Showing an honest interest in these women instead of fear or disgust and allowing his partners to set the pace of their intimacy elicited some very dramatic responses from The Scarlet Bitch's crew.
The days since they left Calfera had been filled with sex, but not nearly as much as Kal expected. None of the four human women on the crew moved things to the bed. One refused to see him completely, giving up her turn to the next in line. Two sat down at the table in his room and interrogated him for the first hour. One got up and politely left afterward while the other settled into a more amicable conversation for the remainder of her time.
The last human woman entered wearing a cloak with the hood pulled over her face. Per instructions delivered to him earlier by Tavorah, he led her over to the bed and turned her away from him before slipping the cloak from her shoulders, revealing her naked body. She kept her eyes tightly shut as Kal picked her up and gently laid her in the bed. The woman rolled away from him, and the mage climbed in behind her before pulling her close and just holding her tight. A few seconds later, her body shook as she started sobbing.
The woman's husband died in the attack where the slavers took her, and the raider's subsequent abuse took their unborn child. For the next two hours, she poured her heart out to Kal as though he were her late husband. She apologized for not having the strength to save him, for losing their baby, and finally for not having the courage to join him in death.
Despite getting explicit instructions before she arrived not to speak, Kal barely whispered into her ear, "Live on, and stop blaming yourself." He wasn't sure where the urge to say that came from, but it must have been what she needed to hear as the woman flipped over and bawled into his chest until finally falling asleep. Kal quietly summoned Ria and retrieved the packet of sand before casting a sleeping spell so he could extricate himself from her embrace without waking her.
Later that day, she approached Kal as he stretched his legs out on the maindeck. The woman thanked him for earlier before kissing him on the cheek and returning to her duties. The sway in her hips as she walked away made the mage think things might not be as chaste if her turn came up again before they made port. But he could have been imagining things
The monster girls were lustier than the human crew, but some still needed a softer touch. Wonna, the rodent girl with the ever-present smile, requested Tavorah tie him to the bed before arriving alone, despite her statement back in Calfera. After riding him and sating her body's needs, she laid beside him and spoke about her experience as a slave before the crew escaped their cages and commandeered the ship. She wasn't the first to talk about her enslavement and, like many of the other monster girls, expressed how she felt betrayed by her own body. Kal wiggled a wrist free of his bonds and put an arm around the woman as she tearfully recounted the intense humiliation of begging the slavers to fuck her while in heat. Even now, after just finishing with the mage minutes ago, Wonna said she could feel the urge to mate rising again because he hadn't climaxed inside her yet.
Kal reached across and loosened the rope around his other wrist.
"Why are we like this?" she asked, then grumbled about the poor job Tavorah did of tying him up as Kal cradled her.
"Because the man who made your ancestors meant well but probably didn't consider situations like yours," he replied. "The original monster girls all have a strong desire for sex, but they can't have children and don't go through heats or mating seasons. I don't think he had the chance to consider the impact on future monster girls who experienced what you and the rest of the crew did."
"Is there a way to fix us?"
"Maybe you aren't broken."
She looked up at him. The smile on her face looked unnatural and strained. "I hate being a slave to my desire for human men. I didn't even want to come here, at least not alone."
"Do you regret it?"
"A little, but I think talking helped. You seem less like a faceless cock," she said, reaching down and wrapping her fingers around his shaft, "and more like... a friend?"
"Friends are good. I like helping friends more than being a faceless cock tied to a bed." Kal pulled her on top of him and placed the head of his prick against her entrance. He then pushed her up, so she knelt over his waist. Taking her hands in his, he stiffened his arms so she could use him for support and grinned up at her. "And I think this is a lot more enjoyable for both of us."
Wonna studied his face for a long moment before the strain in her smile faded. She sighed several times before asking, "Would you do this with a friend?"
"I have, many times. It comes with the territory of having monster girls for friends. I've even helped a woman who was little more than an acquaintance get pregnant. She did become a friend, but not until later when we traveled together for a while. Now that I think of it, she should be due soon."
The rodent girl shifted her hips so his cock nudged the lips of her sex. "Do you mind if we just talk for a little longer? We really aren't more than acquaintances now, and I'd like to know a little more about you before we do this again."
"As you wish," he said, rolling onto his side and bringing Wonna along with him. Kal propped his head up on his hand. "So, what would you like to know?"
------
Kal leaned back against the large beam on the base of the poopdeck's catapult and sipped his tea, smiling as he went over the last few days in his head. The mage took pride in what he accomplished during his time on the Scarlet Bitch, but today would likely be his biggest challenge.
"You're looking smug this morning," said Captain Scarlet as she climbed the stairs to the poopdeck with a her own cup of tea in hand.
"I've been thinking back on the last few days," he replied before taking another sip. "I expected to be treated like a male prostitute during this trip, but at times I feel more like a counselor."
