Potion Hunt! (mak/D)

[The Real D]

"Huh?" Robyn blinked, watching Sharee quizzically as she moved to put the potion away. "Oh, well... Cool, I guess. Just, like, be careful with it? It's, like, really dangerous to use if you don't know what you're doing, y'know? There's proper rituals and stuff to it..."

She twiddled her fingers, worrying a little. While the potion did everything she said it did (and more!) it wasn't as simple to use as she might have lead Sharee to believe. Using it correctly needed two people in almost all cases, or else the results could be horrendous. It was just a little difficult to tell Sharee that because she really really needed to drink the potion so Robyn could help her.

Awkward!

In the back of her mind, the other Robyn was kicking up a fuss, demanding to be let out so she could sort this out properly (some very unkind remarks were made about her main personality's intelligence, but she was well used to ignoring these). Fortunately for all involved, unless there was a clear danger or Robyn herself was certain Sharee was out of her grasp, the darker half of her personality would remain under lock and key.

Still, that did mean she had to do something before Sharee got away. God, this was so much harder without her Salon.

"Oh, but I guess I could teach you? Y'know, if you wanted..." She shuffled slightly, glancing away towards the berry grove. It was an odd feeling for her, being nervous and wanting approval. Normally she knew she was A: the center of the world, and B: The best looking person on the planet, but having traveled extensively with Sharee, who seemingly cared about neither of these obvious truths, her confidence was a little shaken. When she got back home, she'd totally be spending some special time with all her Salon Assistants, just to get back into that 'Queen of everything' state of being.

And she'd let her new BFF join in if she wanted! She just had to close the deal here first.

[makuta15]

Crouched over her pack, Sharee stopped. The sunlight glittered off the clear flask as it peeked halfway out of its new wrapping of leaves.

"Es dangerous, Robeen?" She repeated the words dryly. Of course. A magic super potion made out of harmless berries that her clan had feasted on for generations that also happened to be lethal. The mixture was so nonsensical that, really it followed the situation perfectly; why wouldn't a gift from Robyn be just as scatterbrained and nonsensical as she was? Standing back up, she tapped her foot impatiently while Robyn continued to explain. Something about her demeanor was a little...odd. Sharee had never seen Robyn this subdued, even (did she dare say it?) apologetic before. Maybe one of the (many) rants the Northerner had provoked along the way had finally had time to sink in? That little glance back toward the bushes didn't go unnoticed either. What was troubling her? What on earth could be weighing so heavily on Robyn's flighty little mind?

"Robeen, you all right?" Sharee asked roughly, letting an uncertain hand rest on the other woman's shoulder. Things certainly had taken a rather odd turn somewhere.

"Come. You can tell Sharee instructions."

Although it was an exercise that was quite new to her, she spoke as gently as she could.

[The Real D]

"Well, you're kiiiinda... gunna... have to... drink it." Robyn tried not to preemptively flinch. Sharee was kind of unpredictable about stuff like this, but being told she'd have to drink a really dangerous potion... probably not going to be an agreeable idea to her!

"It's how it works!" Robyn explained hurriedly, raising her hands in placation. "When you drink that potion, you need someone there with you to stabilize your thoughts, or your mind might start picturing all sorts of things! Like, if you drink it and then you see a butterfly, you might end up with butterfly wings or anything! So, y'know..." She waved a hand, looking kind of frustrated. "Like, I'd tell you how to do it, but it's *really* specific, and we kinda have a small language problem. And I have to get back home, there's a bunch of people waiting for me, this is as far out as I can go!"

"But, see... if you drank it, I could help you through the crazy bit, and then you'd know what to do from experience! So... yeah." She rubbed the back of her head, as ready for the Sharee explosion as she could get. Damn, she really, really wanted this to work... But she just didn't know if the bait of Sharee bringing this potion back to her village would be enough.

"If you wanna... I promise I'll take care of you, y'know? You're my BFF! I'd never let anything bad happen to you..."

[makuta15]

Sharee's nostrils flared dangerously.

