Same Old Song And Dance

Tags: F/F, Horror

Jan 15, Terra Prima Calendar
0130, Shipboard Chronolog Time (ESS)
300,000 Km from Phobos
17 Km from CNS Woglinde

Bright-Eyes screamed as they ripped her throat out, a wet, choked gurgling that was as much fear as pain, and her eyes were wide with horror as she fell to the deck, drowning in her own blood. Mari shot the one that had killed her, the explosive flechette blowing away half its grey, fanged smile- now flecked with Bright-Eyes red blood and white skin.

Colibri watched in horror. She wanted to help, but she couldn’t. She was just a kid again, a kid in nothing but rags and naked fear, too weak to fight. The gloam jumped at Mari, bone shining where its face had been shot away. She killed it, but it bit her shoulder before the spray of needles tore it to shreds of meat to patter down in a grisly rain. Mari turned to Colibri, but she was already running and her friend’s cry for help stung her eyes but didn’t slow her steps.

She left Mari to die. She left them all to die, her last visions of them as she raced by a nightmare of snapping teeth and the wet crunch of bone and skulls under nano-driven fingers and jaws, thrashing and screaming as they were broken, eviscerated, and eaten alive.

Alone, scared, unarmed and helpless, Colibri ran, ran to the only person who she trusted to help her. She pounded frantically on Mouse’s door, then practically fell into the room as it opened, sprawling on the carpet at Mouse’s feet. Sobbing, she clutched Mouse’s legs as the door slammed closed and shut out the horrors beyond, and she felt long, warm fingers in her flyway hair as Mouse cooed, “Shhhh, its okay, Col, its okay. You’re safe.”

Colibri, her vision blurred with tears let Mouse help her up, get her into bed, make her safe and warm and snuggle up behind her. It was okay, it was going to be okay, it was all a bad dream, she was safe. She turned to kiss Mouse, to thank her and hold her…

Shining bone, where the needle had torn half its face away. Virus-sharpened fangs, still slicked with Bright-Eyes blood, a shred of Mari’s cerise jacket caught between two teeth.

Colibri shrieked and thrashed, trying to get away from the horror that had been her friend, but Mouse had her pinned. Her breath stank of carrion, of shredded flesh and bone and blood and rot, and her jaws opened impossibly wide, clamping around Colibri’s throat…

She screamed and lashed out at the empty air, her body twisting, trying to get away. She was jolted awake more fully when her body hit the floor of her cabin and for a moment she lay there trembling, wide eyes staring at the far wall. After a minute of trying to bring her mind back to reality,Colibri sat up, curling in on herself as she gave a shuddering whimper. It won't go away...why won't it go away?

She needed someone. Now. A warm body, something to make her forget. The ship's brothel was too far away, she didn't have time. No time.

Mouse.

Mouse was close.

All of her focus turned to her friend, and before she even realized it she was out the door and down the short distance of the hallway. She didn't even notice (though not like she really would have cared anyway) that she was still in her night clothes: a thin, red thong and red top that was long enough to have been decent if it hadn't been so revealingly sheer. It wasn't until she was pounding on Mouse's cabin door that the mirror image in the dream returned to her. A wave of panic washed over her mind, turning her spine to ice, and she stepped back a few paces, her arms wrapping around herself as she stood there and trembled.

Mouse wouldn't...

She wouldn't!

Some deep, logical part of her mind knew this...but what if this was just another dream? She had woken from one dream into another before. What if the exact same thing happens? But then, what if she actually is awake? She needed the comfort of her friend more than anything, but the haunting horror of what she had experienced fuzzed her reality, and it showed; her eyes wide, pupils dilated with fear, her usually straight and confident stance reduced to a hunched shivering, her hair a mess and cheeks streaked with tears she hadn't even realized had been falling. Mouse, please!

Myshka- Mouse, to her friends- was just toweling off from the shower when she heard the frantic pounding on her door. She kept a nocturnal schedule these days. Colibri was almost always up, thanks to that damned stardust and at night it was easier to find space in the armoury and machine shops or the chemistry labs. All of the ship's entertainment and conveniences were open round the clock anyway and it kept the Captain happy if she could stand third watch.

