Kress chapter
Judges: Ulf/'Steve' Auctifer, Oditr, Titania, Mint
Criteria: Looks, Not-sand features, Structurally Sound, Creativity, Looks
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Everyone was still waiting for Auctifer and Oditr to finish their little spat. Kress was content to just keep talking to Titania, but he wasn't sure what was going on with Blue. Still, When Oditr managed a bit on Auctifer's ear… there was a rather strange reaction. Kress had gained an interesting thought to run by Titania, "Hey Titania… is Auctifer… flirting with Oditr?"
Titania made a 'so-so' gesture, "Yes but not the way you're thinking. Auctifer will flirt with just about anything that moves. Ok, he's not that bad… but unlike me where I go for the pleasures of the flesh over the pleasures of the mind, he's a really big softy for love and all that… well I hesitate to call it nonsense. My parents are still deeply in love and have been since they were married…
"Look, it clearly works for some people but I've never found that person for me. Auctifer on the other hand, is perfectly happy to love almost anyone who loves him back. So flirting is more or less his natural state of being. So… is he flirting with Oditr? Oh undoubtedly. Does he expect anything to happen? Probably not. Not only would it be rather awkward for Auctifer's harem to include TWO royal women, Oditr would have to accept a lesser station in Auctifer's court if she went along with it,"
"I'm assuming that's because Aucitfer's court wouldn't all transfer over the dwarves?" said Kress.
"Exactly. One of them would have to give up being in charge of their nation, and it's simply impractical for it to be Auctifer at this point. His harem more or less IS the government. I mean, it works. They all seem to trust each other, and there's much less corruption and backstabbing in the top levels of the elven kingdoms then my own… but that also means when somebody isn't the best for the job, or they make a large mistake, even if it IS actually a mistake… well… they get a lot of leeway.
"Look, it has it's advantages and disadvantages. Auctifer is good at picking trustworthy people who will enjoy being in his harem, but that doesn't always mean they'll be good at their jobs. Laziness is rather common amongst some of them. Though others work too hard and don't know how to delegate…"
Titania shook her head, "Sorry, I've let myself get sidetracked from your question about Oditr. In the end, Oditr doesn't have any interest in Auctifer, and Auctifer is fully aware of that. Despite that Auctifer is definitely flirting, perhaps in part because he knows it won't go anywhere… and Oditr probably wouldn't notice unless someone specifically pointed it out to her,"
Kress nodded. Blue, was off to the side still shell shocked. *I thought she'd have recovered from her shock at this point. I mean, we went on this whole tangent and still she's not able to think properly? Or is her face just stuck like that for some reason. Wait… Titania is good at illusions. Am I just talking to an Illusion while Blue has a separate conversation with her?
Titania never once said that she was bad at multitasking, just that Thyme was exceptional at in. In fact, she'd probably be more impressed if she knew just how hard it is. So… should I try and check on Blue? That was one of the big reasons I've been asking Titania questions and keeping her attention on me…
But if her attention isn't really on me, or at least not focused on me is what I'm doing even worthwhile?* Kress ignored the little Nixilei in his head that said "Any information on a ruler's thoughts is quite valuable. Should you have the chance, grasp as much of it as you can, and remember it to report to me later.
*Of course. Counterpoint to you internal Nixilei. This is Titania. Not a foreign ruler, but our own. Surely you wouldn't encourage spying on your queen right?* Kress wasn't entirely sure of that line of thought. Nixilei might agree, or she might point out that Titania wasn't HIS queen and therefore it was fine, or perhaps she'd point out that spying on your own ruler and succeeding is something you can report about and use to improve information security.
"You've gone awfully quiet. Am I not entertaining enough for you?" said Titania with a sultry smirk.
*Woops. I got too lost in my thoughts. Do I just admit the reason? I mean, why not?* "No, but I was concerned with entertaining you. I'd been asking questions to keep your focus off the fact Blue seems to have frozen in shock… but now I think the 'SEEMS TO' part is the most accurate. You've got an illusion talking to her as well, haven't you?" stated Kress, with more confidence then he felt.
