Dashing Devil Omnibus 1: Books 1-3, page 107
That didn’t have much to do with dancing, other than you were supposed to smile during most of them. Dancing wasn’t so bad, though, and learning the steps wasn’t all that different from learning a new set of forms. His size complicated things with most of his partners, and his wings often got in the way, but otherwise it had never been a real issue.
Tripping in dance class was a little embarrassing. Tripping in a fight tended to hurt and had the potential to be very embarrassing.
“Okay. Raev, I know you’ll want to dance.” He’d been her when they’d joined, so he knew she’d always enjoyed dancing. “Should I be learning any new steps? I know most of the basic ballroom stuff.”
“Welllll…” She drew the word out, her interest piqued, tails and ears stiffening. “Silvie said you had the Rumba and Salsa down pretty well, but if you’re offering to learn something new…” She still hesitated to tell him what she wanted.
He could tell she didn’t believe his offer was genuine and that he was just being polite.
“Anything I can pick up in a few days is fine,” Boyd confirmed his sincerity. “I’ll be spending some time brushing up anyway if you would like to join me. It’s been a few years since I’ve done anything more than a basic slow dance in the kitchen with Silvie.” He coughed into his hand. “And those never lasted that long.”
“He’s a quick study, though,” Silvie offered. “What did you have in mind?”
Silvie was interested as well. She liked any of the dances that put them close to each other. Quick or slow didn’t matter, but she was also partial to spun and twirls.
“It’s pretty rare these days, but it’s in the same family as the Rumba.” Raev was still being cautious, which just told him more and more how important this was to her. She always thought she’d settled down with someone she could dance with, but that had happened rarely with the men she’d dated, if at all.
“It’s called the Bachata. We’d have to work with your height, though, since we’re supposed to be face to face for most of it.”
“One of the benefits of Powered strength, my knees don’t give out easily,” Boyd rumbled. “Want to start tonight? We should probably get as much practice in as we can.”
“Marry me?” Raev purred in her velvet voice.
Boyd almost chuckled at the standard little joke but decided to go in a different direction. “Okay, when did you have in mind?”
“Hey!” Silvie pouted while Raev sputtered. “Marriage should be a group discussion, at the very least.”
Boyd got the impression that Silvie was just upset because Raev had beat her to it.
“Uh-huh,” Boyd chuckled as they moved into the next section. Its shelves were filled with every personal hygiene implement Boyd could imagine and some he wouldn’t begin to understand how to use. He grabbed a simple washcloth.
“A lot of things should have been group discussions.” He indicated the shelves, covered in a truly excessive amount of personal cleaning tools, most of which had several copies in stock. They could open a shop if they were so inclined.
“That’s different,” Silvie pouted, as she floated over to grab a fluffy pink poof thing she used to wash her body.
Boyd liked watching her use it.
Raev grabbed a light green one of her own. They didn’t have time for the fancier implements and both seemed satisfied with their selections, so they moved on. The last section of the prep area consisted of a host of shelves filled with folded robes. An example of each hung on one end of the shelf. There were nearly as many robe options as there were towels.
Further down were baskets to put dirty clothes in and a bench you could use to disrobe before moving on into the bathing chamber beyond. All three of them were already nude and the base’s System—which had the same voice and interface as the one they’d used back in their suite in The Tower—informed them that the bath was currently empty.
As they moved through the end of the section, Silvie harrumphed, “And you promised not to scold me.”
“I did no such thing,” Boyd rumbled, moving towards the door he assumed would lead to an extravagant bath. Instead, he found the bath to be the equivalent of a small water park in a room about half the size of the Great Room. It even had multiple tiers, although it wasn’t shaped like an amphitheater.
What looked like holes that led outside let in natural light. Looking closely up one of the holes confirmed it was artificial, an effect that was very convincing unless you looked up right underneath one of them. Even then, you had to more than just glance, as it seemed the back of the holes were coated in some light blue material and the lighting elements themselves were tucked out of sight. They cast pools of brighter light that left the rest of the room comfortably dim.
