In Over His Head

* * * *

The world had gone dark... his face pressed against warm [skin?]... coarse hairs prickling his cheeks... his nostrils filled with cheap perfume and something darker... more musky... and... wet?... something slick and hot and wet was slipping back and forth over his nose, climbing higher and higher up his face... it shifted forward and he was pushed into it from behind... his mouth and nose were suddenly engulfed in slippery soft heat... it quivered against him, squeezing in on him and then releasing. Each time it covered more and more of his face... inching upwards toward his eyes. He was sinking! He felt a turning sensation and he tried to push away... but something held his head... a huge hand?... in a grip he could not break... and something else... legs?... was pinning his body in place. As he flailed he felt a leg come up over his shoulder and pull him in tighter. Hot viscous liquid was trickling into his mouth and nose. He started to cough and sputter. This was getting serious. He was being eaten! Or worse he was being fed to something. Two hands pushed him further down and under. His whole face slid into the dark heat as he was shifted down into a wider part of the opening pressing down on him... up over his eyes... his forehead... the angle shifted again and the slimy bottom of the opening... filled with slick fluid... slipped down over his chin. It squeezed him again. Harder and from all sides. It quivered against him. Then something grabbed the hairs on the back of his head and gave a sharp tug. Something GAVE and suddenly he plunged upward... slick rippled walls sliding easily over his cheeks and pinning back his pointed ears. He sensed a small void in front of his face... the walls contracting around him now pulling him... he opened his elven eyes and could see clearly in the darkness... the walls dripping and undulating... flexing and squeezing... suddenly gravity shifts. He is no longer under something pressing down over him. He is upside down... hanging suspended. He looks down and he is poised above a smaller more irregular tunnel filled with liquid and slowly widening and contracting..suddenly it yawns wide... wider than his whole body. He gazes into its dark depths and he sees no bottom, just an endless writhing tunnel descending into a darkness even he can't pierce. Then whatever is holding him let's go and he plunges into it, and he screams.

* * * *

Edovan jumped from sleep with a sudden start, his heart racing, his head pounding. Covered in a cold sweat. "What was that about!?" He asked himself, as he untangled from the sheets that were wrapped around his torso and legs. He was alone in the bed, he realized suddenly. And naked.

Yagaritte, who was sitting hunched over at the desk, working on something between her legs, turned and grinned at him as he suddenly looked over, scrambling to cover himself with the sheets.

"Don't worry," she assured him. "I had Mint collect your clothes for a washing. Didn't look like they'd been washed in ages..." she said. "Hope you don't mind."

"Last... last night..." Edovan stammered.

"Oh, last night?" Yagaritte asked, an air of put on innocence. "You mean when you crawled into my bed?" she added, straightening up. Out of nowhere her right hand produced a wicked looking dagger with a black gleaming blade, she held it to her lips and blew something off of it.. (Red hairs?)...and pressed the point into the surface of the desk, digging into the wood. She spun it menacingly between her fingers, the blue jewel at its hilt glinting in the dusty sun streaming in through the only window in the room.

Edovan blushed deeply, and was very scared of that dagger, which he was certain could end his life in a flash. He chose his words carefully.

"I was just... you were asleep, and you..." he said, pulling his legs up to his chest, wrapping his arms around them, as he pushed back to lean against the headboard, as far from Yagaritte as he could get without leaving the bed.

"What?" Yagaritte asked, patiently, tilting her head at him. The dagger continued to spin rhythmically.

"Your... your..." Edovan stammered, looking away from her suddenly. He buried his face in his arms. "You were indecent," he finished finally, voice muffled as he hid his face.

Yagaritte laughed. "So you decided crawling into bed with me was the correct option?" she asked him. There was no blush on her cheeks, no embarrassment in her voice. Nudity didn't bother her, and teasing Edovan about it was just too much fun.

Edovan looked back up at her and shook his head fervently. "No!" he cried. "I tried... tried to cover you!" he said helplessly. He just wanted Yagaritte to know he hadn't tried to take advantage of her! He was better than that, and didn't want her to think poorly of him.

"Cover me with your body?" she asked him, raising her brows.

