A World Adventure: --Black Magic Woman--

Restored from https://web.archive.org/web/20160523171826/http://pastebin.com:80/NjKtFVKb



The Viper’s Pit, they called it. A reasonably decadent inn with plenty of amenities for lamia customers. Caesar-sized beds and a hot spring in the back were practically a standard here. Needless to say, only high-class customers could afford a weekend at a place like this. But luckily, due to the bounty Henri and his fellow crew received from the various monster sighting jobs they had taken going from town to town, they had earned themselves the privilege of calling themselves just that--high-class customers. Eurie, the team’s blue mage, had checked the crew in for the night, giving the keys to their rooms to Julianna, their summoner and effective leader.

“So, girls...and our knight,” she quickly adds, “There are eight keys here. Four to one room, and four to the other.” She jingles the 8 keys on their respective rings before taking a look at one of them. “So, who wants…let’s see...Room 6?” The medusa and shirohebi are the first to take a pair of keys to their room. They each take one, and retreat to the back so that the other girls—and Henri—could take one as well. “So, Eurie, Grace, and...who else?”

“I suppose I’ll take on if nobody else will,” Henri declares, after a somewhat lengthy pause of indecision between the others, taking the third key from Julianna.

“My, my~. If he’s sleeping there...” Morjana says with a giggle, her perpetually-closed eyes practically aglow with intent. “I think I might help myself to a key as wel--.” As she reaches out to grab one, she takes a second look to find that the fourth key is gone too. “Hmm?” She looks amongst the other girls to find that Rosalind was already twirling the fourth key ring around her finger. “Wh-...But, Rosalind!”

“What can I say? You were too slow,” Rosalind quickly responds, sticking out her forked tongue at the whining apophis.

“But Rosie, I called it. Big sister,” she calls out, turning to Julianna in desperation, like a child tattling on another. “Tell her I was going to take that one. Please~?” Morjana’s lips purse into a pout as she pleads with the echidna.

“First of all, it’s first come, first serve,” says Julianna, “Secondly, I would appreciate it if you of all people wouldn’t call me ‘Big Sister’ so readily.” she retorted sharply. Henri could see how rather offended Morjana was at such a retort. Still, he couldn’t help but chuckle at it--albeit discretely--as it was well understood amongst the party that Morjana was certainly the oldest of Henri’s band of serpentine travelers, even if nobody outright stated it.

“Ohh~...Julianna, you’re no fun,” the apophis says with a pout, before turning to the medusa with a renewed look of hope. “Hey, Eurie~. Care to trade rooms for the night with your big sis?”

“Uh, no. Screw off.”

The medusa’s words pierce Morjgana’s words so deeply, she visibly flinches at Eurie’s reply.

“Well, then...how about you, Grace?” she says, turning to the shirohebi, who in turn is staring off to nowhere, lost in thought.

“Hmm, I wonder: should I bathe now, or in the morning?”

“You’re not even listening,” Morjana says, sulking to herself.

“Morgue, give it up,” the echidna says with authority. “Besides, if you’re worried about warmth, then Lili and Yunfei can keep us company. They are warm-bloods, after all,” she says, referring to the Wurm and Ryu, both holding keys between the nails of their claws.

“Yes, Sister. We shall keep you nice and warm for the event,” the Wurm says. “I-I mean, evening,” she corrects herself with a giggle.

“Yup! Nice and warm!” Yunfei repeats.

“But I wanted to snuggle with Henri tonight~,” Morjana complains rather forwardly, ending her statement with a faint “Poop.” With a sullen sigh, she takes one of the leftover keys to Room 7 and takes her belongings into the room with her.

====================

"Well, too bad for the old Morgue," Eurie proclaims, stretching her arms up and out with an exhale. "Looks like we get Henri for the night." She then hurriedly slithers to the caesar-sized bed in her nightgown, and dives onto it, adding herself to the pile composed of Henri and the red and white lamiae wrapped around him. And so a third lamia is added. Eurie giggles as she gets herself comfortable, her body pressed up against the others' as she too wraps her tail around him.

