<strong>"I was foolish, when he tried to gain my affection, I laughed at him.  It was laughable, wasn't it?  I mean he knew I was bound for the dungeon, he knew that I couldn't give him what he wanted.  But I think it may have been the first time he heard a woman tell him no.  He was handsome, and powerful, and had enough money to be comfortable.  So I suppose women who were interested in male companionship would have found him quite desirable.  Though I did not."</strong><br/><br/>As Pipa listened to Eren’s description of her tutor, she couldn't help but think of the ragged man-corpse still attached to the last wagon, alive only through the power of regenerative magics. It was hard to imagine the transition from one to the other, or that the bloody prisoner was ever ‘quite desirable’. The punishment for jeopardizing the participation of a contestant was extremely brutal.<br/><br/>She compared the transgressor to Fairweather. From some perspectives, the two were alike. But, her former professor’s empathy and generosity made a chasm of difference when the two men's paths has crossed that morning. She felt too lucky to have had one and not the other. She felt privileged compared to her wealthy companion.  Eren didn't know that this was what she had that was worth feeling jealous over.<br/><br/><strong>She sighed and seemed to be searching Pipa's eyes as she said the next comment, wondering how the quarter orc would take it.</strong><br/><br/>Pipa’s long fingers began to lightly knead the tense muscles in Eren’s shoulder, hoping  the steady pressure would help the young woman feel safe. She tilted her head slightly,  indicating her willingness to hear whatever she needed to say.<br/><br/><strong>"Growing up in a large home with three mothers and two aunts, I wasn't really given much to male companionship.  My mothers obviously had no interest in men, and my two aunts had little after their husband had left.  I suppose... I suppose I just never really considered it much.  Is that odd?"</strong><br/><br/>Pipa shook her head, “No. Where I am from we would say, ‘It's as common as schist.’”<br/><br/>Eren looked at her quizzically for a moment before both girls broke into laughter over the terrible mineralogy pun. Her face did that cute thing, where her brow wrinkled between her eyes when she laughed, that Pipa always found attractive on human women.<br/><br/><strong> She let her right hand drift over and fall on Pipa's knee, a gesture that could be one of a person seeking friendship, validation, or perhaps it was more.</strong><br/><br/>Pipa felt her touch recognized the tingle of relief and tension, dread and excitement, much like her own.<br/><br/>The coach jolted over a large pothole, and Eren’s grip on her leg tightened as she pitched forward in her seat. Her fingers digging into soft flesh over iron muscles that flexed as Pipa shifted her weight from the seat to the floorboards to steady them.  Her hand went from rubbing Eren’s shoulder to instinctively pulling her close with both arms.<br/><br/>There they sat for a short series of heart beats, still holding tightly to one another. All the excitement and worry of the last couple days had Pipa feeling mentally exhausted. The warm body and full lips of the attractive woman so close to her, seemed to offer a welcome reprieve from all this strenuous thinking.<br/><br/>She leaned forward, slow but intent, and gave Eren a warm kiss, pressing her mouth firmly over her’s, lightly sucking the woman's  bottom lip between her own, nibbling gently  and teasing it with the tip of her tongue. Her hands slid over the soft curtain of dark hair and gently cupped the nape of her neck to draw her closer.<br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/>