Edovan cried out in annoyance, shaking his head frantically. This was hopeless. Either she was teasing him mercilessly, or she was just plain stupid, and he knew better than to ever think the second choice was an option. "A sheet!" he said finally, huffing.

Yagaritte pushed up from the chair and let the dagger fall onto the desk. Without warning, she crawled back into the bed. She was still wearing only her shift, and her hair in sleep-crazed and tangled around her face. She was on her hands and knees, crawling towards Edovan. The neck of her gown was wide open, her breasts very plainly visible in the gap as the fabric hung low and beyond that his gaze traveled further down to the lush patch of soft curls between her legs, just a bit darker than her hair. (Now she wasn't even wearing underwear?!) He swallowed hard.

"If you wanted me..." she said, her voice throaty. She nuzzled her face against his, her breath hot on his neck. "You only had to ask," she said.

Of course, she had no plans at all to actually do anything, but teasing him... she had yet to discover anything else in the world that was such a satisfying guilty pleasure as this was.

"I...I..." he stammered trying to sink back into the mattress. He was immensely thankful for the sheet between them, mainly because it was covering his instant erection.

"I'veneverbeenwithawoman!" he blurted, turning his face away from her to avoid the look he knew he would see on her face.

Shame burned his cheeks. Surely she would laugh at him now. Though the whole world probably already knew after that disaster downstairs last evening.

And she did laugh, (Ohh that laugh...) but not in a mocking way. "Little mouse, that matters not to me," she purred into his ear as she pulled his face back forward. It had been obvious to her that Edovan was a virgin, it didn't take a genius to figure that out. And she surely did not mind or care one way or the other. She pulled herself up and straddled her legs on either side of him. She brushed against his arousal quite accidentally and she clenched involuntarily. She could feel him just so against her through the sheets... but she didn't want to press herself against him that much. That would probably be too cruel, even by her standards. Or was it more cruel to let him suffer an erection with no release?

For a second, she contemplated pressing slowly down on him, taking him, sheet and all, into her. She'd never done that before. Would that work? Would that even count as sex? She imagined it would be a unique sensation for both of them, and Yagaritte was all about unique sensations. But, no. There would be plenty of time to experiment later if she chose to. And besides, shouldn't his first time be pure and perfect? But truthfully, if she had to be honest with herself, more than anything, she just really enjoyed teasing him.

Her hips moved closer to his face as she rose up over him and arched her back, stretching. This should have embarrassed him even further, but logical brain had broken into the wine closet long ago and was now drunkenly cheering lizard brain forward. She was like a Goddess towering over him! From his position underneath her, between her smooth shapely legs, Edovan could see all the things. Her shift had hitched up around her hips, and had stayed there, as if by some magic. Her nethers where now a few scant inches from his face. Unbeknownst to her, he had been here before, but there was no flimsy strip of cloth in the way this time. He stared upwards unable to think or speak. Lizard brain was busy trying to paint the image he was seeing into his permanent memory, to tuck it away for later... use.

Her hips were wide, almost twice as wide as his narrow hips. He could see the thick thatch of lightish red-blonde curls where the tops of her legs met, it seemed somehow less wild than it had when he glimpsed it last night. The fleshy nub of her clit, as big as his thumb, peeking out between the apex of her outer lips. Her darker pink inner lips were pert and closed now, barely protruding from her inner folds, but parted just a few centimeters as she stretched, causing him to give a little gasp. He stared at those lips, each longer than his hand (Was she truly that large? Or were his hands just that small?) He couldn't help but think about the night before, and how she had plunged her fingers into that hungry crevice. He licked his lips, swallowing the lump in his throat. His nostrils filled with her aroma, and it made his mouth water...

For her part, Yagaritte was having conflicting feelings as well. She had started this in teasing, but poised over him now, looking down into those big golden eyes... she wasn't so sure. She hesitated, thoughtful. Though small, he was well formed and perfectly proportioned, with the unblemished skin of one accustomed to a better life, and packed with far more sinewy lean muscle than a mage had any right to have (wood elves, they were all tiny little Adonis's). His tousled brown hair framing his perfect baby smooth face, a random thought flitted through her mind... what would that baby soft skin feel like against her softest parts?