Henri was a resilient man. Most men would have certainly been dying to relieve the fire in their loins, being snuggled between three lamian beauties. But he had learned to keep himself in check, as this was not the first time he had found himself in this situation. After all, it was practically a rule amongst the team that three of the girls were allowed to use him for warmth on any given night. The rest had to make due with the fire pit and the cloth on their backs. Of course, Lili and Yunfei had it the easiest, being dragons and what not, but that was a different matter.

"Henri, you're extra warm tonight, you know," Rosalind tells him.

"Really," he replies, "because you're feeling extra cold tonight. If I'm not careful, I may wind up with a mild cold tomorrow."

"What have you got to complain about? If I got to sleep with three handsome men cuddling up to me like this, I'd die on the spot," says Eurie.

"I can't move my legs, for starters," he responds.

Grace snuggles closer as she says, "All will be well, Henri. Just try counting sheep. You've done this before." Grace closes her eyes and begins counting.

"1...2...3..."

====================

"1034...1035...1036," Henri mumbles to himself, in a futile effort to fall asleep. His eyes remain wide open, while his 3 companions have completely fallen asleep. And while Grace softly breathes in and out in her peaceful sleep, Rosalind and Eurie are contently snoring a ruckus, with Rosalind tossing and turning in bed.

He tries to fall asleep the best he is able, but before long, he begins to feel a discomfort in his loins. And not from any burning desire, this he knows for sure. Surely he can't go to sleep like this, and if he can, he'd rather not for fear of the consequences. He moves his arm and...

It's stuck.

The three girls coiled around him are surely making it hard for him to release himself, but nonetheless, he must escape.

"Roz...Roz, wake up," he whispers, desperately trying to nudge the red lamia awake with his head. There's no response from her, as she just keeps snoring peacefully--and loudly. "Roz, get up, I gotta...I gotta go," he whispers more loudly, giving another rough nudge with his head, only for her to turn away, her body now unreachable from where he lies.

"Dammit," Henri mouths, before desperately attempting to wiggle free, alternating his body swaying left and right, left and right, again and again for what feels like an eternity. But little by little, he shakes an arm loose from the coils of his bedmates. With a satisfying pop, he frees his arm, leaving him plenty room to free the other.

Unfortunately, in her sleep, Eurie grabs Henri's arm, cuddling with it. "No. Don't. No, please, stop," Henri silently begs in disapproval, with a frown forming on his lips. He turns his head to see Eurie's content face as she continues snoring, before trying to push her body off of his. Her tight grip around his arm, however, proves to be difficult to overcome. As pushing her away only causes her to hold his arm tighter to her chest.

He instead resorts to pushing her face away with his palm, his desperation to be free overriding his rationale to escape without waking her up. Still, the medusa takes his rough mashing of her face in stride, her happy, drooling face showing no sign of waking up. Henri rubs his eyes, adding a small hint of aggravation in the way he wipes his eyes before resorting to one last trick.

Henri takes his hand, and flicks Eurie across the forehead as hard as his finger can. At that moment, Eurie, still half-asleep, releases Henri's arm to wipe her hand across her face, presumably to rid herself of whatever flicked her forehead. Before she can grab his arm again, he takes the pillow resting behind him and jams it in between himself and the medusa, letting her wrap her arms around it instead. With that out of the way, he continues to wiggle his legs free from the coils of the three lamiae. With a good pull, he frees one foot, and then the other. Before anything else can go awry, Henri hurriedly crawls out from bed, making sure not to wake his predators, before running out of the room.

====================

With a satisfying sigh, he walks out of the inn's bathroom, beginning his return to his own room. In honesty, he isn't quite excited to return to the coils of his bedmates, even if it does mean being nestled between their perky, rather lovely sets of mammaries. It's very cramped. Nice, but cramped. His conviction is further eroded when he stumbles upon the door leading to the inn's hot spring. His steps stop, and he finds himself staring at the door for a good minute, considering his options.

