Aa: Lust in Translation

This is a tale set at Azimuth Academy - a school for magic and the like inspired by (among other things) Hogwarts, the Unseen University, and I.O.U. These stories can be read in any order, really, but they do follow on from each other, so the order they're published in would probably work best.

This story follows on from the events of Study Break.

Given some aspects of the setting, I want to make very clear that anyone engaged in adult behaviour is at least eighteen years of age... if not massively more.

-[::]-

There are times when hard-won knowledge will solve a problem presented to you. There are others when the tools you need are readily at hand. As she headed for the office of Doctor Lena, one of the Azumith Academy's resident Cryptoacranists, Kel wondered which she'd be making use of to work her way through the translations she'd been asked to do.

Whistling tunelessly to herself, the changeling worked her way through the winding pathways of the Academy grounds, her pale, almost colourless form contrasting rather vividly with the flowers that were starting to bloom along the walkways. Running a hand idly through her short white hair, she wasted a moment or two wondering how bored her room-mate was going to be with what she was doing today...

She had no doubt Tori would let her know at great length that evening if she had been.

Meh, I can always ignore her. That usually works.

It only took a couple of minutes to get to where she was going, and when she knocked on the office door, the response was almost immediate.

"Unless you're male, naked, and dripping with chocolate sauce, go away".

The feminine voice coming through the door sounded distracted and irritable, which struck Kel as perfectly normal for this particular member of faculty, and her only reaction to the tone was to grin as she pushed the door open and walked inside.

A greying head poked around the side of the desk, aiming a glare at her until it's owner recognised her. At which point, it turned into something more like a confused frown.

"Why are you here?"

"Because," Kel replied amiably, pushing the door shut behind her with a heel, "you collared me yesterday afternoon and told me you had some translation you needed help with."

That was greeted with a vague grunt, and all three and a half feet of Doctor Lena made it's appearance around the desk. Wiping her hands across her skirt, the old halfling wandered over to a pile of books stacked in a corner of the office and started poking at it. Experience had Kel keeping her mouth shut, waiting patiently as Lena worked her way through the probably rather jumbled collection of thoughts in her head until the right one came to the surface.

It wasn't that the woman was addled or forgetful, just...

What was it she called herself? A vigorous multi-tasker? A more elegant description than "someone who constantly tried to think about thirty different things at once", I suppose...

"Aha!" With that sudden exclamation, the halfling darted back to her desk, and there was a moment of muttering and cursing as she hauled herself up onto the chair and grabbed an old-looking scroll from the desk top. "Here."

Kel took the scroll, declining once again to ask why the little woman insisted on using a desk so blatantly too big for her. Carefully, she undid the ties holding the scroll closed and unrolled it enough to get a look at the text written on it.

"Well?"

Sighing, Kel shook her head. "Sorry, no. I recognise the language, I think, but if it's what I think it is, there's no chance I'll be able to find any textbooks that will help me."

Doctor Lena simply looked at her in silence for a second or two, then let out a rather heart-felt "Crap."

Kel opened her mouth, then closed it again. She'd been about to say something, but even as the words started to form in her mouth, she'd reconsidered. It was a possible solution, sure, but not necessarily her first choice. The guy was, after all, an arrogant prick far too often for her tastes.

Unfortunately, Lena saw the change in her expression, and her eyes sharpened. "You have an idea," she all but accused. "Don't keep it to yourself!"

With a sigh, Kel redid the scroll's ties. She was going to regret this, she was sure of it. But she also didn't feel like dealing with a cranky member of teaching staff, either.

"I know a guy," she said wearily. "He might be able to help."

No time at all was wasted in consideration of that announcement, Instead, an imperious little finger was aimed at the door. With another sigh, Kel shrugged and headed out of the office.

Maybe

, she thought to herself,

just maybe he'll be bearable today.

Not that she held out much hope of that...

* * *

The Grove was a fair walk away from most of the rest of the campus -- certainly far enough to discourage the younger students from wandering over to peek around an area that was off-limits to them anyway. Even older students, and staff, tended not to visit it all that often, either, but that was more often due to not having any real

need

to.