She could totally take him right now if she wanted. He wanted her, it was clear. Wasn't it? (Wasn't it??) And it would be a mercy to his poor frustrated member trying to call her attention with desperation. He was well equipped for his size, as well she noted earlier. She'd seen bigger of course, but she'd also seen smaller, and on larger men than Edovan. All she had to do was pull that sheet away with one swift movement, and she could ride him right into manhood...

But something made her hesitate. She was definitely attracted to him, she could feel her loins stirring at the thought. But she also LIKED him? Which was not normal for her. She recalled waking to find the small bosmer pressed up against her, clinging to her. His leg had been lodged between her own, holding her tightly, face nestled in the underside of her breasts. She had laid there for quite some time, just enjoying the feeling of the two of them intertwined. How it felt to be this close to someone, who wasn't this close just because they were inside her. She had marveled at how comfortable and snugly they fit together, before carefully dislodging herself and expertly removing his clothing for Mint to take away to the wash.

She COULD take him now, but something still made her want to hold back.

"Edovan..." she whispered huskily.

It occurred to Edovan that that was the first time she'd ever called him by name, it sounded lovely coming from her mouth, the syllables enunciated in a way that sent shivers down his spine. He swallowed thickly, not even pretending, now, that he wasn't staring up at her crotch. Or up at her peaked breasts, which hung above him heavily.

Edovan looked beyond them, into her face, into her eyes. He saw no malice there, no mockery. Only the mischievous twinkling again. And something else? It was like the sadness from before, but... different, somehow.

She grinned at him, the joke was over. "I'm sorry," she said, and she meant it. If he didn't do something about that thing soon it was going to strangle both of them. It would be so easy for her to ease his pain. And very pleasurable for both of them... but there was business to attend to. And if Yagaritte was dead serious about anything it was business.

She wanted him sharp and focused if they were going where she was planning to go. She knew the dangers well, and her heart paused at the thought of him getting hurt, or worse, on this first venture together. No, she wouldn't let that happen! There would be plenty of time for celebrating afterward if they pulled this off. Maybe they could pop more than corks tonight? She smiled secretly to herself. She flopped down on the bed beside him. There was just enough room for them to share side by side, with each of them pressed to the edges. She crossed her legs over each other and yawned.

"You're just too easy," she said, smiling ear to ear, deflecting her own confusing feelings onto him, hoping he was innocent and inexperienced enough not to pick up on it. He grimaced briefly, trying to decide if he was more frustrated or relieved that she had stood down. But then he felt her large soft hand find his, squeezing it gently as they just laid there together side by side.

There was silence.

Yagaritte closed her eyes, turning her head slightly to face Edovan's (he had slumped back down into the bed beside her, now that the threat of congress had subsided, and he had relaxed). She opened her eyes again, and looked into the beautiful, golden orbs of his eyes. "It's strange, isn't it?" she asked him.

"What?" he asked, curious.

Yagaritte smiled gently. "That I need you," she said quietly, looking away from him again. She squeezed his hand as she spoke. "And that I found you in that shop, and how my herbs fell into your pocket..."

He stared at her quizzically. The echo of "...I need you..." reverberating over and over again in his mind. NEED?? how?..need need? Like a friend? Lover? Adventuring partner? His mind was spinning. What do I say? I should tell her I need her too! And he did, somehow... his body, his mind, his heart. All of him needed her. He needed her like oxygen. But the idea that she needed him for anything, it just couldn't find a stable place to rest in his thinking. So of course he didn't say anything.

There was silence.

Yagaritte sighed. Why was she such a dummy. "And that you know runes," she added finally, feeling stupid and vulnerable all the sudden. She'd only known this man for a mere 24 hours, what was she doing speaking of things like fate and "need." Idiot. This wasn't like her at all.