"Sharee not going to drink potion, Robeen." Her voice fell flat and her fingers dug a little more deeply into Robyn's shoulder, giving the subdued woman a clear view of the rippling muscles in the warrior's arm. Of all the boneheaded things she had heard Robyn say over the course of the trip, this one had to take the cake.

"If Sharee drink potion, es none left to take home," she continued. "Sharee...taste potion. Think, Robeen."

Still, it's not as if she hadn't been expecting something like this from the outset. Spend two days traveling with a bona fide scatterbrain, and it becomes easy to predict where their shortcomings are. In Robyn's case, long-term planning. Still, to her credit, she was trying! Sharee thought about the "communication problem" and nodded sagely. Not many people know when they stop speaking sense, and it showed a surprising amount of self-awareness on Robyn's part to admit it. Robyn's budding thoughtful streak (and the contrition that came with it) was certainly growing on her.

Walking back to her pack, Sharee bent down and picked up the bottle that had sparked the entire journey. She struggled with the stopper as she brought the flask to Robyn. While at the beginning she'd have been content to let a brainless Northerner, lost in the woods, poison themselves from their own ignorance, Robyn was...well, she'd known about the berries, for one thing. It was hard to argue against the validity of her claim when the very glass that held it slid against her palm. And for once, Robyn's enthusiasm had sparked something where her cool dismissal of the Northern customs usually lay - curiosity.

Working her finger down the neck of the bottle, Sharee carefully wet her finger in the clear liquid and stoppered the bottle back up. Sniffing the liquid cautiously, she very lightly dabbed the bit of potion around her lips. There. Now, what had Robyn been saying about...

"You spoke...of keeping mind straight, yes?"

While she didn't believe that something so simple as an infusion of nye-berries could really alter a person to the point of giving them wings - butterfly wings, no less! - Sharee had enough experience with tribal brews back home in Swift River to understand that clarity of the mind was of the essence. Taking a deep breath, she began to focus. For a disciplined warrior like her, it would be easy.

[The Real D]

Robyn pressed a hand to her lips to stop herself giggling - it wasn't a good moment to start laughing. "Well yeah, but y'know I could just make you ano- Ah!"

Annnnd it was too late, Sharee had already taken action. Crap crap crap, she hadn't been ready, there were all sorts of preperations you were supposed to sort out first! Out here they didn't have any focus chanting, no protection spells drawn up - damn, why did that ritual have to be so complicated? Totally lame - and the potion drinker had no idea what she was doing.

Right, in retrospect, this hadn't been her best plan ever.

But no! It was ok! Sharee hadn't drunk the entire potion. Really she'd barely had more than a few drops. A dose that small should be safe, right? Well, safe-ish. If she worked quickly, then maybe she could sort all this out and everyone'd be super happy forever.

Of course, Robyn was so focused on everything she had to do, she almost missed it when Sharee spoke up again. "You spoke...of keeping mind straight, yes?"

"Right! Yeah, that's super important." She nodded, walking over and pressing down gently on Sharee's shoulders. "You should sit down. It'll be easier to focus if you don't tense your body..."

Name: A drop of potion
Type: ???
Hit rate: -
Description: A few drops of the fabled potion of 'Mind-Over-Body' on the tongue - not enough to grant the full effect of the potion, but enough to start the process and provide a weak introduction to some of its stronger effects. These effects are:
Confusion: The imbiber's thoughts grow cloudy and tangled, making it difficult to make decisions or react quickly to new stimulus.
Suggestability: In tandem with the above, the words of others become clearer in the imbiber's mind, making it difficult to refuse instruction, or even seperate commands from thoughts.
Mind Over Body: While not as powerful as the effect the full potion would provide, the imbiber is granted the minor ability to reshape parts of their own body while this effect is ongoing. Muscles may become slightly stronger, eyesight slightly sharper, body slightly curvier. This effect is difficult to control, and is a great strain to use - perhaps a larger dose would help.