It was undeniably beautiful, though.

Simply making your way through the trees that surrounded the Grove itself was a treat for the senses, with the rich, vibrant scents and colours all around almost distracting enough to make a visitor not notice the fact that it took far longer to get through those trees than it should have. Once she broke through the inner ring of ancient trunks and branches, however, Kel smiled to herself even though she'd known what was waiting for her.

The Grove's standing stones, rough-hewn and mossy, formed the crooked circle she'd expected, their bases sinking out of sight into the crystal-clear waters of the pool -- waters that rippled gently even through there was no breeze at all to make it happen. In the pool's centre, a mound of grassy earth, maybe ten paces or so across, rose from the waters and was home to the real star of the scene: the truly massive oak the loomed over the dancing stones that surrounded it, dwarfing them, the younger trees around the outside, and anyone who presumed to put themselves in it's presence.

Not being an idiot, Kel gave the tree a respectful nod of greeting, taking a moment or two to admire it as it deserved, then let her eyes roam the leaf-dappled shadows under it's branches for the reason she as here. Part of her hoped that her search would fail, but it was a rather childish bit of her that she had little difficulty ignoring. She was here for a reason, and if that reason didn't show itself pretty damned soon...

"Ah," she said with satisfaction, tilting her head a little to one side as she studied what she was now looking at. "There you are. Any particular reason you're hanging upside down from a branch?"

Jasper was hard to make out amongst the leaves, his dark green skin blending nicely with the foliage around him, but he showed no real surprise that she'd spotted him. Instead, he shot her a grin and dropped to the ground with a graceful twist that landed him on his feet instead of his head. He greeted her with a flourishing bow, then blew at some of the black hair that had fallen into his face.

"Merely thinking, my dear lady. Merely thinking."

"About how bad those breeches go with the rest of you?"

Kel was totally deadpan as she spoke, but there was no denying that the virulent yellow of what he wore covering his lower half -- and that was

all

he was wearing -- really did clash rather horribly with everything around him. And, in fact, him.

Dark eyes glittering with humour, he looked down at himself before shrugging. "They keep the breeze out."

There was no denying the truth of that one, so Kel didn't even try. Instead, she walked to the edge of the pool and waited until he grinned again and beckoned her closer. With a certain amount of caution, she set one foot on the water -- he was not above lying, after all, especially if he thought it was funny -- but apart from a slight amount of give, the surface took her weight.

"So," Jasper asked casually as she walked across the pool toward him. "What can this humble representative of the Courts do for you this day?"

Managing to keep a straight face at his use of the word 'humble', Kel reached dry land once more and held up the scroll in her hand.

"I need someone who can make Elder Kethian readable to people who haven't been dead for about four thousand years."

"Hmm."

That was all the reply she got for a few seconds, then all traces of levity vanished from his attitude. The change to total seriousness was quite startling even though she'd seen it before, but she knew that it was a sure sign that he was willing to do business. After all, if he wasn't, he'd already be trying to haggle the price.

"Possible," he said finally, "but as with all things, there must be balance."

Kel nodded. She'd known that coming here, which was why she'd not been all that eager, but now she was here... well, there was no sense making things harder for everyone concerned. The accidental irony of that thought made her smile a little, but Jasper didn't seem to notice. He was too busy gazing out at the waters of the pool, waiting to see if she would take the deal.

No haggling...

she thought wryly.

There's only one price, and he sets it. Though at least he doesn't change it without warning -- or reason.

"Would you mind?" she asked politely, aiming her words up at the canopy of leaves shading them. She held up the scroll, and a slim shoot of greenery descended to lift it gently from her hand. She watched as the rolled parchment was raised a foot or so up toward the branches, then simply dangled there safely off of the ground. "Thank you."

