Dead Star Dockyards

"Keep stirring."

"I am!"

"Not fast enough. That's a strong fire, that's a large pot. If you want everything to cook you need to make sure it's cooking evenly."

"It's soup! Once the water, er, broth starts boiling won't it all cook the same anyways?"

"Maybe the lighter stuff, but any ingredients that sink to the bottom are going to be cooked when they touch the pot. Do you think anybody here wants charred meat in their soup?"

"Uh, no?"

"Then get stirring!" Gretts picked up a wooden paddle and stuck it into the cauldron of soup. "Like this! Every so often you have to scoop the ingredients on the bottom up to mix with those on top. It cooks more even that way and enhances the flavor of the broth."

"How was I supposed to know that?"

"I'm telling you now idiot! Come on, after me. Stir, stir, stir, up!"

Donovan had no issues with the physical effort to be exerted here. He hadn't partaken in the morning conditioning (his subordinates had dutifully gone through with it themselves) so he wasn't tired, but he wasn't good at manipulating this flat paddle in water. How was he supposed to scoop the stuff on the bottom up with it? Obviously he needed to angle it, but how far?

"Like this?"

"Better. Your form is still a little off though."

"IT'S FUCKING SOUP!!!"

- - - - -

Titanyana found herself shuddering a little bit from the pleasure. It wasn't something unfamiliar to her, it was common for Nekh children to be comforted by such an act, but it had been so long since she had experienced it that she couldn't stop herself. Actually, hadn't Donovan done something like this to her? He had, she was sure of it.

Titanyana shivered, not enough to dislodge Diana's hand, in order to shake away that thought. This felt nice, but it was incomparable to how she felt around Donovan. Even if he had done something like this, it would have felt way better in comparison, not that she was complaining. These ear scritches felt good, though it did make her wonder if their roles had somehow reversed. Wasn't she supposed to be making Diana feel better? Sure, she had asked to do this, but was she really getting a level of pleasure comparable to this? She was only moving her fingers a little bit, so it couldn't be that relieving right?

"May I keep going?"

"M-mhm."

"Thank you."

Was Titanyana thinking about it wrong? Maybe her feeling good was just the side effect, and Diana was also receiving pleasure from this. That was good enough on its own, wasn't it? After all, that was her objective, to help Diana feel better. If she got too feel good too . . . that was just a bonus, right?

"This isn't demeaning at all, is it?"

"Is anybody else here?"

"No."

"T-then I think it should be fine." Titanyana's neck was starting to strain from leaning forward like this, but she would soldier on.

"Sorry, it was a selfish request."

"N-no, I'm not mad or worried about it, I just didn't expect you to ask for something like this." Titanyana moved closer to give Diana a better angle. "Um, you mentioned a companion animal? Was it like Mercedes?"

"Hm? Oh, yes, but also no. Mercedes is what we call a dog. It's hard to give you an idea of what exactly a dog is, but for the most part they are around her size, if maybe a little bigger. We bred them for hundreds of generations to reinforce desired traits, so there were quite a few of what we call 'breeds'. The animal you bear resemblance to is what we called a 'cat'."

"A cat?"

"Mm. I'll have Arc show you some pictures when we get out, but they were much smaller than dogs."

"Did- did you also breed them?"

"I think so, though from what I remember that was often done more for aesthetic reasons than anything else. Dogs would help with more manual labor, helping shepherd livestock, hunt game and protect while cats took care of small rodents that would spread disease and eat food stores. They didn't really get along though."

Titanyana didn't know how to feel about being compared to an animal that hunted small game, but given how much Diana seemed to adore them it probably wasn't meant as an insult. Did that mean Diana thought she was cute? Titanyana would like to say she had a bit of a problem with that. She knew the importance of an image, and 'cute' was not the image she wanted to show the public. She wanted to be seen as cool, composed, and reliable. She wanted to look like the ideal swordswoman.

The reason she couldn't say that it bothered her was because she didn't really have a need for that image anymore. Titanyana had found her primary supporters already, anybody else she could convince would be a nice little bonus - her services as a swordswoman were not on the table any more. If one of them wanted her to be cute, Diana in this case, then she would be as cute as she could manage. 

How cute was that? She had no clue, but hopefully this was enough to satisfy.

