A few feet away from her, she saw another hand shoot out from the surface. Taking a deep breath, she slipped beneath the waves and reached under. The signature white tank top stuck out like a sore thumb against the seabed, and Mel spotted her almost immediately. She snaked her arms around Emily’s waist and yanked her upwards, expending every last reserve of strength she had left. Both blondes re-emerged from the murky depths that lay below, gasping for air. “Christ!” Mel gasped, still holding onto Emily, pressing herself into her luscious bosom as she caught her breath. She looked into her irises that glittered with the luster of sapphires as she grew lightheaded. Was it from the intense rescue she had just performed, or was it something more? “Are you okay? What the hell happened?”
Emily coughed out loud, she seemed to have ingested an amount of seawater, but how much exactly she was unsure, but she was conscious and after achieving a grip onto Mel’s arms, she blinked the seawater away from her eyelashes and opened her eyes. “I… tripped on a rock… I believe.”
The stinging pain was still there in her foot, and she struggled to move under the soreness of a violent impact against an unseen rock on the ocean surface. “It really hurts… Mel…” She let out a pain-filled moan, “That was a bit reckless of me, I’m sorry.”
“We need to get you back onto the shore!” For some reason, Mel still looked around, riding on whatever little glimmer of hope she had left that her bikini top would be suddenly cast out of a wave and land in front of them. But the more pressing matter was quite literally in her arms. “How bad is it? Can you walk?” she asked with concern in her voice.
Emily let go of Mel for a moment, and attempted to stand straight, but she only continued to writhe in pain as she did so, the seawater making contact with the bare scratch on the top of her foot as it swayed around not helping her case as the brine liquid seeped its way through. She was more or less unable to maintain her balance, and ultimately landed once again onto Mel, her face clouding with guilt. “I don’t think I can…” She said with a defeated sigh, leaning herself onto the larger girl. “I’m really sorry about this…”
“Dammit…” With no help from Tanuki, Emily’s teammates, or any other team in sight, the two blondes with funny accents were running out of options. Emily couldn’t walk, and Mel didn’t particularly feel like giving the nearby voyeurs even an ounce of satisfaction. Not all hope was lost, however, as there was still one more thing they could try. Her tenure as a detective demanded unconventional solutions for equally unconventional problems, and this one was no different. The cogs began to turn in Mel’s head as she formulated a plan. As ridiculous as it was, it just might work. It had to. “No, it’s okay, I’ve got this. We’ve got this! If you can’t walk, no worries… I can just carry you on my back!”
“Really?” Emily’s eyes sparkled.
“There’s just… one slight problem…” Mel’s voice trailed off as she looked down, her bust firmly pressed against Emily’s. Indeed, that bikini bottom painfully hiked up her asscheeks was all that she wore.
“Oh… OH. I see.”
“I’ll… turn around…” Mel said, quickly turning her back towards Emily and the beach. “Could you hold on? To my-”
Before she could finish, Emily pressed herself onto Mel’s back, and with an unexpected sense of urgency, grabbed right onto Mel’s chest. “Like this…?” She whispered.
“O-oh!” Mel gasped, glancing down to see Emily’s hands concealing her breasts perfectly. “Yes, but be careful…! Now, get on my back, I can hold your legs.”
Emily climbed up onto Mel’s back, hanging her arms over her shoulders as she held onto Mel’s bust, as requested. Her plump thighs squished Mel’s hips tightly, keeping her secured in place. Mel supported her by holding her under the thighs, and given that she could routinely squat just over 100kg, carrying Emily wouldn’t be a problem. What would be, however, was Mel’s great degree of sensitivity in the soft area Emily had her hands cupped around. Emily tried her best to keep her grip firm but not tight, but on occasion her fingers would loosen and her palm would graze against a highly sensitive epicenter densely packed with nerve endings. To make matters worse, the hands that gripped at her bare skin were as cold as ice. Fighting off curious stares from an increasing number of bystanders, she continued onwards and endured.
Mel walked as steadily as she could over uneven mounds of sand back towards the Yamada, carefully Emily on her back. With each misstep, Emily would tighten and shift her grip to stop herself from slipping or falling off, causing her ride to gasp and spasm. As a consequence of this, Mel would softly bite her lower lip to prevent herself from crying out and stumble slightly, taking a moment’s rest to regain balance and continue walking.
