Chapter 469: A New Side
Adalia was... pale.
But hey, I knew that already, didn’t I? The only way I couldn’t have noticed was if I were to constantly put my hands around my eyes every time I sense that she’s within sight. It’s just... when you’re this up close, like really up close, you tend to be much more susceptible to things you already know.
And Adalia indeed was very close.
Her silver-gray dress was of a very intricate and peculiar design, think victorian style, with its many layers, many folds, now think of tangled earphones, all those wires, all those loops, basically the fanciest strap jacket ever... heck, I think a strap jacket would actually be miles easier to unbind.
But the more I pulled at the strings, the more her dress began to slide, exposing skin, her pale white skin – it was a strange white, a dead white – like staring at a corpse. I pulled a little more, it slid a little more, her shoulders, her nape, I could make out faint blue lines, the slight curve of her back as I tugged a little more. My hands stopped moving then, and I didn’t notice that they did until I saw a little glint of white staring at me from the side of her face.
“Is something... wrong...?”
I veered my eyes, resuming, responding quickly and coolly. “A lot of knots. In a lot of weird places.”
.....
“Normally... not so much...” Adalia muttered, sounding a little apologetic. “But... Terestra let Ash help... and...”
No more needed to be said after that, that story pretty much wrote itself. Ash made a noise, damped by both her knees and her dress, “Mmm, you liked it! I recall your words perfectly, need I have to repeat them? I even made a nice bow, which from your prior statements, claim an impossible feat! Is my generosity truly a hindrance?”
“No Ash,” I assured her, coming upon that bow she mentioned in all its knotty, twisty glory. I let out a little sigh and began to work. “It’s a nice bow, alright.”
After unraveling most of the harder knots, things quickly breezed on by, each tug just revealed more, and more of her, it was a challenge not to stare, then I pulled another string, and –
“A bikini, huh?” I remarked, noticing a tied thin black line bridging across her back and trying to sound as casually as I could about it. “Have you worn one before?”
“No...” Adalia, quieter than usual, replied. “Never...”
“Right, you don’t swim,” I said, only just then remembering our previous chat about it. “So, how do you shower?”
“I... don’t...”
“You don’t shower?”
“I... don’t... smell...” She said. “I don’t... shower...”
“All these years and no water,” I had to whistle, like, I don’t think even cats have this long of a dry streak. “How old are you anyway?”
“Old...”
“Yeah, how old?”
She paused for a brief second. “Old...”
Well, that cleared things up. Thanks, Adalia, very cool. So, seeing as how blatantly ‘open’ she was when it came to herself, I decided to change the subject to something else.
“How are you feeling? You nervous?”
Her head tilted right, causing a lock of her gray hair to droop, drape, and graze lightly across my fingers. “Ner... vous...?”
“Swimming,” I elaborated. “However old you are, this is your first time doing something like this. Must be a little uneasy about it, right?”
“I don’t... feel... much...”
Oh, right.
“Not even a bit?”
“No... no reason to...” She said, shaking her head, causing more gray strands to fall in folds. “You are... here with me... after all...”
“Nice sentiment,” I smiled. “But keep in mind, this is my first time teaching someone too.”
That white glint stared back at me again. “Ner...vous...?”
“We’ll see,” I said, grinning even wider. “Let’s just get you wet first.”
After a final tug, her entire dress came undone, and she did the rest of the work. Her arms slipping from its long-fitting sleeves, the hems of her dress collapsing into a frilly bundled mess on the ground as she pulled the rest of it down.
The process was all very limberly done, slowly too, she was very... delicate.
Adalia was petite, but I knew that already, except because she’s always constantly ensnared in so many frills and laces, I knew how she looked, but I never got to actually see it.
Seeing her now, she looked... well, let’s just say her dress did an excellent job keeping her modest – because, without it, there was not a single inch on her that was the least bit modest.
Adalia was slender but not skinny, petite but not small, her slim arms long, her legs even slimmer, longer, but what drew my attention most was, again, was her color, she looked almost like a doll, like porcelain, so pristine, an unnatural perfection, only further accentuated by her choice of swimwear.
The black of her bikini, contrasted starkly, with the pigment of her skin, her long, flowing hair.
My eyes drifted to her chest – of course, they drifted – and in that brief second, I saw a rather tight fit, and around her narrow hips was a translucent skirted bottom, intentionally obscuring just enough to entice.
Yeah... nothing modest about her at all.
Hmm, but she’s a twin, ain’t she? Now that’s a thought right there, a very dangerous thought, indeed.
“You... are... staring...” Adalia froze in her motions, her body arched, her arm outstretched, her crumpled dress beneath her fingers, and her eyes noticing mine, and when I made no movements, she quietly spoke again. “You are... still staring...”
“Yes,” I said, finally managing to wrench control of my eyes again. “Just needed to... adjust, yeah, adjust.”
Ash made another noise, and I saw her green glowing eyes peeking at me over her knees with a little glower.