"Do I need to get closer?"

"Mmmm, do you think you could rest your head on my lap?"

Titanyana looked at Diana's thighs. They were probably pretty soft, but at they moment they were submerged in water. Titanyana really didn't want to submerge an ear any longer than strictly necessary to clean it, otherwise she would never get the water out of her ear.

"If you sat on the edge with your feet out in water, maybe."

For a moment she wished she had just accepted the pain of damp ears for a few hours, Diana's frown being a clear sign of displeasure. However Diana seemed to understand Titanyana's concerns, wordlessly hoisting herself up onto the ledge and leaving her feet adrift in the water. Titanyana looked up towards Diana's face, gulping slightly as she saw her eyes. For the most part Diana was still exhibiting signs of depression and anxiety, but her eyes were strangely energetic.

Titanyana wondered if she had made a mistake by accepting this, but she clenched her teeth and climbed out of the tub anyways. She didn't have to worry about being cold, the air was almost the same temperature as the bath and had been kept there so long that the stone and wood were also warm. Remaining on one side for too long might pose problems though, especially considering how most of that ground was rock.

Diana didn't sit idly either, brushing off some of the water so as to make the experience as comfortable as possible, followed up by a quick double pat on her lap right where she wanted Titanyana's head. Obliging, Titanyana braced herself for a wave of pleasure that did not come as fast as she thought it would. In fact Diana touched somewhere unexpected.

Starting at the shoulder, Diana stroked outward towards the little princess' elbow before lifting her hand and doing it again. Once, twice, three times she repeated this motion before exhaling. It was oddly calming to Titanyana, her relaxing muscles driving her head deeper into Diana's thighs. It was a comfortable feeling, but she did feel like she was violating Donovan and Diana's relationship with each other a little bit, especially when they were both in the nude.

"Your skin is so smooth. . ." Diana spoke once more after another deep exhale. Titanyana didn't understand, but those slow, deep breaths seemed to have an effect on her as well. 

"So is yours." Was that a good way to respond to that compliment? Diana's skin really was smooth, Titanyana believed it to be smoother than her own, but was it better to just not mention it? It was kind of a weird subject to bring up so suddenly, but this situation was already pretty weird on its own.

"Your hands and feet are soft too. You must take good care of yourself."

Titanyana didn't really have a prepared response. Comments on the status of someone's skin was one thing, it was fairly open for people to see, but hands? Feet? How was Titanyana supposed to know if they were soft or hard, she didn't have much to compare herself to. Could Diana just tell those things? Actually, wait a second, shouldn't this not be the case? Titanyana was a high-level sword fighter, her hands and feet were supposed to be hard and calloused so they would be protected.

Curious, Titanyana brought one of her hands in front of her face. She needed to investigate these claims of 'soft hands and feet' before making a comment. 

"Hm? Did you not realize?"

"Eh?" Why didn't she think Diana would notice what she was doing? Now she was embarrassed to be called out like that!

Though, now that she took a closer look, her hands did seem a little . . . different . . . than she remembered. Were her hands actually soft? Why? Was it because of her break? No, even then she would have taken notice, she refused to believe she wouldn't have noticed something like this. Perhaps it was another quirk of the Great Csillacra's treatment?

"Um, I guess they are soft."

"Mm. Is it okay if I touch your ears now?"

Titanyana nodded, more eager to get away from that conversation than anything else. However, she failed to brace herself in time for-

"Hrnngh!?"

-Diana's assault on her nervous system. Titanyana was consumed by a storm of pleasure that was both ticklish and relaxing in nature as Diana both scratched the base of her ear and the nape of her neck. This was an unprecedented sensation for her, and she reacted in kind.

She struggled to keep herself in check as she squirmed. Her legs, which had been slightly curled up underneath her immediately extended, feet rolling as her toes extended and curled in response to the variety of sensations. The most humorous aspect of her contortion, at least to Diana, was her tail, which appeared to have gone absolutely ballistic.

Titanyana felt she had a pretty good control over it. It was part of her self after all, so she needed to make sure it wouldn't be a hindrance in battle, she needed to make sure it benefited her whenever possible. Never before had it gone berserk like this. It flailed wildly even while wet, which was remarkable as the extra weight of water made it harder to move. The fairly impactful slaps on the stone didn't hurt Titanyana, but they did make her shake.