They entered an upraised tier that ran the entire length of one wall, with a wide staircase that led down to the lowest, central area. That was taken up by a truly ridiculously sized pool, shaped like a ‘†’. The water had a thick layer of steam rising from it, making its heat obvious. There was one other tier at their level, off against the right wall, with what looked like an alternative entrance to the massive bath.
There were several smaller platforms carved into the sides of the two tallest staircases, descending towards the bottom level with the massive pool. There were more against the other two walls as well, creating dozens of small to medium sized areas. Some had pools or what looked like water features that might double as showers in them. Others had little gardens with flowering plants.
A few even had equipment Boyd had seen in various depictions of high-end spas. He spotted a duplicate of the chair Mindy had used to give him a massage, earlier. And there were a lot of ferns and other large leafy plants used to block lines of sigh on some of the areas, granting some privacy in the otherwise open room.
“Don’t look around too much!” Silvie dropped her stuff and threw her hands over Boyd’s eyes. “Not until we have time for a proper tour. We only have like twenty minutes until six and I know Mindy wants to show you the big one. I really should have brought you to one of the smaller bathrooms.”
Silvie guided him with her hands over his eyes off to the left. He wasn’t about to complain with her body pressed against his back like this, so he moved with her. Plus, he didn’t sense any of her wicked intent that would have warned of an oncoming trap.
“I can show you this one, though. It was my idea,” she added cheerily, then she called over her shoulder, “Babe, could you grab my… oh, thanks, love!”
“No problem,” Raev’s velvet tone called back brightly, and continued with more amusement, “although I’m pretty sure you’re just trying to put off being scolded because you saw his face.”
“Hush, you,” Silvie giggled. “I’ll get him to promise not to scold me before it becomes an issue.”
“I’m right here…” Boyd sighed.
“Mhmm, and I’ll only need a few minutes of your time to extract a short-term promise.” Silvie cooed in his ear. “I’ll let Mindy take care of the rest, later. Okay, stand here and face this way. Good.” She turned him to face the way they had entered before removing her hands from his eyes and floating away from his back to circle around to his front.
He was facing a molded stone wall.
“Wings out!” Silvie put her arms out like they were wings.
Boyd glanced over to Raev who was watching with some interest from the side. Seeing she was clear, though, he extended his wings in both directions with a sharp snap.
“Good!” Silvie clapped, going from arms wide to clapping while nude and floating in front of him was more than a little distracting. “Oh!”
She spotted the basket still in his hand and took it from him, setting it on the ground nearby. “Towels, please.” She took the towels from Raev and floated down a little ways to hang them on racks set into the wall.
She floated back and landed directly in front of him, barely avoiding contact. “Come here!” she waved Raev over.
The redhead set the baskets she was carrying down near where Silvie had put Boyd’s and strutted over in front of Boyd. “Now, Shower on,” Silvie said clearly.
A moment later, warm water started spraying in streams and ribbons from just about everywhere. Even the floor had little jets that shot water up in little arches all over the place. Raev let out a squeal as she was suddenly soaked. Boyd flinched in surprise at the sheer amount of water involved, while Silvie let out a joy filled giggle. The blast of water only lasted for a second before easing back to something more manageable and comfortable.
Jets in the walls and ceiling continued to spew water in large amounts but it was targeted now. It dropped like rain onto their shoulders and heads and sprayed onto their torsos and below from the sides in gentle ribbons. This included the entirety of Boyd’s wings, which felt pretty nice.
“Okay, gotta be quick!” Silvie shot over and returned with their baskets. She passed out soap first and urged the others to scrub fast. He noted the jets of water adjusted to avoid her face, despite how fast she was moving.