"I might've had a hand in that," said Scarlet, sitting on the catapult's beam beside Kal, "but not intentionally. When you were tryin' to fuck Roka through the bottom of my ship, I told the girls to think about what they wanted from you during their turns. Tavorah says after I left, the first of my crew to sleep with you started talkin' to that others about how you offer a listening ear along with a hard cock. After that, the crew's expectations changed. From what I've seen, keep doin' what you're doin'. Emotions are running high among the crew. But my girls have gotten things off their shoulders they've carried since we took this boat, so that's to be expected. I'm gonna be sad to see you go once we reach Azumbaho."
"Why me, though? Why are they able to let loose all of these pent-up emotions with me? Most of the crew went through the same ordeal. It seems like they would be better choices."
Scarlet sipped her tea. "I think it's 'cause we all have our demons from being in cages or collars. Talking about it with others helps, but at the same time, you are foisting your worries and fears onto someone still dealing with their own issues."
"That makes sense, I suppose. Since you mentioned collars, how did you get yours off once you escaped?"
"We didn't. The former captain refused to take us on board with collars on. Something about one of the slaves cutting through theirs and nearly sinking his ship. We're pretty sure it has something to do with the patch of newer lumber down in the cargo hold."
He didn't know what she meant since he had only been in the lower hold once, but even then, the ship seemed extremely sturdy, and it must have taken quite the blast to worry Scarlet's predecessor. "The slave collars I've seen weren't that powerful. Only enough to remove the slave's head. That doesn't include the ones I augmented, but those are weapons now, not collars.
"About Azumbaho, you said that it takes less than a week to get there, another two to round the northern edge and back to the mainland, then another week to get back to Calfera?"
"Roughly, but that's just time at sea. It doesn't account for any delays in port, repairs, or calm winds."
Kal looked to the northeast, "I have a feeling my destination is far to the north of where we arrive in Azumbaho. Would you be interested in keeping Kashka and me on for a little longer?"
Scarlet paused as she raised her cup to her lips. Cocking her head to the side, she asked," are you sure that's wise? Stay much longer, and my girls may tie you up and keep you in the hold if you try to leave. And just to give you fair warning, if we run into pirates, it will be coming around Azumbaho's southern tip. Your backrest has gotten most of its use in that short stretch of water."
"Your catapult won't get any use while I'm aboard," said the mage.
"I'll hold you to that," she said, sitting on the large beam Kal leaned against. "Now I need to ask you something important. You've met two of our aquatic crew members."
Kal nodded. He thoroughly enjoyed mating with the mermaid out in the sea as the Scarlet Bitch sailed away, then their mad dash to catch up once finished. It surprised him just how slow the ship actually sailed compared to the monster girl's speed. The other woman was the squid girl Scarlet mentioned his first night on board. Sex with her had been... interesting. The woman's arms and legs weren't actually arms and legs but twin tentacles formed into the limb's shape. Finger-like "fronds" at the end of her arm, tentacles formed into three fingers and a thumb that were surprisingly strong. The girl primarily kept her body upright with her muscles, since her bendy, cartilage-like skeleton didn't offer much support. Having sex with an enthusiastic, boneless, tentacled woman with huge, expressive eyes and smooth, slippery skin was definitely odd, but in a surprisingly good way. She was also happy to donate some of her ink to help him make new runes, which he greatly appreciated.
"The third should be joining us later today or tomorrow," Scarlet continued, "and will stay with us past the southern tip. The girl has saved us from fast ships more times than I can count, but I've never been able to repay her. Every man who's taken care of my girls for passage has flat refused to do anything with her, and she desperately wants a child. There aren't many of her kind left."
Kal looked up at the captain. "I don't think I need to point out I'm open-minded, but your tone is starting to worry me."
"Well... maybe this one should, but I'm going to put my faith in your open mind and hope you don't disappoint me, or her. Who is next in line this morning?"
"Yalli," Kal answered, worry creeping into his voice.
Scarlet sipped her tea. "You know that if you hurt that girl with this idea of yours, all the magic in the world won't save you from a rope around your ankle and getting tossed from The Bitch's bow. Your cat can't protect you from all of us."
Kal waved away the empty threat. "After convincing you to let me do this, if this ends up hurting her I'll probably never forgive myself. I feel like I've done enough damage by making her wait while we got everyone together on this."
"I still don't see how the hell this is supposed to be any different than what we've been telling her for years now."
"If it works, I'll explain it. And if it doesn't, then I was wrong, and there will be nothing to explain."
---
Kal met Yalli at the top of the poopdeck stairs. Maybe if he were an armadillo boy, he would find her pretty, but to his human eyes, 'unattractive' didn't quite seem strong enough. The hunched posture and bony plates broke up the 'humanness' of her figure, making them seem like growths from some obscure disease instead of a natural part of her body. Yalli's yellow hair with its faint pink tinge had none of the luster Elta's or any other golden-haired women he'd met.