Given how late it is, he doubts anyone is awake at this hour. If he truly wanted, he could rest his tired bones for as long as he wanted in complete silence and solitude. It seems like a well deserved reward for the troubles he and his crew had endured thus far, and a good soak would surely help to feel renewed and ready to take on any bounties he could fulfill while in town for the next few days.

"I suppose I could stand to spoil myself," Henri says after some none-too-lengthy deliberation, and goes through the doors to the room in the back.

He quickly disrobes upon entering the locker chambers, removing his night garments and even his undergarments until he is as nude as a newborn babe with nothing but a clean towel to cover his nethers. "Alright, time to get wet!" he exclaims as he runs out the chamber...paying little attention to the dark mage robes folded neatly in one of the cubby holes.

====================

"Mm-hmm-hmm...Ah~, this water is simply divine~." Morjana sighs with relaxed pleasure, soaking in the luxurious bath salts of the spring as she gazes up at the night sky. "I could very well soak here forever, pruning be damned~." A giggle escapes her lips as she finishes the thought. "Still, it would've been nice if the others could've joined in~. I do hate to enjoy luxuries like this alone~."

As though on cue, Henri bursts through the open threshold of the chamber leading to the springs, and with a running leap, rips the towel from his loins with a shout of "Yaaahoooo!"

...Until, in that half-second, he sees Morjana, in all her nude, buxom, glory, looking up at him...holding a towel to her abundant breasts with one hand, and with the other covering the blush of her face with her dainty fingers with an embarrassed smile. In that moment, his face twists into one of shock and embarrassment, and his cry quickly changes to an "Oh no!"

A splash is made.

"M-Morjana!?" Henri exclaims, quickly tying his towel around his waist. "I-I thought you were asleep!"

"My, my...I could say the same of you, dear~," Morjana says with a giggle. "Perhaps you were trying to sneak a peek at your big sis so late at night~? You shouldn't do naughty things like that, Henri~."

"You shouldn't say stupid things like that, Morjana," he replies, his deadpan answer matching his expression.

"Oh, Henri...you've been so cruel to me all day~. You might make me cry before the night is over," she whines with a pout, ending with an audible, "Hmph."

"Cruel, you say?"

"Yes, quite! After all, you didn't even volunteer to share the same room with me? And now here you are, trying to ogle me while I'm defenseless~!" The apophis makes a lecherous moan as she twists her body away from you, covering her breasts with her towel as she feigns resistance.

"As much as I can tell you're faking this, I'll humor you," Henri says with a defeated sigh, and some sarcasm. "...What can I ever do to make it up for you, 'Big Sis'?"

As he asks her, Morjana's eyes beam with delight to his offer--or rather, they would if her eyes were open. "You know," she begins, leaving Henri dreading his decision. "The owners of this inn said this hot spring was supposed to cure your aches and pains...but I have this absolutely awful knot in my back, dear~. It must be from those poses I've been trying to make while casting, you see?”

He could tell she was trying to milk him for all the sympathy he was worth. Morjana did have a knack for winning favor of her comrades, whether by word or other means.

She turns her back to Henri, resting her chest against the edge of the spring, telling him, "And I would be so grateful if you could rub the knot out of my back. Would you?"

Henri stops and stares at Morjana, taking pause at her seemingly ridiculous request. "You're serious about this," he asks, searching for some form of confirmation.

"Mmm-hmm~. Oh come, now. We're both here, enjoying the luxuries of the hot springs, are we not? Wouldn't you rather have that we enjoyed them together~?"

After some thought, giving a wary look to her, he gives a puff from his nostrils. "If you insist," he tells her with some sarcasm, knowing she won't let up on asking at this point. He approaches the apophis as he tells her, "Turn around."