"Ha-a-waawawa-hihiHII!!!"

Diana giggled in response to Titanyana's frenetic babbling, furthering her attacks. Titanyana wasn't anywhere near coherent enough to notice this change in Diana's mood, a state she would be left in for a while.

- - - - -

Titanyana panted as Diana smiled to herself. The spasms had stopped for the most part, be it because she became used to the sensation or had lost the energy to flail about, but Diana would occasionally hit a spot that hadn't been given attention yet and she would tense up a little. Now the pleasant feeling from Diana's scritches came in a nice steady flow as opposed to the overwhelming waves from before. 

Still, Titanyana was a little bit exhausted right now. The fatigue from the morning's workout compounded by the squirm session she had just experienced left her without energy.

"Sorry Titanyana, I just couldn't help myself."

"It's- hmm! It's fine. It was just an unfamiliar sensation. I-it feels good now."

"Thank goodness." Diana shifted her hand from scratching the back of Titanyana's neck to stroking her arm again. This action was even more relaxing than it had been before. "I don't know what Donovan would have done if he found out I tortured you."

Titanyana didn't think the repercussions would be that drastic given how much he seemed to adore Diana, but they probably would have been devastating to Diana regardless. If she had to guess, it would likely involve some form of neglect in the bedroom. From what little she had picked up from their supposedly secret talks in English, Diana really wanted a baby.

"A-are you feeling better now?" Titanyana had almost forgotten her objective. She didn't really doubt that Diana was in a better mood, she just had to check. Titanyana needed some form of vindication that she hadn't experienced that for nothing.

"Yes, much better. Thank you Titanyana." Diana stroked some hair away from Titanyana's face, bending forward to look into her eyes. "I guess you've paid me back now, haven't you?"

"Hm?"

"Don't tell me you've forgotten?" Titanyana looked back up at her, clueless as to what she might be referring to. "Remember when you had that panic attack after Donovan pinned you to the ground? Now you've cheered me up."

Titanyana's ear flicked, did Diana really think that was all it would take to make them even? Diana had done so much more for her than get her out of a slump one time, she was literally the vanguard of her people's salvation. No amount of ear scritches would be enough to repay that debt, even if that meant Titanyana became Diana's scritch-slave for the rest of her life!

"I bet Donovan would do a better job of this." Titanyana froze in an instant, her heavy breaths stopping as well. "Mercedes just melts in his hands when he starts petting her, as do I when he starts giving me affection. I imagine that you would have felt much better if he had done this."

"H-huh?" Why did Diana have to bring him up? 

"Donovan is much better at this whole petting and physical pleasure deal than I am. I think it might be because he understands basic anatomy and where the major nerve centers are, but whenever he really gets into it there is no resisting the good feelings. Believe me, I've tried to compete against him. I lose every time."

Titanyana's heart started throbbing, less because she was frightened of the prospect but because she already knew. Donovan had made an absolute mess of her with nothing but a hug and some back scratching. Admittedly, emotions were high at that time and he had been messing with one of her people's most sensitive regions, but the fact he had driven her to the point of madness without trying spoke volumes to what he could be capable of if he actually tried.

This prospect was one she hadn't considered before. On one hand it terrified her. If ever she did manage to get in bed with him, would her reactions turn him away? What about before then? He was awfully mindful of her, so what if he recognized how sensitive she could be and rejected intimacy on those grounds? On the other hand her body desperately desired that sensation. She recognized that would be a pleasure unmatched by anything she could possibly achieve alone.

She shook her head. Now wasn't the time to think about that type of thing, especially not in the presence of Diana. These thoughts were even less desirable when she considered where her head was, on Diana's thighs - a place which could arguably be considered Donovan's.

"What do you think about that?" Titanyana was brought back to the present by Diana's question, her heart continuing to beat faster.

"I-I, uh, I think that sounds a little scary?"

Diana giggled a little bit. "I guess you would find it scary considering your reaction to my treatment."

Titanyana recoiled as much as someone laying on the floor could recoil, curling herself into a ball at that embarrassing comment. Her ears flattened in response to a sudden pat on the head.

"Alright, I think I've had enough of the baths for now. Would you like to join me for some chicken noodle soup?"