[makuta15]

Sharee blinked as Robyn walked across the clearing. Everything seemed to be moving...slower. It wasn't a very noticeable effect, but Sharee's instincts told her that everything was coming up...sluggish. If she moved her hand, for example, to tell Robyn she was fine. Her body simply wasn't responding at the speed it should.

To compensate, however, she could feel something opening up in her consciousness. Nothing definite, no concrete thoughts or revelations, just...a new way of perceiving. She noticed everything in this new, languid fashion, making it seem as though the world was moving as though under water. It was a very dizzying sensation...but it seemed to hold the promise of something more.

And so as Robyn pushed down against her shoulders, Sharee found herself sinking down onto the grass without a word. Because it was important that she stayed focused. And it would be easier to focus if she didn't tense her body. Preoccupied with keeping her mind in order, her body barely registered. The soft grass on her skin simply joined in with the rest of the impressions swimming around in her head, joined the torrent of consciousness that Sharee was doing her best to keep intact.

"Hmm. Potion...potion strong. Not good for battle, Robeen..."

She spoke haltingly, the words falling slowly and thickly from her lips. That being said, the fact that she was still able to express her thoughts coherently while grappling with such an unfamiliar experience was an impressive feat in and of itself.

[The Real D]

If Robyn hadn't been in the middle of a rather panicked session of damage control, hearing Sharee managing to speak, with coherent words at that, might well have stunned even her. The amount of willpower required for such a feat was astounding. Had a lifelong diet of Chon berries somehow granted her a superhuman level of focus, perhaps? Or was she just naturally a contender for the stubbornest woman on the planet?

The Stylist Supreme didn't ask herself these questions, as fascinating as they would have been. Instead she was too busy fussing over her the woman in her arms to really pay them any mind at all.

There were a few things wrong with this scenario. For one, once *again* Sharee had managed to accidentally botch Robyn's plans on her own just by only taking a drop of the potion. Now the Stylist had to figure out what dosage she had taken and what effects it would have on her by guesswork - a ridiculously difficult task even for a mind as capable as hers.

Yes, that was quite a liberal use of the word 'capable' there.

Second, she has also been expecting to have to make more of an argument, or at least be a little more convincing. As accustomed as she was to getting her way in the world, after 2 and a bit days trekking through the wilds with Sharee compliance was the last thing she had expected. So she hadn't been ready when the Amazon had surprised her and taken a sip. And she hadn't quite worked out what to do and say when the moment arrived.

"Shhhh..." she hummed soothingly by Sharee's ear, her voice steady and clear. She did at least have some experience in this area. "Quiet now. You have to focus. Focus on these words, let them guide you..."

Her hands resting on the jungle warrior's shoulders began to gently squeeze and stroke the tense muscles underneath her taunt skin. Finding a comfort zone of her own, Robyn tried to calm herself and focus on helping her friend. She hadn't been blind these past few days - as an expert masseuse, she'd been able to identify most of the major sources of muscle tension in her companion's body by the end of the first morning together. And while Sharee had never really allowed her to be as close as she was now, a bunch of side observations and incidental notes had only served to confirm what she knew.

In this area the woman was something of a savant.

So she began to massage, working with her bare hands on Sharee's shoulders and upper arms as she let the amazon lean back against her chest, rubbing and soothing the flesh, slowly easing years of tension out of the strong muscles. Even in the distracted state she was currently in, Sharee would feel the freshness, the mellow relaxation rolling in.

"There you go... Just relax... feel all that tension just melting away... Let it all go..." she murmured, preparing for the next step. There was still so much to do...

[makuta15]

Slowly, slowly, Robyn's fingers worked their magic on Sharee's shoulders. With most of her focus taken up with simply remaining upright as she dealt with the surge of information swirling through her brain, there was little she could do to stop her companion from coaxing the stress and tension from her body. It was all right, though. Less tension meant it would be easier to keep her focus. Robyn said so. Or had she come to that realization on her own...?