An answering rustle, barely audible but definitely there, ran through the oak's leaves, and she turned her attention back to Jasper. She sometimes wondered how he looked so human, green skin aside, given that he was most definitely not, but she always followed that thought with 'who cares?' Apart from the colour of his skin, he was put together the right way... and as she let her gaze wander over the smooth muscle of his back, she wasn't too proud to admit that it was the right way in more than one regard.

Carefully, making sure she didn't loose her balance, she toed her shoes off and started working on the buttons of her dress. Practice had them undone in only a few seconds, and she smiled as she let the garment slip down over her shoulder and slide it's way to the ground. Jasper may not have been looking her way, but there was nothing wrong with his hearing, as the way he went totally still at the silky sound proved.

Next up would have been her underwear, if she'd bothered that morning, and a few moments more work had her stockings laid on top of her dress, leaving her pale form totally bare to the world. Jasper had, true to form, not shown any reaction or interest in looking her way at all during her quick, efficient strip, but that was fine. She knew that her body, especially naked, tended not to be what most folks considered their ideal -- but then again, she was a changeling, so that was hardly a problem.

Closing her eyes, Kel concentrated, picturing a specific appearance that Jasper had conjured up for her the first time they'd done business, willing her body to match itself to the image. She felt herself grow a little taller, weight shifting a little here and there as her flesh moulded itself into the shape she desired. Little of it, oddly enough, was actually changes in her body. The biggest shift was in the way her hair, now long enough to brush the top of her backside, hung down her back -- something that took a bit of getting used to, considering how short she usually had it.

She took a little extra time to make sure she had it all right, then opened now-green eyes to check that Jasper was still pretending to ignore her. He was, so she ran a quick check of everything else one last time. Light golden skin, raven-black hair, delicately pointed ears to match the way her features now looked, figure slim and surprisingly small-breasted...

Yeah, we're good to go.

She didn't know why he wanted her to wear the form of his Court's Queen, though she had some pretty good ideas, and she'd never asked. She didn't see any real need.

"Agreed," she said calmly, and watched as Jasper finally turned to look at her. There was no attempt at all to hide the satisfied little smile that appeared on her lips as his gaze ran all over her naked, and now far more glorious, body. Just like there was no attempt on his part to hide the fact that those breeches of his were tight enough for her to see quite clearly that he was liking what he was looking at.

With a slow smile, he lifted a finger and gave it a little twirl. Rolling her eyes, Kel lifted her arms over her head and turned herself around on the spot, giving him a good view at the whole package -- then cursed as she felt something wrap tightly around her raised wrists, binding them together and holding them tight.

"Oh for... Really?"

Kel could feel him right behind her, and nearly shivered at the way his breath caressed her cheek when he leant in close to one ear. "Relax."

As he walked around to her front, the look she gave him promised something very,

very

uncomfortable if this didn't turn out to be worth it. It was no great surprise that he didn't seem fazed by it in the slightest.

Stepping in close, he laid a finger over her lips and looked her calmly and squarely in the eyes. "I will not hurt you," he said quietly, "and I would ask that you trust me. Decide that we are done, and it is so."

Leaving the deal unfulfilled, of course. She noticed he didn't rush to point that out. She was sorely tempted to bite that finger, but instead glared at him until she realised that it was having no effect at all. With a yank of her arms, she tried to pull herself free of the leafy bindings holding her wrists, but got nowhere at all.

Maybe it was just her own, admittedly rather perverse, nature, but she didn't feel all that worried by the situation. In fact, the heat starting to build up inside her would have made it rather hard to argue that she had any real problem with it at all... and she had more than a little suspicion that Jasper knew it.

After a few humming seconds of silence, Kel parted her lips and ducked her head, sucking Jasper's finger into her mouth. With her eyes locked on his, she pressed her tongue up against it and slowly pulled her head back until it popped free once more.

"I'm going to take as agreement." Jasper chuckled, humour sparking across his face again. "You could have just said so, you know."

"I could have bitten it off, too." Kel replied, giving no sign as to whether she was actually joking.

Jasper's response was a laugh as he let his gaze wander down her body again. There was no mistaking the heat in his eyes, but she didn't feel like making this easy for him. Well, any easier than she already had.