Boyd had figured out quick showers when he was six. In less than a minute, he’d hit his entire body with soap that was quickly rinsed away by the water. His skin was less porous than standard and came clean fairly easily. Silvie was fast, and her energy-based resistance meant that her skin was about as porous as a good dry erase board. The same applied to her hair. She only used shampoo and conditioner because washing her hair felt so nice. She even had to use a special perfume if she wanted to smell like anything other than her light and pleasant natural scent.
Raev finished up with a quick rinse down not long after Boyd. Silvie rushed the pair of them through shampooing their hair, electing to help Raev instead of doing her own. She obviously had something planned and wanted as much time as she could get for it.
Boyd stepped in and helped Raev with her tails, since his own short hair didn’t take that much time. He was probably due for a haircut, a complication for the coming date night. Normally he would just buzz it, but Silvie said it made him look ‘too regimented’ and they were trying to soften his image.
Raev’s tails took time and effort. She had a new special shampoo and conditioner for them—one she’d been wanting to try but couldn’t find, apparently. It smelled like something sweet baking as he lathered her tails up. He swore her tails drank both water and cleaning products. It took several minutes, but with three sets of hands that only let themselves get a little distracted, Raev was quickly cleaned and conditioned to the nines.
Most of the distraction came when they were letting the conditioner sit and Silvie paused the water.
After they rinsed the conditioner out of Raev’s tails, Silvie popped down to her knees in front of him. She told him to close his eyes and enjoy. The water hitting his wings, back, and raining down on him was wonderful, but Silvie’s skill with her fingers and mouth was magical. Raev commented about it being a good thing that he didn’t have much of a refractory period before joining in. She helped her lover extract a promise not to scold Silvie about the bath until Mindy had her say.
Boyd didn’t have any complaints.
Then, Silvie had one more feature of the shower to display—hidden blowers that quickly dried his wings with comfortably hot air. It was meant to be Boyd’s quick shower option, Silvie explaining he wasn’t to neglect his wings any longer. Normally, he kept them folded tight in his quick showers, to keep as much water away from the inner lining that tended to soak it up, so he could just let the leathery portions drip dry. He was fortunate in that they didn’t drag across the ground and so didn’t get all that dirty, but Silvie was insistent that he start washing them properly.
Satisfied, clean, and still feeling that pleasant warm fuzzy feeling from their group nap, Boyd only needed a full stomach to be perfectly content. A hearty pasta and poultry meal should certainly do the job.
Chapter 31
The three of them walked into the dining area of the Great Room wearing smiles at 5:59 pm and some seconds, but they weren't late. Tinker and Mindy were already there and seated at the largest table, engaged in conversation. They were seated across from each other, leaving a place between them and the head of the table where Boyd sat for Silvie and Raev.
Boyd noted that Tinker’s chair had a higher seat, allowing her to sit comfortable at a table built for someone of Boyd’s height. Silvie and Raev each took a seat and Boyd briefly considered reclaiming Tinker for his lap, but she seemed content and engaged in a conversation, one that paused with their approach.
“I was just telling Tinker a little about our time together.” Mindy smiled as Boyd settled into his seat. “We were just getting to ‘The Witch and The Demon’ phase.”
Boyd chuckled ruefully. While it had been fun, he wasn’t the proudest of those few weeks.
“I absolutely love that story,” Silvie said cheerfully.
“Would you like to tell it?” Mindy asked. “An outsider’s perspective might actually be better.”
“Sure!” Silvie chirped before turning to Tinker. Silvie sat next to Mindy, so she was across from Tinker.
“So, everyone was talking about how Boyd was disappearing into Mindy’s room for hours and hours for about two months at this point. The two of them didn’t really talk or interact during the day, but Boyd would disappear into her room in the evening instead of doing four extra training sessions, like he normally would. So everyone knew something was going on, right?”
“It sounds pretty obvious, yes,” Tinker confirmed.