Either way, Sharee let out a quiet gasp as Robyn enfolded her into her arms. Thoughts like 'warm', 'soft' and 'close' slid in to replace the sensations from the natural world that had been sliding unfiltered through her mind. She allowed herself to lean back, slowly being drained of all the tension in her body. Which meant it should be easier to focus, yes? Except it was an even greater struggle now to keep her mind clear with Robyn's body so distractingly close. You are a warrior, she tried to remind herself. But even these thoughts immediately began to slide and twist, joining the other sensations as they flowed through the open sieve of her mind. If you allow yourself to be shaken, you die!

And so she clung to Robyn's words. They were a resonant lifeline as the potion ran its course through her, lingering with echoing clarity. It gave her a moment of concrete focus before the expanding tide of consciousness swept them up once more. Putting her trust in Robyn, her breathing slowed as she allowed herself to fall into those fingers, letting go of all the chaotic impressions to focus solely on relaxing her body...on the sensation of smooth hands down her back...so that the steady pulse of her consciousness would not fall into the maelstrom.

Her eyes fluttered.

"Let it go...." she breathed, and sank back against Robyn's chest.

[The Real D]

"That's the way..." Robyn brushed a thumb over the back of Sharee's neck, softly tapping a series of pressure points that would make it feel like the weight of the world was falling off her shoulders. Knotted muscles unwound and ignored aches slipped away under her hands as she made sure that the Amazon was falling into the right state of mind.

This was nice. There was a warm eagerness in her actions, her strokes and touches, and a satisfaction that Robyn rarely felt so profoundly when working on someone. Sharee was wound up tighter than a bow-string, and had been for a long, long time, if what her muscles told her was true. Maybe she stopped for small pleasures every now and then, but Robyn doubted the woman even remembered how to relax, how to release herself completely. Her current stupor was probably the calmest she'd been in years. It was almost tragic. It needed to change.

And helping people learn to relax was what Robyn did best.

She gave the woman's shoulders another couple of squeezes, instilling nothing but warm, calm, pleasure. Not enough to rouse her, no, not yet, but enough to make Sharee's soft descent into her own quiet world all the more pleasant. Just enough to encourage her to stay there, just a little while longer, while Robyn worked her magic.

Speaking of, it was time for the next step. Knowing she didn't have long, but still unwilling to rush, unwilling to chance tearing her friend out of the world she had created, the Stylist slowly, carefully, released Sharee's shoulders and leaned her back, ever so slightly. Just enough so that her head rested on Robyn's shoulder, just enough so that her glazed eyes looked up at the blue sky.

"All safe now... Safe with me..." She muttered again, her mouth right by the woman's ear. She made sure she didn't speak too loudly, too quickly, just giving enough for her to latch on to. "Close your eyes now. Close them tight. They'll distract you, so you'd better close them tight."

That was important, because even in this state, Sharee probably wasn't willing to accept what was going to come next. No one so proud could. But with her eyes closed, and her senses all over the place, Robyn could hope that she wouldn't realize the truth. Maybe it wasn't much, but for this it was a risk the Stylist was willing to take.

"You're going to learn something new now. Open your mind, Sharee. Focus, take it all in, and learn..."

Her tongue fell silent as she prepared. Her own eyes narrow and alert, watching like a hawk for any sign of resistance, any sign that Sharee was starting to awaken - but not yet. Maybe soon, but not yet. She had time for another preperation - she raised a hand, and ran her thumb around the Amazon's mouth, so smoothly the contact might not even be felt. She was checking, hunting, for any trace, any left over residue from the potion Sharee had taken - but there was none. Absorbed into the skin, all. Good.

And now there was nothing left to wait for. Robyn took a deep breath, licking her lips anxiously, then leaned forward, pressing her lips to her friend's. She kissed her, as deeply as she dared, not pressing far with her tongue lest she wake the beauty, or worse receive a drop of potion herself. But the contact was good - and necessary, needed for one particular ability Robyn had developed herself, and refined into an art form.