By this point, Mel’s arms were sore and starting to cramp. Squatting at the gym was very different from running for prolonged distances with someone on your back over uneven ground, as she had just found out. They finally reached the red crossover perched on dry golden sands, and Mel carefully got on her knees to gently let Emily off. With her hands now freed, she brought them back up as a substitute bikini top and turned to check on her patient. “How’s your f- oh, crikey,” she gasped. Streaks of bright red ran down Emily’s foot from a gash of substantial size, staining the sands into a dark maroon color. “That’s a gnarly cut… we need to get this treated right away! Do you have any medical supplies?”
“There are a few bandages in the car, from what I remembered.” Emily looked down at her foot, a sudden pang of anxiety hit her and the cut only burned more as she finally caught a glimpse of it. “I’m… not sure where they are, however…” She said, her breathing becoming more intense as the pain only continued to sweep up her foot.
Mel remembered the white Dauer t-shirt she wore earlier, now dry as it lay basking in the sunlight. “I could use my shirt as a bandage, but we’re going to need some sort of disinfectant too. The last thing you want right now is an amputation, especially in a place like this. I could run back to my car and get some disinfectant… unless…” her words trailed off as she reached an epiphany, brought by a sudden lapse of humiliating memories from a freak accident many years ago. “… I have an idea.”
“What is it?” Emily asked, her curiosity aroused.
“A long time ago, I was camping in the outback with a close friend. Long story short, he got a really bad cut on his foot when wading through stagnant water. We were too far away from a hospital and had no cell reception, and we didn’t have any disinfectant on hand.” She paused for a few seconds, taking a deep breath. “So I…”
Mel leaned forwards and whispered softly. When she was finished, she sat back down and bowed her head, avoiding eye contact as her cheeks flushed with a bright pink.
“We… don’t have a choice…” Said Emily, her face too beginning to flush with embarrassment at the thought. “Do what you have to do, if anything, that would be better than me losing a limb.” She attempted to suppress the heating of her cheeks, but the idea of a girl she had just met letting loose her body fluids as a method of disinfecting her injury seemed a bit too much for her, as necessary as it was.
“O- okay!” Mel got up, still covering herself and quickly glancing around to make sure nobody was watching. She positioned herself over Emily as inconspicuously as possible, but found it hard to stay still as her breathing grew faster and faster. “Could you please cover your eyes?”
Emily shut her eyelids as much as she physically could, but even then, she felt that was not enough, and placed her hands all over her face, not only because she wasn’t trying to get a peek, but to also cover her face from the embarrassment.
“You’re peeking,” Mel said very flatly.
Just as Mel said that, Emily slightly opened her fingers to have a glimpse through, all the while denying that she ever did so as she shut them once more. “I-I’m not!” She said, as within her hands her face only continued to heat up as she caught a small glimpse of Mel kneeling over her foot. She shook her head in an attempt to resist these thoughts, but it was simply futile.
“You’re not a very good liar, are you, my dear Emily?”
Before she could respond, Emily felt a pair of hands grab the sides of her head and pull her forwards. She opened her eyes to see nothing, but what she felt was beyond description. An incredible warmth was all around her, and her face was cradled between two large somethings that squished against her cheekbones. It felt as if she was being smothered, but whether this was due to the pair of bare Australian milkers forming a perfect seal with her mouth or the emotion that flooded her senses remained a mystery.
“Now hold still…” Mel mumbled, hovering her hips and bringing them into position.
In the distance, the tides broke into foamy white pools as they gently rolled across the shore, chasing off birds as they took flight. Their caws rang through the salty air that carried an unusually warm moisture on an already hot summer’s day. The heat and humidity was suffocating, but strangely enough, Emily found peace within it, and the numb, throbbing pain in her foot began to recede and gave way to a soothing warmth.
…
“Emily!” A familiar voice called out to the shorter blonde. Emily turned her head to see a face she was glad to have recognised, and attempted to get up from where she sat, but even after being coated in a special solution in an attempt to reduce the pain, the soreness of her foot only pricked at her nerves and ultimately she was unable to get up and only flopped back down into the sand without having made any meaningful ground. In the distance just by the shore was a bipedal panther that approached them with a new haste now, and holding her hand was a short, almost child-like girl that had this disproportionately sized marine tail reminiscent of a shark attached to the back of her waist.
