed perfectly again and she gave a small shriek before she could suppress it. She strained a moment then jerked heavily as it brought her orgasm close enough for her to actually push herself over the lip.
          He kept up the random whipping for a bit, occasionally reaching in and using his hand to pinch, tweak, or twist some vulnerable point and make her react more strongly than before. Altair kept her eyes closed so she couldn't tell where the crop would touch next, the surprise being one of the most exciting things about it.
          It was just then that she realized he had moved around until he now stood above her head, and so she decided to risk a peek to see what he might intend.
          The sight of Quinn's stiff cock hovering about six inches above her face made her swallow, and she realized this would be something she would most definitely not object to.
          Instead of feeding her his cock, he looked down past it at her, and taking it by the base, he slapped his erection against her cheek a couple of times.
          The young shinobi expressed her excitement and disappointment with the same whine, but she didn't have to wait long before she got her wish. He shifted his stance so his cock was low enough and Altair responded by licking her lips, opening her mouth in invitation and shifting her head to straighten her neck.
          Quinn didn't bother to tease her. She wasn't going to be any more excited by cock-slapping her, so he got into position and fed her his hard-on. He didn't jam it down her throat in spite of the fact that he was in control. He wanted her to show him how excited she was, so he stayed there and targeted between her legs again with the crop. With the extra range the crop gave him, he didn't even need to lean over to reach, so she didn't see it coming until impact.
          The slap of the keeper against her labia made Altair squeal around his cock, but he knew he'd gotten her pain level gauged properly as she immediately did as he intended, namely sucking at him frantically in response. In spite of the position and her limited range of motion, she did a surprising job of it, and Quinn let her go as he occasionally targeted some vulnerable spot with the crop, most often her nipples or genitals. He never swung with enough force to make her want to stop their game, but there were a couple of times where she stopped sucking and exclaimed around the mouthful of cock she was dealing with, letting him know that was near her limit.
          His aim was incredibly good. Some of the time the keeper would slap flat against her, spreading out the impact and leaving a pink imprint and a stinging sensation behind, and others he would just flick the most sensitive spot such as catching the tip of a nipple or her clit without touching any of the surrounding skin. It was effective and exciting and she was torn between trying to get him to cum in her mouth or trying to get him to stretch it out longer.
          And then there was the occasional sting that was just perfectly timed to make her cry out and shake in the unmistakable signs of orgasm, always getting a smug smile from him as he appreciated how sexy and reactive she was.
          It was the perfect feedback circuit for Quinn as he could tell just how each sting of the crop was making her feel as she immediately channeled her reaction into her fellatio. A shot that was particularly good made her work hard and fast as she sucked while others didn't get as profound a response, the ones that were a bit too good that broke her concentration made her cry out around him before she went back to sucking madly. And always in the background was the vibrator up her ass that kept her nearing climax.
          Altair had no idea how long he kept that up, but she gave a long whine of disappointment when he pulled back out of reach for her lips. Her face was wet from both her own tears and saliva, and she silently hoped he might be moving around to fuck her.
          It seemed he intended to draw things out as he set aside the crop and clipped small bumblebee vibrators to each of her erect nipples. When he turned them on, she started to move involuntarily, whining louder as she tried in vain to ease the sensations pulsing through her.
          She whimpered and gasped as she writhed on the bed, and Quinn let her go for about a minute before satisfying himself that she wasn't going to be able to climax from just the marital aids he had her hooked up to.
          The mattress sloped in his direction as Quinn got onto it with her, and she prayed that he was going to finally fuck her, but she jerked hard and cried out as she felt another vibrator pressed against her erect clit, the sudden buzz against her flesh making her react as if burned.
          Quinn rested his hand against her inner thigh and held the small, hard egg-shaped vibe directly against her clitoris.
          She immediately started moving her pelvis, not to make it harder for him but simply because her body wouldn't hold still. Yet he managed to keep it against her overly-sensitive nub as he got her closer and closer to...
          “Iiiiiii-TAI!” she exclaimed, and he knew it was a good orgasm but it fell short of his goal as it didn't make her squirt.
          That didn't mean he was going to stop. He wanted her leaping at his slightest touch because he intended Altair to remember her introduction to their group vividly, and he wanted her to get wet at the recollection every time. If she needed to have a couple of dozen orgasms that she didn't squirt for, he could put up with it.
          And just because she didn't ejaculate didn't mean she wasn't enjoying the experience. He could tell from her voice and movements that she was gaining momentum, building up to a really big earth-shaker if he could get his timing right.
          It took several minutes and nine climaxes before he felt she was well-primed, and then he waited until she was almost coming when he moved closer and shoved his tool inside her roughly. 
          She gave a gasp and arched up, pulling hard against her bonds as his cock hit the right spot and she exploded in a big, loud, and very wet climax.
          And he began thrusting into her, intending to keep her coming for as long as he could.
          It seemed to be a winning combo since her head went back and she began almost sobbing as her body jerked and strained, and she sprayed ejaculate around every ten to fifteen seconds.
          He simply smiled and kept fucking.
          It took him several minutes of stacking these orgasms on her one after another, but she eventually stopped straining and dropped back to the mattress, momentarily unable to come this way, this particular combination of stimulus no longer capable of driving her to the same heights, her breathing deep and ragged, tremors skittering through her occasionally.
          Nodding, he withdrew from her soaked pussy. As he did, she gave a pained cry and yet another climax shook her, proving she wasn't done... she was simply done this way.
          Quinn took that as meaning she was ready for the final act.