“Right, but they were both loners by then,” Silvie continued. “Boyd would still speak up during lessons and team training or whatever, but nobody felt like they could talk to him outside of that stuff. Well, except for me, but he just mumbled excuses and avoided me back then.”
She turned and gave Boyd a glare before resuming her story.
“Oh! You also have to know about the tournaments. We had tournaments every week. All kinds with rewards like extra desserts or extra hours with one of the entertainment viewscreens and stuff. Well, Mindy never ever participated in any of the optional tournaments and Boyd stopped participating after his Change. He was being a big lug, probably thought he might go Primal at any moment and hurt someone.”
Boyd shrugged one shoulder in assent when pairs of silver-blue, bright-emerald, darker-amethyst, and light-hazel eyes settled on him.
“Yeah, I figured.” Silvie shook her head with a small smile.
Boyd got the impression she wanted to mock him a little for it, but chose not to.
“Anyway, the rumored couple shows up one week and totally dominates the doubles tournament out of nowhere. They just walked in all calm as can be, Mindy put her hand on Boyd’s shoulder and he raised his hand towards one of their opponents, and WHAM!” She clapped her hands together for effect.
“They laid a psychic smack down on them. Most of their opponents just dropped unconscious. Some tried to fight but would be so focused on the mental battle with Mindy that Boyd just walked up and tossed them out of bounds. Nobody had a mental defense strong enough to block the two of them.”
“It was all Boyd’s force and range combined with my precision and control,” Mindy explained. “I was able to piggyback off the connection he established with his Power. Then he would essentially hit them with me instead of one of his sensations or emotions like he normally would. It allowed me to work at range once Boyd shunted me in. Once I was in, only the strongest could resist me—and because Boyd punched me through their main defenses, that was all they could do.”
“Mhmm, anyway,” Silvie continued, evidently thinking the how of it didn’t matter to the story, “the first week they just won every fight clean and easy. It seemed almost like a practice run.”
It was, Boyd thought to himself.
“Then, the next week came around and Mindy’s was wearing that choker and a sexy black outfit instead of the standard athletic uniforms. Boyd was in black shorts because they matched, I’m sure.”
She was right.
“I could tell right away that Mindy was there to send a message and Boyd was playing along.”
Silvie was spot on.
“I did have some lessons to teach,” Mindy admitted with a little embarrassment in her tone.
“And boy, did she ever.” Silvie giggled. “So, it went pretty much like last time, except this time Mindy was leaning back into Boyd with her arms up around his neck all sexy like. She was a little thicker back then and looked positively delicious all pressed into Boyd who was just a little smaller than he is now. I think it was the contrast, or maybe it was because it was so obvious that Boyd was crazy into her. The hot guy effect…. Ya’know? When a girl just looks hotter because a hot guy is into her?”
“Sure,” Raev confirmed the existence of a known condition that Boyd had never heard of before.
“Um… thanks?” Mindy asked uncertainly.
“Is that a thing?” Tinker asked, with what Boyd decided was a hopeful tone.
“Of course,” Silvie chirped and moved on, it wasn’t even clear who she was answering. “So there she was, pretty much grinding on Boyd. This time, instead of just knocking people out they went full puppet master, walking their opponents out of the ring. He’d point to one opponent and then the other, and they just spun in place and walked out of bounds. Boyd didn’t have to throw anyone out this time—they all just turned around and silently walked out while these two smirked at them.
“Except for a few… the ones that Mindy was after. They suffered much more embarrassing defeats—like being beaten on for a little bit by their own team member. One did the chicken dance while calling himself a ‘small dicked braggart who couldn’t please a woman with step-by-step instructions’ before pantsing himself to confirm his claim. A couple literally got spanked by their partners.
“That’s the night they earned the title ‘The Witch and The Demon.’ They only showed up one more week after that for a repeat performance, though. Half the contestants dropped out as soon as they showed up. Mindy successfully used Boyd to cow the entire training group.”