“Oh my, Emily! Are you alright? That smell…” The feline began to call out until she was there in front of them, as she approached her face turned slightly sour as she caught a slight whiff of Emily’s foot. A white garment was in her hand, but not just any garment, for it was the exact kind that one would wear when paired with a bikini bottom, and one that seemed to perfectly match Mel’s moments before the wave crashed into her and she lost it.
“Is there something wrong?” A heterochromic gaze peered over towards Mel, who still had her arms wrapped around her bosom, and quickly she looked back towards the top in her hand. A connection was made right there and then, and awkwardly she asked the short-haired blonde if it perhaps belonged to her, whilst simultaneously attempting to hand it over. “I-I believe this… might be yours…?”
“Oh, thank god!” Bending down into a squat, Mel pressed her bare breasts against her legs and took her bikini top from the panther girl. “You have no idea how scared shitless I was! What’s your name?”
“I’m Charlotte. One of the navigators for Blazers alongside Emily. Now, I believe you’re the driver of that blue and yellow Dauer, aren’t you?” She said, with a particular enthusiasm appearing at the mention of the vividly liveried sports coupe.
“Yes, that’s me and my baby! I’m Melanie, and it’s a pleasure to meet you and Emily!” Upon noticing the quite short girl accompanying Charlotte, Mel accordingly shifted her focus to this new subject of interest. What intrigued her the most was perhaps the… shark tail she was wearing? “Oh hello there!” she cooed affectionately, bending down so that she could be eye level with the apparently young girl. “And who might you be?”
The girl turned her head towards Mel, but as she opened her mouth, no words seemed to come out, and she looked back down towards the shallow waters they were standing on. Emily was about to speak up for her, but without notice, the girl lifted her head back up and out from between her small and soft-looking lips emerged a dulcet tone as she stuttered her words with a soothing gentleness not dissimilar to that of a sheltered child.
“G-Ga’araiya…” She said shyly, and her voice slowly trailing off. “Nice… to meet you…”
With her small words, she looked away once more, her face slightly flustering as she pulled on the frills of her light pink one-piece.
Gara… Grayi… how did you say it again? Mel couldn’t help but smile. It was the kind of cuteness from a child that would fill anyone with paternal instinct, and Mel herself almost felt some sort of motherly duty. With this newfound concern, she looked up at Emily and Charlotte with a raised eyebrow. “You brought a child here? To this rally? What the bloody hell is wrong with you?!”
Emily sighed, and responded with an unusual sense of calmness about the situation. “She’s not what it seems. I am not too sure of the details myself, but rest assured, she’s likely the eldest among every one here. Whether that is a magical property of her homeland, again, I am unsure.”
But even saying that, Ga’araiya’s immense child-like-ness was unhideable as she quickly clung onto Emily and hid behind her, almost as though she were alarmed at Mel’s sudden outburst.
Convinced? Hardly. Melanie turned to Griayaya and pouted sympathetically, as such an outrageous statement - even though it was true - was such a hard pill to swallow that to actually process it would take longer. However, she ultimately saw no reason to hold any blame or distrust against them, and given the amount of revelations she experienced within the last few days, it was just another routine surprise the shitbox rally and its many teams had up their sleeves. Besides, if they could even keep her safe from the Dyre attack, then neither of them had anything to worry about.
“Right. Well, I’m delighted to get to know all of you!” Mel closed her eyes and flashed her best smile. Emily, Charlotte, and Ga’araiya. Despite their obvious quirks and esoteric backgrounds, there was some special bond between all of them, unlike any other that Mel had seen in other teams. One not bound by time, space, or even species. If anything, their staggering differences was what brought them together in the end, something that cultivated a newfound sense of fascination in Mel. She needed to know more, but more importantly, protect Ga’araiya at all costs. And maybe get back at Emily in some way for what she did in their wrestling match. “By the way, is anyone else hungry? I’m getting a severe case of the munchies.”
A sudden rumbling not dissimilar to that of an animal groan sounded with a near perfect coincidence, and all eyes focused themselves on the silver-haired girl whose face was now flushed a bright red. She quickly turned her head and pretended not to notice, but now everyone was well aware of the situation.