She'd been considering the ship, and whether to stay on it despite its many conveniences or seek a berth somewhere else the next time they put into a major port. A privateer ship, a den of iniquity with stardrives and cannon wanted by several organizations and governments was no place for a calm existence. Staying here on the Baited Breath was dangerous. It was nothing more than a thought exercise, though, as always. If Colibristayed, she stayed. She wouldn't abandon her...friend.

Her contemplative silence was shattered by the rapid hammering on her door, and at this hour Mouse knew who it was, who it always was in the middle of the night on these long runs, and contemplation was replaced immediately by worry and a frission of fear as she remembered some of the worst nights Colibri had needed her for. She wrapped the towel around her pale, otherwise nude form and ran her fingers through damp steel-colored hair, wasting no time as she crossed the room to open the door. She could have done it from across the room with a flick of her mental fingers, but she wanted to be standing there. It wouldn't be the first time Colibri had collapsed into her room.

Schooling her face into its usually blandly-amused expression from its briefly-worn haunted expression, Mouse keyed the door open.

Schooling her face into its usually blandly-amused expression from its briefly-worn haunted expression, Mouse keyed the door open. This time, however, Colibri didn't stumble or rush into her room. Instead, she simply stood there, looking a wreck and like she was looking at a ghost.

Something moved down the hall, and Colibri's fear spiked, head whipping around to look at what it was. There was nothing there, but she could hear it. Footsteps. Rushing, horrid feet of those ghouls! Her gaze moved back to Mouse, seeming on the edge of panic but the image of her friend's face stretching and twisting continuing to haunt her and keep her from moving.

A voice whispered just behind her ear, low, unintelligible, but cruel, and the girl flinched with a whimper, closing her eyes tight as she pushed past Mouse and into the relative safety of her cabin. Even if her friend was a monster like in her dream, at least she wouldn't have to deal with everything else that was outside.

Mouse drifted out of the way of the door as Colibri pushed in, saying nothing but looking Col up and down as she passed. She noted the thong and the nightshirt first, and was thinking about whether she could find someone to decline that wouldn't sound like she was saying "no" to casual sex when the triphammer-fast rise and fall of Col's chest and the pained, terrified eyes registered on Mouse's senses.

Mouse shut the door, locking it with a single touch. The towel fell to the floor, temporarily forgotten as she crossed the cabin to snatch a large, soft grey blanket from where it sat folded at the foot of her small bed. This late in the night, Mouse knew that Col would be a couple hours from her last hit at least, and the chill of the corridors, her crash, and her fear were going to cause her to feel like she was freezing if she didn't already. Wordlessly, Mouse unfurled the blanket and spread it wide, reaching out to touch one of Col's trembling shoulders, intent on wrapping the blanket around the hunched, shaking, scared-out-of-her-mind woman.

Colibri was staring, unseeing, at the floor when her fighter's senses noted the movement toward her torso and neck. She jolted with a startled sound, head snapping up to keep Mouse in view as she took a step a way. "No! Don't touch me." The moment she said it, her horrified expression flashed into worry before diving into one that seemed on the edge of breaking down into sobs. She wanted Mouse to touch her, wanted the comfort and warmth she offered...but that's what she had done before...and then she..."How could you? How could you do it? Damnit, Mouse, I trusted you!"

Mouse flinched back violently, drawing in on herself. Her expression was crestfallen but her eyes were terrified. Dear gods, what had she done? Mouse wracked her brain, going over every conversation, every offhanded comment, every word she said or typed or even thought, in the presence of the ship's psionics. What had she done, what had she said, what had she not done? What had hurt Colibri so badly? Did Col know? Had she said something in passing without thinking, had a stray thought at the wrong time and word had gotten back to Col? Had she ruined the only thing she treasured?