She drew her hand away from his and sat up, looking out towards the window. "Well, thanks to you, think I ought to head back to the shop and complete my trade," she said. She stood up and stretched, stifling a yawn. Without hesitation, she pulled her old shift off and tossed it onto the bed right over Edovan's face. Then while he was trying to uncover, she quickly stepped to her small chest of drawers, bending over right in front of him to pull out a fresh shift, and a fresh pair of underwear from the bottom drawer. She heard him gasp as he uncovered himself, only to find that he was staring directly at her perfect ass. She looked back and stifled a giggle as she wiggled her butt at him as she slipped into her panties and slowly pulled them up as she stood back up to her full height. A little show wouldn't hurt, besides, some habits are just too hard/fun to break.

Also, she wanted to give him a little visual fuel for her next plan, one she called "Leave him alone trapped in her room for an hour so he can do what boys do when left alone in their rooms." To that end, she made a real show of pulling on her leathers. And made him help her lace up her protective leather bodice. She had pulled on her boots and was placing her daggers in their scabbards when he finally asked the question she had been waiting for.

"Where are MY clothes?"

"I will check on the way out and have them sent to you once they are dry." she said very matter of factly. Then she strode to the door, took her big key out of her belt pouch and unlocked the door. Then she tossed it to him on the bed. "Don't forget to lock the door again after I'm gone. That way NOBODY else can get in here while I am gone. Nobody comes into my room," she warned. "Should be about an hour," she added, winking. She blew him a kiss and out the door she went, humming a jaunty tune happily to herself. She stopped halfway down the stairs to pet the inn's cat, curling her fingers through her tail. "I'll get you some fish," she promised.

Edovan stared at the heavy iron key on the bed. Then remembered. The BOOK. The one in the shop that had translations of Dwemer runes, the book he'd wanted yesterday! He had to get to that shop before anyone else could get that book! He was sure if he had it he would be able to solve any riddle any ancient dwemer ruin could throw at them. THEN she would REALLY need him! But he was stuck in her room, with no clothes. He had to try to find something in here he could wear... even if it was just for long enough to get get downstairs to collect his own clothing.

*******

Margara looked up as she saw Yagaritte descend the stairs, the gray cat nestled in the crook of her arm, resting on her chest. It was purring loudly. "What's going on?" she asked instantly, dropping what she had been doing and walking over to her. Never, in all her years living here, had Yagaritte allowed a man to enter her room. If she was bedding someone, she always used one of the other rooms, or went out with him elsewhere (where, only Yagaritte knew). "What's gotten into you?" she demanded grinning, before Yagaritte had even had a chance to answer.

Yagaritte passed the cat over to her. It meowed softly then nestled back into sleep. A warm body was a warm body. "What are you on about?" she asked her, reaching behind the counter to grab one of the apples that Margara had just been polishing.

Margara huffed. "The little mouse!" she hissed. Of course she knew that Yagaritte knew exactly what she meant, but Margara was not in the mood for games. This was serious gossip! "He's in your room. He slept in your bed!" she said pointedly.

Yagaritte shrugged, biting into the apple with gusto. "He needeth a plath to thay," she said between crunching bites of apple. With that, she side stepped Margara, waved her arm up in a goodbye salute, and was out the door.

"Aye... that girl," Margara said to the cat, resting her chin on it. She sighed, more confused than ever. Not to mention, the little mouse was still up there...

* * * *

Edovan was determined to find something to wear. But not so determined he was willing to go with one of Yagaritte's transparent shifts or a pair of her flimsy panties. Truthfully he'd actually already considered both at one point but the size difference between them made it all but impossible. He might as well use the enormous sheet he had discarded on the bed after she was safely gone. He felt a little self conscious padding about her room completely naked with a halfy still going from her teasing earlier. But desperate times, desperate measures! He was opening anything that he could open, searching every nook and cranny.

She had sooo much stuff! He doubted even she knew everything she had amassed. She was clearly quite the adventurer. He was admiring an ancient imperial tapestry from the Alessian empire when he spotted a large wooden chest pushed back underneath a table covered in ancient pottery and dead discarded soul gems. It was not as heavy as he expected it to be and he lugged it easily from its hiding spot underneath and placed it in the middle of the room. It was covered in dust and hadn't been opened for some time. The lock was modern though and it only took one quick Open spell to unlatch it. He lifted the lid back carefully.