“Well, someone is for sure!” Charlotte let out a hearty laugh as she waddled her way over towards Ga’araiya to place her hands on the smaller girl’s shoulders. “I don’t see why we can’t get ourselves a meal now, the sun looks like it’s preparing to set, so we may as well!”
…
The Yamada ASR-4 came to a screeching halt before the Queen’s Rest Inn and Tavern where a large dark-skinned man greeted the girls as they came out. A slightly anxious look on his face was there as he looked behind them towards the vehicle, and a sigh of relief came as he approached them.
“How’d the beach trip go?” He approached the blonde who emerged from the driver’s side door. “Did you cut your hair or something…?” He said, unable to recognise who really was there in front of him as the light of day slowly settled over the horizon, generally being blocked by the buildings all around. The girl was taller than he remembered, and as he scanned the rest of her, he also noticed that she was a bit more lacking in a certain area.
“That’s not Emily, by the way.” Charlotte said as she slowly helped another blonde girl get out of the car’s rear door, and the girl who did emerge was indeed far more familiar to the man, and at once it clicked. “That’s Melanie, or Mel, from Team Black Rabbit. We met her on the beach earlier. I think they ran off with each other or something while me and Ga’araiya weren’t looking, but Emily’s hurt and she needs a bit of rest.”
“Oh…” An awkward look came upon the man. “Sorry about that, Mel…?”
“Melanie Lyon.” She smiled and gently shook Romulo’s hand. “You must be Romulo! Emily and Charlotte had a lot to say about you…” she cracked a smile as she glanced back at the two girls.
“O-oh… Did they…? Hah ha…!” He seemed to be stumbling on his words a bit, as a certified and bonafide blonde girl enjoyer, he was in for quite a treat as he now had made acquaintances with not only a girl in his team, but another one too. He would have loved to continue chatting with her, but he looked over towards the sun and saw the people all around beginning to go out and disperse for their own businesses into the night. “I-I… I think maybe we could chat later but… I’ve got to put this car back into its parking lot, haha…!”
With that, Romulo got into the red crossover and off he went into the dimly-lit alleyway towards the camp, the vehicle’s dim tail lamps disappearing as it went behind a corner.
Upon the girls’ entry into the tavern, it had an aura of relaxation to it. The furniture was clean, the lighting tinted a cozy orange and lit just enough to allow people to see what they were doing without getting bombarded with needless amounts of light. At one end was the counter, where different kinds of folks gathered around drinking and eating together happily, and on the other end were numerous tables large enough to fit a decent amount of people who wished to have a meal, or a drink with their own closed off groups. In one table in particular, a man with hair like that of faded gold sat with plenty of young village women all around as he told his wondrous tales that sounded of baloney when said by any other person, but to him sounded as legitimate as the breathing of air.
“Isn’t that Watson?” Charlotte looked at him with a somewhat repulsive look. Emily simply sighed. “It seems even here, he attracts the eyes of a lot of women.”
Among the girls Watson was with, one of them had particularly striking features, and was the one he seemed to be closest with, as his arms were tightly wrapped around her waist and her head lay on his shoulder. Her hair was a strikingly deep blue that matched her eyes and was cut short just before her shoulders. She quickly struck a glance towards Emily, and had a smirk on her face as she looked back towards Watson.
Emily simply rolled her eyes. “I think we should just… get going…”
Charlotte shrugged and off did they go towards the second floor of the tavern where the rooms were. She found the room that matched with the key they had, and with a quick turn they entered the small 2-bed-room which, while simple, had this aura of comfort all around it.
“That’s not as bad as I thought!” The feline exclaimed as they assisted in helping Emily onto the bed and unloaded their luggage. Ga’araiya meanwhile, had located one of the free beds and without a word, jumped right onto the soft mattress and simply dozed off.
Once their supplies had been unloaded and organized, the three remaining girls went downstairs to the tavern for dinner. Their table was set outside in the tavern’s courtyard, where a wooden trellis with intricate lattice patterns formed the walls and ceiling, creating an open-air experience that provided shade without sacrificing natural sunlight. There, they had a clear view over the walls of Samiraie and front-row seats to the spectacular sunset over the coast. It was at this time Tanuki happened upon them seemingly by some cruel twist of fate.