Titania giggled and said, "Oh yes. I'm a little surprised Thyme is allowing me such free reign at the moment. I suppose it's because I'm not touching on the tournament too directly. I've got a copy of myself chatting to quite a few people. Though I'm not as good as Thyme, so I can only manage a handful of copies, and not with any great range. Still… everyone is rather close together,"
Kress sighed and asked. "So is there any point in keeping the shocked looking Blue over there?"
"Of course there is," insisted Titania. "Her face is hilarious. That's actually what it looked like. I didn't need to do a thing to make it look so silly, and she really was frozen for quite some time. It wasn't until I split you both off into your own illusions that she unfroze,"
Kress nodded and asked, "Right… so if a whole bunch of people are in separate illusions… does that mean that Kat is just seeing a bunch of people all talking to themselves?"
"Kat?" asked Titania confused.
"The succubus over there," said Kress pointing Kat out. It seemed she was now chatting with Mint and Lily. "She's got truesight,"
Titania froze in place and seemed to stutter for a moment before the illusion seemed to fix itself, "Thyme that sneaky little shit," grumbled Titania. "That's why they've let me be so free with my illusions. Everything I've said that demon has heard. It doesn't exactly look like she's paying attention but that's now a risk I can't take. Damn. I can't believe I missed that…
"In fact… Thyme might be able to just ask for the memory from Kat once this is all over. So they'll know what I was doing and if it constitutes undue interference. Damn, damn, damn. I'll have to be really careful then. I don't think I've crossed the line… but Thyme would definitely cause me trouble if I was toeing it, just to annoy me. Thanks for letting me know about that little detail Kress," said Titania with a toothy grin.
*Why do I feel like I've made a mistake? She's still not my enemy, and I didn't really think my question would be so… divisive. Surely Titania could've worked it out without me right? I mean, if she's chatting with Green or Nixilei they might've mentioned it… I mean obviously they haven't yet but… ah whatever. I'll just have to hope it's not going to be important.*
"So… are you just talking to all the fae?" asked Kress mostly just to have a question in the air, so he wasn't caught lost in thought again.
"Oh not at all," said Titania with a wave. "I just don't have the skills to talk to them all plus the others I'm interested in. I won't be spreading who they are though. That little bit of information is for me, and me alone. I wouldn't want to be giving you info on your competitors now would I? Thyme might get mad,"
*That didn't keep her talking as long as I'd hoped. Um… what do I really want to know? Maybe just…* "Why all the sex?" asked Kress before he could talk himself out of it. He WAS curious, and Titania had made reference to it herself more than a few times so it probably wasn't a taboo subject.
Titania smiled and answered, "Not too many people are brave enough to just come out and ask. As for the answer… even I'm not that sure. It's just something I enjoy. I've tried to stick with single partners long term more than once but I simply… wear them out. I seem to have an extremely high libido compared to the norm, and I struggle to… how do I put this… 'satisfy myself' I suppose? Yes that sounds about right.
"Perhaps part of it is how strong I am. I'm already in the top one percent, of the one percent in strength. And while I'm no Thyme or Ulf, I'm closer then almost anyone else will ever get. I need to go for people at least Rank 3 otherwise I'd probably break them if I wasn't extremely careful… or massively poisoned,"
"Wait is that why you experiment with so many drugs?" asked Kress before his brain could catch up to his mouth.
Titania just nodded though, as if he'd asked a completely reasonable question. "Yes exactly! I'm looking for something that both makes sex better AND weakens me enough to be able to sleep with more normal people. I thought I found one once… but I developed an immunity to it ridiculously quickly. I have no idea why! I was so pissed when I found out about that… might've destroyed a mountain in the process of venting my anger…"
The source of this c𝐨ntent is fre𝒆w(e)bn(o)vel