She does as he asks, turning over to reveal her smooth back to him, resting on the spring's edge. Henri closes the distance between them and straddles her back, his hands slowly moving closer to her back. For a brief moment, he stops hesitantly just inches from her skin, but soon continues, his fingers pressing on her beautifully violet skin. As he lowers his palms onto her back, he can feel his hands stick to her moist body. Morjana lets a soft giggle escape her lips as she feels his hands rub against her back.

Henri presses his fingers against her back as he slowly glides them up her spine. Morjana can feel the knots loosen, and lets out a small moan as his fingers slide to the nape of her neck. At least Henri understood she wasn't lying. She definitely had a knot or two that needed untangling. Again and again, he repeats this motion, being careful not to get too grabby with the apophis. Who knows what could happen if he grabs a hold of her breasts, Henri thinks. With her tail gently swishing in the water restlessly--even hesitantly coiling around his leg on occasion, he can take a small guess.

When he starts using his knuckles to further loosen out her muscles, moving his curled fingers up and down as he drags his knuckles along her spine once more. Feeling a pop in her back, the apophis lets out an audible, "Ah~!" Henri is suddenly compelled to stop his hands, but this triggers a response from Morjana, turning her head back to him. With a small laugh and a wag of the tip of her tail, she says, "I didn't say stop, boy~."

"Y-Yes. Sorry," Henri replies with a gulp, sinking his knuckles into her body once more. Over time, Henri eventually settles into a pattern as he applies more and more pressure to her back.

"Mmm, I haven't felt this alive since my youthful days in the Arids~," she joyfully says as you continue rubbing her back. "I simply must thank you, my sweet Henri~."

"So you really are from the Arids after all, aren't you, Morjana," he asks. "Very interesting. Though, I suppose I should've known sooner. We don't find many lamias like you around these parts."

"Yes, indeed. Ah, I remember when I first got my start in this continent. Many people feared me and took me for a Feral One, can you believe that." She felt another knot loosening in her back, her face wincing from the small pleasure it gave her.

"That sounds terrible. It sounds like they could have killed you."

"Oh, you needn't mind, dear Henri~. It's all in the past now. Besides, I had been plenty used to it anyway~," she says, rather nonchalantly.

For a moment, Henri stops his hands again in response to her words, but soon keeps going. "What do you mean by that," he asks.

"Oh? Oh my! I let that slip, didn't I~," she says with some faux-surprise, eventually settling herself again on the spring's edge. "Well you see, Henri, I was quite the infamous little street urchin where I come from. Mine was not a welcome kind where I lived, so...there were many days where I didn't have a good place to rest."

"I...see."

"That is, until I had an encounter with the princess pharaoh herself."

"You met royalty!?"

"Well, I hadn't known at the time that she was~. To me, she was another street rat like myself, only human~." She turns her head away, looking up to the moonlit sky. Yet, Henri could feel something in her. Some sense of longing or nostalgia, maybe. He couldn't be too sure. "But she was different from the other humans that I had met. She was kind, and generous, and wasn't at all afraid of me. I could tell she was grateful that I helped her the first time we met, but it was something more than that," she said. "She saw me as just another demihuman living in her kingdom."

In that moment, the pressure of Henri rubbing for back forces another knot to make a pop in her back, releasing some significant tension from her spine. "Aaahn~!" Morjana shouts in a loud yelp as she shudders from the release of tension. But she quickly covers her mouth, the bridge of her nose showing a slight hint of blush as she lowers her head. "That wasn't very ladylike of me," she mutters.

"Don't worry, 'Big Sis,'" he says, laughing it off before continuing. "So what happened after that?"

"Hmm? After what?"

"After you found out she was pharaoh?"

"Dear," she started with a giggle, "I didn't find out until she had invited me to her home."

"Truly? This girl sounds awfully...naïve, wouldn't you agree," Henri says as politely as he can--though it isn't much.

"I suppose I can't say you're wrong~. But...she felt she had owed her life to me, and she offered me a chance to live with her in the palace, in return."

"Hmph. That sounds like the good life," says a disappointed Henri.

"Yes," Morjana says lightheartedly, "It does, doesn't it~?"