According to her account of her day in Samiraie so far, the tavern had been completely packed throughout the afternoon, and with hour-long waiting times just to be seated, she
By the time the four girls had eaten their fill, the sun was starting to wane and dip towards the horizon, touching down with a fiery blaze of oranges and reds that faded into a progressively darker blue evening sky. Dull, glowing lights from oil lamps shone through windows, lighting up the buildings and street lanterns that surrounded the streets.
“I don’t know about you three, but I’m not tired yet!” Tanuki triumphantly declared. “The night is still young!”
“I’ve had a long day today, Tanuki… I’m feeling pretty buggered. I think I might just catch up on some Z’s tonight,” Mel yawned as she stretched.
Eventually, after a bit of discussion, the four of them had settled on their plans for the night,where Tanuki and Charlotte parted ways to explore the rest of Samirarie and perhaps enjoy the thrill of its busy night life, an opportunity that seldom presented itself given the kind of stops they’ve had so far, and on the other hand, having nearly drowned, Emily and Mel elected to retire back to their room as they felt the pangs of weariness grow stronger and stronger. Wooden flooring creaked under their careful feet as they ascended flights of stairs to their room on the second level of the inn. Unlocking the door to their room and carefully entering, they found Ga’araiya still face down on the bed, snoring softly, arms and legs spread out like a starfish. The oil lamp sitting on the dresser was the sole source of light in the room, dimly lighting the sparse furnishings with warm colors.
Emily limped over towards Ga’araiya’s bed, rearranging her arms to a more comfortable position, and raising her head up to sit properly on the pillow. She then took the blanket on the nightstand of the bed and slowly draped it over the sleeping girl, taking extra care with her tail, before stroking her long silver hair and whispering a good night to her.
“She’s just so adorable…” Mel whispered, bringing her hands to her mouth. She was almost moved to tears by not only Ga’araiya’s sweetness and cuteness even when fast asleep, but also Emily’s motherly gesture of affection.
“Indeed,” Emily nodded. “There’s a lot of reasons I’ve decided to come along with this trip, but being able to be with this girl is… Well… I just can’t help it, can I?” She said as quietly as possible as she got up and sat down on the bed next to the now sleeping fish girl. “I remember my mother would do the exact same to me when I was a little girl. Simple, gentle strokes can mean a lot.” She yawned.
Mel walked over towards one of the other beds, and she too yawned as she sat down on the edge of the mattress. She looked out the slightly opened window to her left, where she could just barely make out a glimpse of the individual shapes of the neighbouring buildings, with some shutting their lights off in a dim fade as the night continued on.
“Hmm. I’m pretty buggered, but I feel like I’ve still got some energy left. There’s a bathhouse here, isn’t there?”
“From what I’ve heard, it’s part of the inn complex. It should be just aft of the corridor to our rooms.”
“Well, I’ve been raring for a hot bath for days now.” Mel slipped her shoes and socks off, placing them at the foot of the bed neatly. Looking at Emily with inviting eyes, she flashed a smug grin. “Care to join me?”
Emily was about to respond with an affirmative, but a sudden flash of memory quickly halted her actions, not helped by Mel’s grinning at her. “Are you looking to take revenge on me for this afternoon?” She said with hesitance, though she was currently at a crossroads battle on whether or not she should join her in the bath house, as the saltwater was getting to her and she could smell it in her own hair. It wouldn’t take much for her to concede it seems.
“Of course not!” Mel laughed, waving the idea off. But deep inside, she knew this was only a half truth. She wasn’t planning on raising any trouble in the bath house at least, but who knew what she had in stock for whatever came after? “Besides, like I said, I’m too tired for any of that now.”
Emily thought for a moment, if she did need a bath, it’s not like she could go after Mel, after all her foot was still injured, and she would need assistance just getting to the bath house. Eventually, however, she caved in. After all, there’s surely no way that Mel would do that unlike a certain feline.
“Fine… Shall we go, then?” She said, extending her arms to ask for Mel’s assistance in getting up and towards the bath house. Mel nodded with delight as she got up from her bed and walked over towards Emily, helping her up and leading her towards the door. Down the corridor was an open passage where a dim light with a calm yellow hue shone through and illuminated one of the corridor’s walls adjacent to the doorway.