Normally unusable on someone not already heavily changed by the Stylist's methods and magics, the potion had allowed her the chance of an exception. It wouldn't be the full effect - she couldn't give Sharee new memories, or a new name, and she certainly couldn't teach her all of her techniques, no, not like this. But she could teach something, perhaps just one thing, if Sharee was open to it. One thing that would be the key to everything else.

And so, as the pair kissed in the grove, surrounded by open fields and berries of contested names, Robyn felt the magic crackle between them, and through the connection, shared with Sharee her language.

[makuta15]

Under Robyn's guidance, Sharee was slowly starting to clear through the chaos of her expanded perception. Her companion hadn't been lying - it had proven far more difficult than she had first assumed. But now, relaxing against Robyn's body, Sharee had finally managed to separate most of her consciousness from the wind across her skin, from the scent of grass in the air, the sound of running water. Everything felt more alive, more present; even with the little dose she had sampled, Sharee could feel the rest of the world tugging seductively at her senses, urging her to abandon her thoughts to just experience it all.

Luckily, that was what she had Robyn for. Robyn was there to help her stay soft and relaxed, to help her stay focused with her soft words and gentle fingers. Sharee had never known such a feeling before. She had squirmed against Robyn's grip only once, when she felt those fingers tapping against her neck in a familiar pattern. Yet, instead of having her arms paralyzed for the remainder of her life, instead her body had opened up at Robyn's touch in such a way that all her tautness simply dissipated like smoke. Her confusion as to how Robyn could even have come across that technique vanished with a sigh of utter relaxation, and she sank even further against her companion's chest.

"Safe," she whispered, as her glassy eyes dutifully slid shut. The outer world was fading, fading away...she was so close now, close to turning this new perception of the world completely inward. Robyn was being very helpful in pointing out how to proceed. No distractions. She had to close her eyes. And now, floating in darkness, she was at peace...

...words, floating. She struggled to make sense of them. She...she was going to learn something new? A frown flickered across her face as the words wrapped around her psyche. Almost immediately, her consciousness tried to spread into those words, into the darkness around her. It took her quite the effort to pull herself back from the brink. Just listen to Robyn...she knew what she was doing. Just relax, and focus. Relax. So relaxed. Robyn was...

Robyn was heat. And warmth. The taste of something moist and savory-sweet on her lips. The sensation was not rough, but firm, gentle and deliberate. The impressions swirled so quickly around her that Sharee didn't know what was happening at first. She only knew that her body was so wonderfully loose, felt so wonderfully good...and this was causing the sensations rising through her breast to curl and spread even faster. She mewled in confusion and heat as the pressure against her lips mingled with the pleasure Robyn's hands worked into her body, automatically pressing back with a parted mouth. Robyn was...

Robyn was kissing her.

And as Robyn's mouth pressed insistently to hers, Sharee could feel something else intruding onto her carefully ordered mind. Where she had once been centered in the void, now she was tossed about in a sea of soft lips and strange words. The phrases were both unknown and familiar as they entwined themselves around her consciousness...strands of Northern talk wove across her focus, sliding around and causing chaos among the carefully ordered self-image she had been constructing. Gasping, she pushed away from Robyn instinctively, although the world still swam around her and her arms were loose and weak.

"Robeen, what es...is...?!"

[The Real D]

Robyn sighed sadly as Sharee reacted, trying to pull away from her kiss. As she'd feared, her spell had been enough to shake the Amazon out of her stupor, even if she wasn't quite out of the woods yet. Her attempts at pushing the Stylist away were weak and feeble, and probably wouldn't have deflected a toddler, let alone Robyn. Still, in response she did her best to hold the woman as steady as she could without actively retraining her - She wasn't strong enough to stand on her own yet, and she wasn't about to let her fall to the floor.

But she knew this disorientation wouldn't last long. The small amount of potion had taken her far down into the depths of her mind, bounced her about a bit, and now she was on the rise again. The dose was wearing off - just as predicted, she'd need a lot more to work any proper effects on her. The entire vial - for this seemingly bottomless well of willpower, nothing less would do.