“Last chance, Ash,” I told her. “Still would rather sit out for now?”
“Your hands are plenty full already, Master it seems,” came her haughty, pouty answer. “Perhaps it is best that I do not intrude, after all. You have no use of me here, after all. ”
“Yeah, you don’t mean that.”
“Maybe I didn’t, fine,” She huffed, averting her gaze to the side. “Or maybe I did. Who knows? You will never know, Master. This agony of the unknown will surely eat at you for moments to come, never to find a resolution.”
“Wow, that sounds bad, Ash,” I said, concerned but not really.
But apparently, Ash was deaf to sarcasm, smirking a little smug. “And indeed it is so! Yet if you wish to steer away from such torture you should instead wisely spend your time with your devoted loyal servant, I strongly recommend that you do!”
“That’s a very good idea, Ash, amazing,” I said in wholehearted agreement, causing her ears to twitch and flutter in delight. “So hurry up and take off your dress, let’s go swimming.”
The twitching stopped, her smile froze. “Later...” She quietly muttered, hanging her head in a slump.
“Later indeed.”
I took that as my cue to move on, and move on I did, slowly, treading lightly, easing my toes, then my feet, immersing them into the shallow waters.
The cold shot up to my spine, and I felt a shiver – a comforting shiver, nostalgia, exhilaration, and joy woven into one strong tingle – and I immersed myself even deeper, and waist-high, that’s when I paused momentarily, turning around towards the shore.
Adalia stood by mere inches from the tide, and with every ripple that drifted closer, she would too, and then – her toes disappeared, and then her feet, her legs.
She made a peculiar sound, her lips slightly parting open, and she brought her gaze down at her feet.
“I’m... sinking...” She muttered.
“You’re swimming,” I said, spurring towards her, sending ripples towards her now immersed hips.
Again, my eyes just couldn’t help but drift astray along with the current – it’s just, I’ve never seen Adalia like this before, suddenly so exposed, suddenly so brazen, suddenly so... provocative.
“You are... staring again...”
I felt my lips curl upwards again, having got caught. “You don’t seem to mind it so much.”
“I... don’t... mind...” She said, cocking her head. “I am just... confused... why do you... stare...?”
For a second, I thought I got water flooding out of my ears. Did I hear that right?
“Why I stare?” I repeated.
“Yes...” She affirmed with a nod. “You stare... at my body... a lot...”
“Well, uh, you see...” I began, then quickly ended. Quickly thinking, I threw the question back at her. “Well, why do you think I stare?”
“I don’t... know...” She slanted her head the other way, giving it a quick ponder. “But I feel... embarrassed... when you do...”
“I thought you didn’t feel much.”
“Only certain things... I do...” She replied, blinking herself back to the present moment, back towards me. “When I’m... with you...”
“And what do you think that means?”
She entered her thoughts again. “I don’t... know...”
This girl... usually, she’s the sharpest, keenest tool in the shed, so quick to pick up on nuance when it comes to others – but yet when it comes to herself, she’s as blind as bat.
Felt a bit of deja vu too. I remember a similar conversation to this all too well. Feelings, emotions, way back at that convention. I recalled mentioning that I’d help find new things for her to feel.
Better I make good on that promise, I suppose.
I raised my arm from the water, reaching it out for her own. “Care to find out?”
Slowly, her fingers, her claws extended, she carefully slid her hand into mine, and just as slowly, I pulled her into deeper depths, pulled her closer towards me.
She made another sound as the water further engulfed the rest of her, there was no more solid ground beneath us, just the deep blue all around us, and I think that made her uneasy. But I made sure to keep my hold on her firm, keep her afloat as I slowly guided us out further and further, rippling and drifting as one.
The water was cold, but she was colder, closer. I could feel her legs bumping into mine, her shoulders sometimes brushing, her chest... let’s not talk about that. I was so busy just leading her, keeping her head above the water, that I didn’t notice what she was actually doing – those glinting whites – more prominent than ever.
.....
I looked up at her, a half-smile on my face. “You’re staring...”
“Oh...” Adalia blinked, cocking her head. “I didn’t... know...”
Seeing that, hearing that, that’s when I had a sudden thought in my head.
“Hey, you’re not just acting dumb, are you?” I asked. “Y’know, pretending, so you can keep me doing whatever it is that you want me to do with you.”
“Pretending...” She repeated, her lips frowning slightly. “But... I really... can’t swim...”
“Yeah, I don’t doubt that,” I said, feeling her legs bump at me again. “But other things? You really don’t know the reason why I was staring?”
“No...”
I felt my smile become a grin. “C’mon, I know you sharper than that. Or what – hold on – you want me to tell you why. So that you can hear it from me instead, right?”
For once, she didn’t cock her head again.
“If you know why... you stared...” She said slowly, her frown disappearing. “I wouldn’t mind... knowing why...”
Sharp as ever, she.
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