"And yet you left, is that right?" Morjana turns to face Henri upon hearing that, her nonchalant smile unwavering.

"What makes you say that?"

"Well, it's the only reason you're with us, scrounging for money like the rest of us, instead of staying back in the Arids," he replies, scratching his head in some confusion. "The only question is...: Why would you choose this kind of living instead?"

The apophis pauses for a moment, taking time to consider an answer to Henri's question before finally answering, "Well, dear, you're not wrong in that I left. I had gladly accepted her offer, and the days I had spent with her as her friend--as her sister--those were wondrous days indeed."

"Hmm."

"But," she begins, her smile receding for only a moment, "As for why I left...I'm afraid that's one question that I cannot answer."

The young knight is rather taken aback by her refusal. Confused, he instead tries to ask her again, "A-Are you sure? If it's something private, you can surely tell--"

Before he can finish, Morjana presses a finger to his lips, her gentle smile returning, looking at him through nearly closed eyes. "Ah, ah, ah, Henri~. A man your age should know better than to pry too deeply into a woman's affairs~."

As much as he hated to admit, Morjana was right. He had asked far too many questions on the subject already, and everyone has their limits. Now was the time to stop. "I see," he says as Morjana withdraws her finger from his lips, "I must apologize, Morjana."

"Ufufu~. No need for apologies, my dear~."

"Henri!" A familiar voice calls out from the locker chambers. Someone was coming, and by the looks of the white tail slithering towards the springs, it was Grace, hurriedly approaching Henri and his partner, asking, "What are you doing out here with Miss le Fay?" Once she gets a closer look, she looks down into the spring to see the two of them naked, in close proximity of each other. From this image alone, Grace begins to express her extreme surprise. "A-And...Why are the both of you nude!?" she asks, her face turned away so as not to look at the indecent pair.

While Henri begins to try and tighten his towel around his waist again, the apophis simply laughs, flicking her hand dismissively at the question. "You don't think we could bathe in our clothes, do you~?" she replies jokingly.

"That--That's not my point! Have you two been--" Grace stops to consider her word choice for a moment before continuing to ask, "Have you two...been doing...indecent things here?"

"Indecent?" Morjana repeats curiously. "Grace, dear, Henri here was simply giving me a small massage~. There's nothing you need to worry about, my dear~," she adds, nonchalantly waving her hand as a gesture of dismissal.

"But, Henri was--"

"Truly, it's fine, Grace," Henri interrupts, getting out of the hot spring, his towel wrapped firmly around his waist. "In fact, I was just about to excuse myself, if our...big sis...has no objections."

He turns to face Morjana, hoping for no sign of disapproval from her, but she simply smiles and shakes her head. "None at all~," she says. "I suppose I'll continue to soak alone~." Henri in response gives her a small grin and a nod, before beginning to walk back into the locker chambers.

"Oh, and Henri..."

The two turn once more to the apophis, who has dropped her smile for only a moment as she tells the young knight, "Do not take the words of angels as absolute truth...That Valkyrie...we must make sure we can truly trust what she has to say, the next time we meet."

Henri was confused by this sudden change in her tone. The last time he and his crew had met the Valkyrie, she had told them of their quest to exterminate the Lilim that had been plaguing the continents one by one. He felt that her cause was just, and her word trustworthy. Yet Morjana has proven herself a brilliant woman, and as strange as she may be--and for a woman who claimed to be of 19 years, she was certainly strange indeed--she has never once led Henri's crew astray. With her words in mind, Henri nods and replies with a meager "Goodnight," taking his leave of the apophis.



And so, Morjana returns to her solitary bath. All is quiet, save for the sound of the water sloshing about in the springs, and the chirping of the crickets in the night. She, however, thinks back on her own words, her smile fading as she leans against the edge if the spring again. The apophis rests her head against her arms, giving a sigh that sounds...tired, or rather, melancholy.

"I wish I learned that lesson before it was too late.," she utters, looking up to the moonlit sky. "Right, Nephry?"