Mouse shivered, suddenly chilled herself. She crossed the cabin carefully, taking great pains to let Colibri keep her in sight and settled the blanket over the armchair in the corner of the room so Colibri could wrap herself in it before stepping away and waving her hand at the chair, inviting Col to sit.

Mouse sat on the edge of her bed, crossing her knees and wrapping her arms around herself, acutely conscious of her own nudity and suddenly ashamed of it. She chewed her lip for a second and then said in a soft voice, "I'm sorry Col, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to hurt you or scare you. Please, please just sit and talk to me. Whatever I did, I'm so sorry, just...just tell me how to make it right and I promise I won't hurt you again."

Colibri shook her head, both to decline the offer to sit and to try and shake her thoughts back into some semblance of order. She began to pace, hands unclasping from her arms to find purchase in her short, red hair, grip tightening to painful levels. “I don't...It wasn't...Damnit! They killed Bright Eyes! I was right there! But I couldn't...I couldn't do anything! I left them. I left them all to die...just like Arkaitz...and then you,” Col looked up, then, her gaze returning to Mouse as her tone took on a more accusing tone, “you told me it would be ok, that I was safe. But you were one of them! You turned! I felt the teeth, Mouse! Cold razors...I felt it all...” Colibri degenerated into sobs, finally stopping her pacing and crumpling to her knees, arms back around herself as she shook. When she spoke next, her voice was nearly a whisper, “How'm I supposed to know you're real? That you won't turn? I need you.”

"Oh, gods..." Mouse breathed, suddenly understanding. It was a nightmare, a horrible nightmare that combined everything that hurt Colibri most: betrayal, fear, those nanovirus monsters that Col whimpered about in her sleep, and the loss of her friends. And she, Myshka, had been a part of that. Colibri's sleeping mind had feared that she wasn't a good enough friend, a strong enough person to keep from turning on the tortured young woman.

Not for the first time, Mouse considered coming clean to Colibri. Not for the first time, she considered whether risking their friendship would be worth proving to Col that she would never hurt her, that she would die for her, and certainly die before she hurt the scared, enraged redhead.

As always, she backed down, hating herself and cursing herself for a coward. Later she would tell herself it was because whatever good she might do now wouldn't be worth Colibri's slow self-destruction without someone there who could handle her moods, her needs and her impulsive personality. Her reasoning would even be true, Mouse knew, but it wouldn't be the reason she stayed silent.

Instead, Mouse slithered off the bed to kneel just out of arm's reach of her friend. Brushing her hair back, Mouse waited until she caught Colibri's eye and slowly shook her head. "Never, Col." She said quietly, her voice firm. "I would never turn on you like that." She opened her mouth, reaching up to pull her lower lip down so Colibri could see her teeth. "See? No fangs, no blood." She held her hands out, palm up, then slowly turned them over. "No claws." She reached up to pluck a needle ended file from her desk, which had a selection of armorer's tools laying out on soft cloth next to a rosewood box. She pricked her palm with it, her expression calm and held her hand up to show Colibri the trickle of scarlet. "I still bleed red instead of grey or black."

She replaced the file and her tone picked up a ghost of its usual biting humor, her sharp features taking on a shade of their usual amused cast. "And c'mon, Col. Me? You're the one who can charm the habit off a nun at fifty paces. I can't even lie about what I had for breakfast." She felt a shade of guilt, because that was a lie in and of itself. It was true that she wasn't very good at talking fast or misleading people, but she'd told the biggest lie of all to Col for months, and she'd done it well enough. One corner of her mouth quirked up nonetheless, and her thoughts didn't show on her face or in her voice. "Do you honestly think I could hide being a zombie?"

Colibri gazed up at her friend from her hunched and curled position with an almost childlike expression, a sort of blank-eyed worry mixed with a light hope. Hope that her friend was real. Hope that she could trust her with this, even after such a horrible experience even if it was just a nightmare. Hope that she could get rid of this.

The redhead shook her head with the question, paused as her gaze shifted to the floor, then shook again. “No...I guess not,” her voice was still quiet, but the sobs had gone.