Still, there was one last trick she could play, one last ace she had hidden up her stylish sleeves - at least before her other half came out and got brutal with the poor confused dear in her arms. And Robyn couldn't be blamed for wanting to spare her friend that.

"Shh, Shari, I just needed to teach you something," she giggled lightly, one free hand brushing a stray hair out of the confused woman's face - and touching lightly against the scalp as she did so. "We needed to be able to talk properly for this next bit, y'know? Misunderstandings get dangerous. We totally don't want that, do we?"

Which was true, and hopefully thinking it over for a few seconds would distract Sharee even further as she took action. This was going to be a little. Um. Blunt. Even for Robyn. But at this point the Salon Mistress was at her wit's end dealing with this woman. She was going to help her, no matter what, she just needed to get her on board with that first, and she wasn't giving. So, a proper distraction. Something even Sharee, with her iron will and stern nature, would be unable to resist.

There was a common housewife's tale in the northern kingdoms that said that every part of the body was connected to some spot or other on the forehead, that you could cause any feeling you like by touching it just so. Utter nonsense, of course, but there was a tenuous connection to fact if you looked closely.

Specifically, there was a series of seven pressure points that controlled grand swaths of the nervous system throughout the human body located in that general region. Each of the Seven correlated with the body in a specific way. Two for the arms, two for the legs, two for the torso, and one for the head. Their existence was a secret - most users of acupressure techniques knew nothing of them. To those in the know, the Seven points were a dangerous and difficult to utilize area, on mainly used for assassination or precise fighting technique. There wasn't much else use for them. Well, not unless you were Robyn Faire, who had just hit all seven in smooth succession - then the use was just beginning.

It was quick work, all told. A fair amount of it had already been done when she was trying to get Sharee to relax. Now, she was going for something stronger, fingers weaving up and down over the woman's skin in rapid succession, gentle enough to feel like the simple flap of a butterfly's wings. Reaching out further became necessary, covering more of the woman's torso than before, but fortunately Jungle Warriors had never been ones for thick, concealing clothing - The minor obstruction couldn't and didn't prove a challenge to a master of the craft. Quickly, quickly now, because she didn't have time to take things slowly, she began to infuse the Amazon's body with her own magic, spreading it out in wider and wider circles, spiraling along nerves and energy channels to reach every part of her.

It wasn't a natural process, despite the way Robyn used Sharee's own energy flows, manipulated by her pressure point technique, nor was it an easy one. In normal circumstances it wouldn't have worked at all - this particular move usually required a willing subject, and had actually been developed back at the Salon as a reward for the worker of the week. Here and now, though, Robyn's earlier work relaxing and opening Sharee up, combined with the effects of the potion, would render her susceptible... Perhaps even more than she would be if she was cooperating.

For Sharee, the feeling was... The closest description would be as if one were taking a slow, deep breath - in through the nose, letting your lungs fill and fill until they couldn't take another gasp... Just the feeling of your body taking the world around you in, and then expanding to take even more, reaching past it's normal comforting limitations to an almost exciting peak. That sensation spread throughout her entire body. Strange, perhaps, but nothing alarming. Not at first. Not even as the magic swept in and settled. Waited.

Primed.

The process took the better part of three seconds. To Robyn's hammering heart, far too long, but to Sharee's sluggish thoughts, perhaps no time at all. Whatever the case, she needed to do this now.

"Ok, Shari, listen close. This is important. You have to do exactly what I say next, it's the most important thing." She spoke clearly again, still not letting her captive go. Behind her back one free hand drew a few runes in the air, and unseen, the potion vial floated over into her hand. "Listen carefully, and do it. Please." There was a hint of pleading in that last word. The suggestibility would be wearing off soon, but the last dregs should be just enough for what came next.

Quite possibly literally.

"Feel." It was a single word, delivered with as much strength and conviction as Robyn could muster. A single word, laced with all the meaning she could put into it, would sink into Sharee's swimming mind and irresistibly compel her to do as she was told. No time to question, no time to think it through. Just act. If it worked, for a moment, at least, the Amazon would be sensitive to every and any sensation...