          He didn't bother to wait since he intended to leave her utterly exhausted by the end of their little drama.
          Acting on that intention, he reached down and took the anal vibe by the flat base and began pulling. It slid out less than an inch before the resistance increased notably and Altair gave a wordless cry. Had he not been watching her at the moment, he'd have thought she'd been hurt somehow, but it was simply the thick portion of the vibrator putting tension on the inside of her anus as it continued pulsing along, stepping up the stimulus uncomfortably.
          Learning at which point she reacted that way, Quinn began pulling rhythmically, driving her right to the edge of her pain threshold and making her exclaim before easing off, only to do it again and again. He managed to tease her to climax twice more this way before he felt her trembling harder, telling him she couldn't hold on much longer.
          The next time he put tension on the anal vibrator he didn't ease off and kept pulling until she gave a little shriek and flopped hard as the egg-shaped end popped free and made her come at the same moment. She shook all over for a second and then was shaken by a much bigger spasm, squirting hard just as he cleared the path of her ejaculate.
          The purple-haired Taimanin lay there panting and moaning over how her body was complaining, but Quinn didn't let her rest for more than a second.
          “Okay, sweetheart,” he warned her, “big finish.”
          And she felt him lift her legs a bit higher and the head of his thick cock press against her sore asshole.
          She almost begged him to stop, but she remembered that it was either use her safe word and have it all come to an abrupt halt or keep quiet and try to handle it as best she could.
          Then she felt the resistance from her rear entrance ease off and she realized he was in.
          Relieved, she gave a kind of sob and lay there twitching.
          Then he started moving his hips. He started with just a couple of easy pushes that got him deeper in her ass, but once he'd gotten that far, he shifted gears and tried to drive her through the mattress.
          If somebody hasn't been teaching her, she's one hell of a natural. He was used to Taimanin asses being of superior quality, but Altair was even better than expected, or perhaps she was just exceptionally well-primed.
          For her part, if she thought the anal vibrator had been giving her troubles focusing, it was nothing compared to a living Quinn trying to put her in orbit.
          At a slower pace, she was able to limit her vocal response to small whimpers, but once he turned into John Henry the Steel-Drivin' Man and threatened to loosen her fillings by fucking her ass so hard, she lost control and surprised the hell out of Quinn by getting verbal, particularly when it was so out of character from what he knew of her.
          She cried out a long sustained note that slid right into an unceasing chant of, “ILOVEYOUILOVEYOU-ILOVEYOUILOVEYOUILOVEYOUILOVEYOU!” as she squirted with almost every thrust of his hips.
          The dialog was not what he expected but he couldn't object, especially when she was being so complimentary with her physical reactions. In fact, he figured if she was in this extreme state, there was no reason to hold out and he removed the block on his climax reflex so he could blast a huge salvo of cum into her ecstatic ass. He slammed deep into her and squirted another five or six jets inside, but Quinn should have been keeping a closer watch on her internal systems as her dialog loop suddenly turned into a single note again... and then abruptly cut off as she went absolutely limp.
          He did a quick system check on her and determined nothing was wrong other than her sexual circuit breaker putting her offline a moment. Taking advantage of her brief vacation to withdraw from her amazing ass, he began by removing the bumblebee vibes clipped to both her nipples, then got her untied from the bed.
          As a result, when Altair came around, she found herself untied, unplugged, and being tended to by the man who'd just fucked her unconscious.
          “How're you feeling?” he asked her as he set aside the towel. He'd done some quick mopping up here and there and now moved on to tending her skin where the ropes had deeply indented the flesh.  She had a number of very pink spots shaped like the leather keeper of the crop but he doubted any of them would bruise.
          “Uh... did I ever use the safe word?” she wanted to know, showing how people could worry about the strangest things at the oddest moments.
          “Not that I heard,” he replied honestly.
          This seemed to reassure her for some reason.
          “How long was I out?”
          That was a more typical response, so he assumed she was going to be just fine.
          “Less than five minutes. It gave me a chance to do a bit of clean-up without bothering you.”
          She shifted slightly to determine her current state of stickiness, both exterior and interior, and she said, “I think I need the bath a moment.”
          But she in spite of getting into a standing position, it seemed she was pushing herself too fast as she took a step and started to stagger, looking ready to fall right into the nightstand.
          Before she could fall, Quinn was off the bed and supporting her.
          “Easy, sweetheart! Let me help you.”
          He managed to get her to the door of the bathroom, but she stopped him before he could follow her inside.
          “I think I can manage from here,” she assured him with a hand on his chest, and closed the door between them.
          He went back to see to the bed, changing the linens so they wouldn't be uncomfortable the rest of the night, gathering up all the towels and sheets and stuffing them into the hamper.
          Just as he had finished up and slid under the covers, Altair made her reappearance. She was still holding onto the door-frame as if she needed to steady herself.
          “Is all well?” he asked from the bed.
          “Let's just say we won't be doing that again for a while,” she told him, and she winced as she took an unsupported step.
          He flipped back the covers and patted the spot next to him.
          “I am suggesting a good night's sleep, nothing more.”
          She looked at him suspiciously. Her ass was still very sore.
          “I don't know if I should trust you,” she admitted.
          He smiled and reminded her, “Says the woman who announced her love to everyone on the block.”
          “I wasn't in my right mind,” she told him as she managed get into bed without too much discomfort.
          “I take that as a compliment, but if you like, please feel free to lodge a complaint with our green-haired social director,” was his good-natured reply.
          It was a good thing she was so tired and his shoulder made an acceptable pillow or she might have figured out a way of making him regret his flippant remark.