Even though she was calmer, now, with the knowledge that her only trusted friend was still human, the feeling and images from the dream still lingered. Her mind was still in dark places...and more than just the dream were beginning to surface.

You left him.

Traitor! Murderer!

Disgusting, useless whelp.

You good-for-nothing whore...

Colibri flinched again, her hands sliding up to cover her ears. “They're back. Mouse, they've come back. Please, I need it.” She knew Mouse had a stash of the drug somewhere, she always did just in case something happened and Col was unable to get to her own. With her forehead resting on her knees, Colibri was quite literally now in a ball, her shivering returning, this time from need and the cold that her mind was finally beginning to register.

Mouse stared for a moment, her face falling into an expression of intense sadness. She wanted to grab Colibri by the shoulders and shake her, tell her that she was just delaying the pain and slowly destroying herself in the process. She wanted Colibri to get help, not to get high. It was an old argument in her head, but one with a foregone conclusion. After the one time that she had tried to get help for her friend had gone so rock-fuckingly bad, she no longer had any way to convince Col, and she wasn't even sure she'd be right to try. Slow self-destruction was a personal choice, and everyone had the right to go to hell in their own way.

Mouse stood, still moving slowly, and her long legs carried her silently to the small dresser where she kept a stash of Stardust. She knew Col preferred to actually snort it- sometimes off of her, or others- but her supply was all in dermal patches. They were easier to use than a straw if Col was shaking, and worked faster. She riffled through her drawer, pushing bras and underthings and a box of ammunition aside before finding one of the little white patches and peeling the back off of it.

Returning to Col, her small feet and slim calves drifting into view, Mouse crouched down to rest on her heels for a moment, close now. She moved with the sort of ginger care usually reserved for skittish animals, making small and soothing noises as she slowly reached out with the patch and pressed it to Col's inner arm, just above her elbow. Then she stood and retrieved the blanket, draping it over Colibri before kneeling down in front of her again, wanting desperately to stroke her back and her hair and kiss her cheek, but afraid to provoke or terrify the other woman any further.

Colibri hadn't moved through the ordeal, even allowing Mouse's hand to touch her and the blanket to be placed over her curled form. She'd never much cared for the patches; they just weren't the same. They didn't have the burn, the rush, the tingle as it forced its way into the membranes of her sinuses and throat. So many compared drugs or cars or whatever else that was fickle or addictive to women, but Colibri was convinced Stardust was a man—forceful, demanding, greedy and lecherous in its nature—and by the gods she hated the shit, but damn did she love what it did to her and that's exactly what she needed right now.

The patch wasn't perfect, but it got the job done, and Col took a deep breath as she felt the familiar buzz in her head as it finally passed the blood-brain barrier, kicking those damn voices back down into the darker depths of her consciousness. Finally, she sat back up, pulling the blanket around herself for its warmth. “Much better,” she said with a light sigh, her voice heading back to its normal, peppy tone. Brighter eyes returned to look over Mouse, only now seeming to realize her lack of clothing. “Thanks, Babe. Here,” she added, moving over to bring Mouse into an embrace, wrapping the blanket around both of them, “you must be cold, too.” The words were kind enough, but it was fairly clear that she had an ulterior motive, one that was confirmed when she succeeded in the action and almost immediately began placing kisses and light nips to Mouse's bare neck and shoulder.

Mouse stiffened for a second, her eyes widening as Colibri's mouth found the soft, sensitive skin at the hollow of her throat. Just below Colibri's view, her hands clenched into fists and a dozen excuses flashed through her head as to why she shouldn't, couldn't, wouldn't give in to her friend.

They didn't last long. She knew she'd hate herself in an hour or two- that Stardust tended to burn hot- but she was too weak to resist getting one of the things she wanted most in the world, even under such circumstances. She bit her lip and closed her eyes, tilting her head back. Her eyes prickled, but any momentary regret and indecision was burned away by the brand-hot touch of Colibri's mouth, and when she embraced Col under the blanket, there was no hesitation or half-measures. Her fingers traced their way down Colibri's back, follwing the outer edge of her shoulderblades, and she waited until Colibri stopped kissing her shoulder for a moment before pulling her forward into a searing kiss, damning and delighting herself in equal measure before drawling a line of little kisses and soft nips along the underside of Colibri's jaw. Her fingers resumed their tracing, but now there was the first hint of manicured nails, turning a gentle rubbing into a series of light scratches that ended with her hands on Col's hips.