They walked through the dimly-lit corridor and out towards the light, and once they entered the wood-lined entrance the two were greeted with a small apodyterium with shelves for people to leave their belongings on. On the other side of this room was a passageway that led to yet another room filled with a thick humid air which they were yet to enter.
“Do you need help undressing?” Mel asked Emily as she let go of her hand, with a thought crossing her mind for a second. She felt her cheeks warm up slightly, but a quick suppression of it meant her face muscles only tensed up for a minute, which Emily was unable to notice.
Emily shook her head. “No thank you, I believe I can manage myself.” She said as she lifted the thin white dress off her, revealing her young and tender curves beneath as she set aside the dress and placed it upon the shelf. She turned her back against the wall to witness Mel halfway through undressing herself, but had stopped and simply stared at the far bustier blonde.
“M-Mel… Don’t stare too much…” Her face began to flush a soft red, and so did Mel’s once she realized how long she’d been staring for, but she didn’t turn her head away even as she apologized.
“Oh!” Mel felt her cheeks burning with the fruits of a forbidden passion, but remained frozen in place, captivated by the grandeur sight. “Sorry. It’s just… I can’t help it…”
“Is that so…?” She began to cover herself up and turned back towards where she initially looked in embarrassment. She usually didn’t mind having her body exposed to another girl, but something felt different with Mel’s gaze.
Mel eventually turned herself away, and undressed herself fully to reveal her toned form, built up from her years of exercise and detective work all culminating in this highly refined body. Emily herself decided to look back, and couldn’t help but stare at Mel as well, moving her eyes down her back to a particularly heavily toned section just above Mel’s legs, and just as she was about to turn her head over, Emily quickly turned back and attempted to pretend as though nothing had happened.
“You’re telling me not to stare too much, but there you are…” Mel grinned, her detective attentiveness coming into play for quite an unusual moment. She slowly walked over towards Emily, greeting her by sliding her hands down the smaller girl’s waist, which was met with a sudden whimper as Emily felt Mel’s action-honed hands slide around her belly.
“Wh-what are you doing…?” The petite girl turned her head behind her, her face brightly flushed with nervousness.
Mel leaned over, whispering. “Getting you into the bath…”
“You don’t have to sneak up on me like that…!”
“Sorry… I couldn’t help it…”
Mel slowly continued leaning in, their breaths becoming closer and closer and continuing to mingle together with every inch that their faces got closer. Their huffs and puffs heating their faces up before they could even enter the bath tepidarium. Slowly, Mel led Emily over to the other room where the steam and humid heat would begin to fill their surroundings. Sweat and moisture accumulated on their bodies, coating them in a glaze of mist as they moved together towards the main bath.
Hot, thick clouds of steam lifted out and wafted over the pools of light turquoise spring water, clinging to the tiled floors and walls covered in condensation. But nothing burned brighter or greater than the flames within Mel’s heart. Still, she had to hold herself back since they had just gotten in, and didn’t want to end things too quickly with one fell sweep of action.
“I’ll go this way…” Emily said as she attempted to limp over towards one end of the bath house where a fountain spouted out a slow-moving stream from atop a pillar that sat on the wall. Before she could leave her grasp however, Mel quickly caught her, and pulled her in close. “You can’t…” She said softly. “I can’t risk you falling over, it’s quite slippery…”
Emily looked back, but quickly turned away to hide the flushing of her face. “I-I see… Thank you for looking out for me…”
“It’s my pleasure.” Mel moved her head away from the smaller girl as she led the two of them down towards the spot where Emily wanted to go. For a moment, they did not think of much as they were tired, but the flame within the Australian girl’s heart only sparked larger, and despite the suppressing of it, Mel was now unable to resist as she slid her arms underneath Emily’s assets and leaned herself onto her back. A soft moan came from between the younger girl’s succulent lips as rough hands honed from many special operations began to slide lower and lower down her body before stopping right between her legs. Mel felt the softness of the smaller girl in her hands, and she simply couldn’t get enough as she let out her tongue onto Emily’s ear, with sweet and dirty voices blending in a unique symphony of pleasure as the heat only continued building up.
“M-Mel…”
“Emily…”
The water was clear that night, and warm with sensations of the great yonder of subliminality. The distant star patterns twinkled in and out, shifting with every pounce, and the water’s viscous noises on the movements of the tides didn’t stop for even a split moment with the embraces of the dark.