And in that moment Robyn touched her index finger to the base of Sharee's neck, and triggered the spell she'd set inside her companion - A combination of massage technique and magic. The essence she'd infused the Woman with surged, roaring to life all at once, the power activating all throughout Sharee's body in the space of a single heartbeat. Every nerve, every cell that Sharee had was caught up in the sudden inferno, burning, blazing with one message and one message only.

Pleasure.

For one all too brief moment, Sharee's entire existence could be summed up with that one simple word.

And by the time she recovered from it, Robyn planned to have the rest of this potion down her throat.

[makuta15]

Sharee squirmed in Robyn's arms, fighting off panic. Something was not right here, even if in her drugged state she could not quite figure out what it was. Her mouth still stung with the sweetness from Robyn's lips, and the sensation swirled into a giddy and terrifying sense of vertigo as it joined with the rest of the impressions that currently enveloped her entire being. Now, she could feel Robyn's heat in the ground she sat on, hear it in the air she smelled. She had never thought of Robyn like that! So why had the woman tried to insinuate such feelings into the hazy world of her drugged perceptions?

Dizzy, she gasped for air as Robyn continued to murmur reassuringly in her ear. That strange veil that had settled around her ears still lingered; she understood the words Robyn was saying perfectly, as though she herself had grown up speaking the Northern tongue i the jungle with sisters. No matter how she shook her head, the sounds, like the sensation of Robyn's lips, wouldn't let her consciousness go.

Fingers brushed through her hair. Robyn's embrace was soft and maternal, and Sharee whimpered in spite of herself. Amidst all this chaos and confusion, she yearned for the comfort Robyn's words promised. She had thought she could trust Robyn, hadn't she? But the support her words had given Sharee when the world all spun together had fallen away into the rest of the roil with that searing kiss. Her heart pounded in her chest.

"Why...do we need to talk like Northerners...?" She managed to croak out before another wave of vertigo sent her reeling. Her voice still rang with that Northerner twinge to it, and she shuddered to hear what should have been her own, hard-won skill with the foreign language distorted so. The waves seemed to be coming faster and faster now; slowly, she realized that with each wave, the world righted itself just a little bit more before her eyes. If she could hold out just a little bit longer, she should be able to keep to her feet again...and then, then there would be answers.

But Sharee was also growing aware of another sensation as well. Slowly, as Robyn's hands pressed against her in that maddening way of hers, Sharee felt something...rising inside her. It was a sense as though she was nearing the edge of a waterfall, about to dive into the crystal blue waters below. Or the feeling she had when she was on the hunt, the prey wandering directly beneath where she had lain in wait for days. Just as she remembered being one with the water, one with the canopy around her, so too did she feel one with her perch in the pristine clearing. It was as though every breath brought more and more of the world around her into her body, and each twist of Robyn's fingertips only muddied her perceptions further with impressions of warmth and trembling touch. Something about what the other woman was doing had ignited the strangest anticipation growing in her breast, and she trembled in its grip. The world still teetered unsteadily before her. What...what was happening to her? What had Robyn done?

"R-Robyn, stop!" She tried to pull her arms free. The rising within her was clashing horribly with the way the world was slowly stuttering to a halt; she felt as though she were standing at the edge of a whirlpool. She struggled to keep her mind clear, to not let Robyn's words tug her back under the current.

"Why is this so important? What's has you so worked up? What are you - Aaauuhhhn."

Something pressed against the base of her neck. The moment it did, Sharee lurched wildly, falling slack against Robyn's chest. Ecstasy, white hot, flooded her body. It left her chest heaving, legs quivering as every nerve, every inch of her roared in exultation. That one word echoed in her ears, over and over again, and she was helpless against the command, helpless to resist the tide that took her breath away and turned the world around her into a starry haze. She pitched forward weakly, staring vacantly ahead with unseeing eyes as that single, impossible instant left her gasping for breath.