Kel gave her bindings another yank to see if she could pull herself free, but that attempt got about as far as the others she'd made so far. Seemingly happy to let her try, Jasper had waited patiently as she took another shot at it. When she eventually quit, he gave her a rather self-satisfied smile. "I'd be impressed if you managed to pull free, you know... but by all means carry on. It has the most entertaining effect on your figure."

Kel's answer to that was a rather pouty expression and sticking her tongue out at him, but all he did was laugh again as he stepped closer.

"Dear lady, look me in the eye and tell me you aren't enjoying it... just a little."

She opened her mouth to do just that, but couldn't quite make herself say the words. Sure, she was a bit uncomfortable... but she could still taste where she'd sucked his finger into her mouth, and thinking of what it could have been instead had her squeezing her thighs together just a little... and feeling the damp heat that was there. Closing her mouth again, Kel settled for giving him another sulky look, and he answered it with the same chuckle he'd let out a moment before.

She couldn't stop the soft moan that escaped her lips when Jasper's hand touched her side, sliding upward over her skin to cup a breast, his thumb brushing over the tip - which now felt tighter, stiffer, and more sensitive than she would have imagined under the circumstances. She had to force her eyes to stay open, but when she did, she caught the sight of Jasper running the tip of his tongue over his lips.

"Yeah..." he breathed, "Just right."

With the kind of grace that she never really expected from him, he knelt down in front of her and shot a glance up at her face. As he'd moved, his other hand had slipped onto her skin as well, and she could have sworn it left a line of goosebumps in it's wake as it slid down to rest on her hip. Keeping his eyes on hers, Jasper slowly leant forward and gently ran the tip of his tongue around the peak of her breast, the wet heat of his touch sending a ribbon of heat ran through her and dragging a soft, and sort-of reluctant noise from her throat.

He didn't carry on the same way, though. Instead, he opened his mouth just enough to tug at her flesh with his teeth, and the little jerk she made in response wasn't entirely surprise at what he'd done. Still sucking gently at her tit, he chuckled at her reaction and his other hand got moving again. It took her a moment to realise it wasn't going up like she'd half-expected it to. Instead, it went the opposite way entirely, skimming over her skin until it slid between her legs.

"Bastard...." she groaned, and he started to pull away from her. This time, when Kel twisted it wasn't to try and get away - she wanted that mouth to stay right where it was. After a second or two, Jasper nipped playfully at her breast, moved his mouth over to the other side... and Kel was barely aware of what he was doing at all. At that moment, all her attention was on the silky smooth feeling of his finger sliding along the length of her sex, and she let out another moan as she tried to push down against it - only to be pulled up short by those fucking leaves tying her wrists.

To her intense annoyance, Jasper pulled both his hand and mouth away from her then, and she had to bite her lip to hold back a rather undignified whimper at the loss of the sensations.

"Well, you certainly seem to be enjoying yourself," he grinned up at her from where he was kneeling on the grass. To which she replied with a scornful little sneer. "Good. Now, what is it you want with that scroll again?"

"Seriously? You're going to ask me that now...?"

"Call it curiosity."

"Fine," she huffed in annoyance. "Like I said the first time, I need a translation. Doctor Lena wants it for-"

She cut off as Jasper leant forward, hands taking hold of her hips and pulling her closer as he leaned in. "Keep talking," he ordered as he dropped one hand down to the back of her knee and, supporting her weight with the other, lifted her leg and slid himself in until her thigh was resting on his shoulder. Though she couldn't see much of him past her own body, Kel still caught the glare he threw her way, and found herself quickly starting to speak again.

"She's got some theory or other about the area it came from, and ahhhhhh!"

It had been hard as hell to concentrate enough to speak with the feeling of his breath across her slit, but when he ran his tongue along it there was no way she could keep going, all thought washed away by the wave of pleasure that shot through her. Abruptly, she felt a sharp, stinging slap across her ass that seemed to blend seamlessly into the echoes of what he'd just done with his mouth, and she felt as much as heard him growling up at her.