Sorry for the delay on C&C - have a teaser · 3:02pm Mar 13th, 2023
Apologies for not having the chapter out this past weekend as I hoped. Unfortunately, work picked up big time last week, requiring me to work extra hours, and the new chapter(s) of C&C I was working with fell by the wayside for a bit while I concentrated on my day job. It might not be letting up much either given we’re trying to hit an end-of-month deadline here, so my writing efforts are likely to suffer a bit. But, gotta pay the bills.
The good news is that I finally completed the chapter draft late Sunday. And after this enormous entry hit 22,000+ words with no end in sight, I finally bit the bullet and broke it up. The new chapter is currently 13,300 words and will probably push 14-15k when all prereads are in and I’ve fleshed it out a bit more. Or at least, the M-rated version will be, as the first half of the chapter is given over to Gilda and Marco with a side of Archon Archex.
No, he’s not participating (even if he IS severely teasing!), but I’m going to use him as a means of worldbuilding and adding to the existing Changeling lore I inherited from the site-departed and sorely-missed Denim_Blue. Through Archex, you’ll learn about not just him, his station, and what he can do, but more generally about his hive and their vessel along with their general outlook on things. For that reason, he needs to be in the T-rated version of the chapter as well.
That version is likely to be more on the order of 9-10k words for everything I’ll have to cut out. For the M-rated one, you can expect a sex scene on par with the one I added to chapter 14 - Feathered Heart, with room for expansion over in Eros. As for what will happen, I won’t spoil it except to say that Gilda wants to reward Marco and celebrate survival with something they haven’t done before. And also, expect a clever (or maybe not-so-clever) reference to one of my other M-rated works at the end of the scene.
The second half of the chapter picks up in its aftermath, and that’s what I’ll excerpt here. Have a long-overdue if slightly sanitized teaser, folks, with my apologies for not giving it sooner.
Another hour and two more lovemaking sessions later, Gilda was awoken not by a knock, but by a gentle pressure on her mind followed by an increase in the light level of the room.
“Wakey, wakey…” She heard the amused voice of Archon Archex in her head as much as her ears, her unfocused eyes fluttering to find him standing by the bed they’d eventually ended up on with what looked like a waiter’s tray, on which sat a drink bowl and a mug along with some form of bottle held in his magical grasp. “It’s time to get up, Centurion, though I see Mister Lakan already is.” He nodded down at Marco’s obvious arousal.
Despite that and their very compromising position, Gilda could only groan and glare, to which he only chuckled and began pouring them both a drink. “I’m sorry, I truly am. We would be more than happy to let you two rest and rut for the massive amount of love we have already collected, but it’s nearly noon, and we’ve just received word that the Tribune is on his way.”
“Fuck the Tribune…” Marco growled tiredly, not caring that he was naked and s exually intertwined with Gilda before the large and lithe drone. “Not literally, of course.”
“Speak for yourself, Mister Lakan. Tribune tiercels are a particular favorite of mine for how much I find they enjoy not being in command for a bit. But it would seem that your time here was spent well.” Archex nodded towards the brightly growing collection of crystals embedded in the ceiling. He helped them sit up with gentle magical pressure on Gilda’s neck and lower back, away from her wings.
“Here. This will help restore your energy and alertness, at least for a time. And it should also help subside your excitement—yes, hard as it is to believe, not everything we possess is meant to increase it.”
“What’s in it?” Gilda asked blearily as she struggled to shake off her sleep and sit up.
“Be assured that it’s nothing magical or alcoholic. Just a strong jolt of a special coffee strain we commissioned from the zebras, combined with a flavored sweet syrup of our own make and simple soda water. Our younglings find it quite invigorating and refreshing,” he told them as she heard it fizz when it hit the bowl.
Her nose twitched appreciatively as the switchel-like scent reached her. “That smells good.”
“I promise that it tastes good, too. It may interest you to know that this is another item we’ve considered selling to griffons in an effort to more easily make money for our various… business ventures. The joke among our kind is that for as much energy as it imparts, it will ‘give you wings’ if you don’t already have them,” he noted in amusement, causing Marco to suddenly cough hard as he took a sip from his mug. “And if that worries you, Mister Lakan, be assured that description is not meant to be taken literally. Though if you like, we do have potions for that.”
“As fun as having wings might be, I’ll pass. As for this, I think you guys might be sued for copyright infringement if you tried selling it on Earth…” he mused as he propped himself up on an elbow to take a longer draw. “Whoa. Damn, that is good. Try it, Gilds.”
“Okay.” Though Gilda had no idea what Marco meant, she accepted her bowl as it was placed on the bed beside her and raised her head enough to dip her beak in it. To her surprise, it tasted not unlike the overly-sugared sodas she’d occasionally enjoyed with Rainbow at malt shops in Cloudsdale, if a bit less sweet and more stimulating.
Mere seconds after taking it, she felt it soaking into her system swiftly, causing her talons to flex against the sheets and herself to stretch her stiff and still-sore body out hard. It brought her into close contact with Marco again to predictable effects. None of which was missed by the perceptive Archon, who studied them with an almost academic interest. “Remarkable. Overcoming the effects of the drink and self-enhancing your own sexual attributes? I daresay you two would make excellent drones, and I would greatly enjoy seeing an example of human lovemaking so I can both bask in it and later copy it. Unfortunately…”
He bodily separated them with his aura, moving them to opposite edges of the bed without touching or stimulating anything untoward. “I cannot, and neither can you.”
“Hey!” they both squawked in protest, to which he met their glare head on with his pupil-less gaze.
“I’m truly sorry, Centurion and Mister Lakan. But there is no time for this. Tribune Cipio will be here in mere minutes, and the Queen believes that you should not disrespect him more than you already have. You demanded his presence, and he has come. You should be there to meet him along with her and your subordinates.”
Gilda relented at his words, suddenly angry at herself that she had to be lectured by a changeling of all creatures on self-control. “You’re right. Sorry. We have to get dressed, Marco,” she called over her shoulder to him. “We’ll finish this later.”
“We’d better,” he groused as he sat up facing away from her, upending the mug’s contents into his open maw. “Maybe it’s just as well, though. Because now I’m gonna be even grumpier when I see him. Can’t wait to say exactly what I think of him for endangering us like he did…”
That will be the T-rated version of the section. Both chapter versions will launch simultaneously when the time comes. As for timeframe, it depends on how fast prereads get in, so probably later in the week with the earliest possible release date being Wednesday night. Understand that even after the M-rated version is good, I have to create the T-rated version from it, which takes a bit more time and requires its own editing passes.
After this, I have a 9100-word head start on the next C&C chapter, so I’ll probably go straight to that before heading over to work on Eros. The next chapter will be M-rated as well, though for that one, Gilda will only be an observer, if a rather smug one. But more on that later. Apologies again for the delay, but business before pleasure.
Glorious news and fantastic work ethic fitting to the coming content
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Mmmm..."hot coffee".
Changeling Energy Drinks XD what could go wrong? Archex shouldnt have trouble to find someone to teach him how humans do it. I mean some Marines might be happy to let him dig around their memories for certain porn videos.
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There are times I hate being a grown-up...
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Hey, civilization wouldn’t be possible without it!
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He reads emotions, not memories (without help, that is!), but yeah.
And if Marco ever gets his laptop back, they’d probably get plenty of material just from the pics and videos they took! 