"I still can't get over how
cool
this is!"
"I wish you would."
"You wish a lot of things, Snatch. Nobody cares."
"Not news to me."
Larya rolled her eyes and said nothing. She didn't want to worry about her downer partymember right now. She just wanted to take it all in.
As her toes sank into the mucky ocean floor, Larya could sense her druidic senses shifting—actually
feel
her eyes and ears adjusting, feel the new sensations as her skin and actual magic calibrated to being underwater.
Most druids liked to choose specific terrains to focus their magics on. Forests were particularly popular, thanks to the easy supply of nymphs, sprites, satyrs and dryads, but all terrains were fairly common—from swamps and hills to caves mountains, and, of course, the glorious expanse of the ocean floor. Only the sky remained pretty rare. Druids tended to prioritize 'how many creatures are there that can I have sex with?' when choosing a home, and all the sky had exclusively were dragons and air weirds. Dragons were ... dragons, and apparently, air weirds were really into long-term, primarily emotional relationships.
Personally, Larya had never been able to choose.
She looked around with wonder as a school of brightly-colored fish swam by, taking care not to step over the red and blue coral that grew all around. She'd been to deserts, the arctic, swamps, mountains, and even a couple tunnel networks, but never ... this.
Her face broke out into a dumb grin as her spirit filled with sheer joy.
Fish were everywhere, of every hue. And so many pretty shells—Larya had always collected such things as a child, but here they had
life
inside of them! And the coral, and the kelp ... there was life
everywhere
, it seemed. There was so much.
Almost too much.
She swallowed.
Contain yourself, Larya,
she cautioned.
It will look very, very bad if you let
that
happen right now.
The dark-haired druidess rubbed her thighs together, grimacing.
Snatch shot her a suspicious look. She smiled brightly. "Isn't it cool how we can still breathe and talk?"
"Could stand for a
bit
less of the lat—"
"It would be rather inconvenient otherwise," Mylio cut in. The merman smirked, now moving with ease—in stark contrast to his 'floppy' performance on the surface world, his manta ray-like lower half was remarkably graceful down below. "Don't worry. I'm sure you'll still have plenty of opportunities to practice holding your breath."
"That doesn't even make sense," Snatch snapped. As always, the thief looked miserable with everything, everyone, and probably, deep down, himself. At least, that was Larya's current theory. "You haven't got a dick for her to suck or anything. Unless it goes in and out like a lizard?"
The only thing that particularly surprised Larya about Snatch's hostile remarks was that he remembered that tidbit about lizards she'd taught him once.
I guess he did listen!
She heard a little giggle from Nerka. She turned, blinking, but the salmon-themed mermaid was completely professional when she looked. She winked at Larya.
Mylio, however, was not amused. "My dick does
not
... I
do not have a penis!
"
Snatch gave a nasty laugh as he walked faster, quickly passing them. Mylio glowered after him.
They walked on the ocean floor in silence for a brief moment. Snatch didn't seem eager to talk—perhaps knowing his social victories were too rare to risk spoiling the moment with some misspeaking—and Mylio seemed content to glare. Nerka, meanwhile, was clearly still more than a little winded from hers and Larya's little adventure earlier.
Merfolk were fairly unique among fey in how little stamina they truly had.
"So, where are we going?" Larya asked, smiling.
Mylio cast her a contemptuous look. "We are going to find our ...
guides
."
"Really?" Snatch glanced back, scowling. "More merfolk?"
"Of the most
common
variety," Mylio said. "Little more than landwhores without cunts."
"Blue and Orange can be fun," Nerka said, her tone a bit dreamy. "Hard to keep their names straight."
"Their names are
Blue
," Mylio snapped, swimming over beside his mate, "and
Orange
." His hand crept over to gently rub Nerka's naked belly—eliciting a soft moan. "Are you really so brainless as to forget even that?"
Larya felt somewhat guilty, for she knew what Mylio didn't: That Nerka was still hypersensitized from their little 'bout behind the boulder' earlier. Merfolk didn't have sexual organs, so they 'got off' on any physical contact on their human parts. And the sensitivity got worse the longer they went at it. It was probably for the best that they couldn't endure long periods of intercourse.
"They ... mm ..." Nerka leaned against Mylio's touch, smiling. "They switch the seashells, Mylio. Haven't you ever noticed tha
aaaah
..."
Apparently not liking to be proven wrong, Mylio had begun caressing her cheek and neck. Her eyes glimmered bright turquoise as her body shook with pleasure.
Snatch looked on, disgust evident on his perpetually sour features.
"Ooh!" someone said from behind Larya.
"I didn't think this job came with a show!" remarked another.
Larya and Snatch turned. Coming up from the side were two mermaids. They were essentially exactly what one would expect mermaids to look like—silvery-scaled fish lower halves, delicate-looking but well-tanned young woman upper halves. Their features were petite and enticing, their long red hair flowing behind them as they swam over. Each had several musical instruments tied to her side by kelp strands.
They looked completely identical, save for one difference: The one on the left had orange starfish on her large breasts, while the one on the right had blue starfish. Looking closer (though she tried to be subtle about it), Larya could have sworn that the starfish were pulsating as they rested there. She had the sneaking feeling the starfish were not actually there for modesty.
The twin mermaids swam over, one coming to float on either side of Larya. They smiled at her.
"You're Larya?" Orange said, her head tilting.
"Uh, y-yes," Larya said. She could feel her face growing red. She was looking somewhat less subtly now. In her defense, the sucking starfish were a little ... hard to ignore at this range.
"Oh, how
lovely
," Blue said. "We've always wanted to meet a real, live druid."
As if to increase Larya's flustered state, the pair began swimming in circles around her. It made her think uncomfortably of sharks.
"We didn't expect a druid
ess
," Orange murmured, "but we're always open to trying new things."
"Or new people," murmured Blue, her expression demure and innocent.
Larya looked at Snatch. She felt very exposed here, despite still being fully clothed. Thanks to the water slightly lifting up her robes as it coursed by, it didn't really feel like her clothes were at all as modest as usual. Nerka and Mylio paid all this no heed, caught up in their own world of domination and submission.
"Yeah," Snatch muttered, "I'm gonna go find some spears. Find a safe place for my scythe."
Larya rolled her eyes. Of course. "What's wrong with your scythe?"
"Won't work as well underwater," Snatch said firmly, already walking away. "Also, scythe isn't as good a reason to get the hell out of here."
"Oh, come
on
."
"Holler if you need me."
Larya glanced back. Was Orange deliberately making her breasts jiggle like that, or was it just the movements of the current?
Behind Orange, she could no longer see Nerka. All she saw was Mylio floating over a large bed of coral. His hands were down behind the coral, his expression merciless, as loud moans came from the object of his attentions.
Larya shuddered. Better Nerka than her.
At least, she was mostly sure that was what she thought. As long as Mylio wasn't looking right at her.
"Ooh," said Blue. "Isn't that funny?"
"Everyone's so dreadfully
busy
," said Orange. The mermaid pouted her lips. "What are we to do now?"
Larya swallowed.
Keep it together, girl. We've got a job to do.
"You're the guides, I t-take it?" She
almost
managed to keep the tremor out of her voice. But then Blue swam by, giving Larya a look that not even a Cloistermagi Nun could mistake for remotely innocent, and her voice got a little quake to it.
"
Duuuh,