Colibri's own fingers found their way along Mouse's jaw and neck, burying themselves in her dark silver hair. A shiver ran over her body with the feel of those nails, and she moved to return the favor as her hands slipped away from Mouse's hair, drifting down her neck and chest with light tracings of her own.

By now the blanket was staying up only by clinging to the skin of their shoulders, and shifting with each movement they made. Not that Colibri gave two shits. The warmth of Mouse's body and the drug flowing through her veins would be enough for her. Though, this hard floor was annoying as hell.

Col's fingers traced her friend's body down to her hips, then her thighs. It was here that her hands gripped Mouse's legs, lifting her and heaving her onto the small bed as she stood, leaving the blanket behind in a sad, forgotten crescent on the floor. With her hips now between Mouse's legs, she leaned over to continue her own trail of kisses and nips down the Russian woman's chest.

Mouse gasped as Colibri lifted her bodily off the floor, and her calves tightened on the backs of Colibri's legs, her thighs tightening around the drug-aroused woman and her fingertips digging into Colibri's waist as the other woman stood and placed her on the bed, then laying atop her.

Gasping at each kiss, Mouse relaxed as Colibri slowly moved downward, her pace fueling Mouse's need, her desire and anticipation of things to come. She relaxed her hold on Colibri, her dancer's legs parting and her fingers resuming their movements along Colibri's back. She relished the feel of Col's warm, stardust-flushed skin on her own pale flesh, and her enhanced nerves told the story of Colibri's every breath and movement, the softness of her chest and the stiff tips of her breasts on Mouse's stomach as much a pleasure as the trail of kisses and love bites above them.

"More..." she gasped, her light scratching becoming sharper, harder as her own lust pushed everything else, every doubt and worry out of her mind. Her hands came up to trace the tips of Colibri's pointed ears and she ran her fingers through Col's flyaway scarlet locks. "Please..."

Colibri's movements stopped momentarily as the nails went from grazing to raking over her flesh, her body giving a pleasant shudder as a soft, breathy sound escaped her lips. Hot gaze shifted up to the eyes of her prey, and her full lips curved into a sensual smirk, pleased by Mouse's need. She could always count on her to be a wanton little thing, and Colibri soaked up every second of it.

She dragged her palms harshly up Mouse's thighs, hips, and sides, only stopping when they reached the woman's breasts, one of them grasped and massaged while the the other was steadied, Col's lips and tongue finding that sensitive nipple and beginning to play.

It was wonderful. The smell of warm skin, the feel of a firm body, the sound of her partner's pleasured voice, they all worked in tandem, covering and burying any lingering sense of nightmares or horrid memories that the drug didn't quite get. It was exactly what she needed.

Mouse arched her back, pushing up with her hips as Col's lips and tongue and fingers found her breasts, and her hips rolled in a sensuous, liquid movement that matched perfectly the long, low moan the grasping, scraping, nipping, and lick touches elicited. One hand cupped the nape of Colibri's neck and the other stroked her ribs, alternating between light, grazing touches and short, sharp scratches whenever Colibri pinched or bit or suckled particularly hard. Her breath came in ragged gasps and Colibri could feel the rise of Mouse's lust as a furnace heat on her stomach where she lay between Mouse's legs . She moaned again, then whimpered.

Whatever else she and Colibri gave each other, no matter how much she hated herself for it later, Mouse could always count on Col to be an enthusiastic lover. For a little while, Colibri could always give Mouse exactly what she wanted, and she reveled in it.

Mouse's hips shifted involuntarily, moving against Colibri in a soft undulation, and her legs rubbed against Colibri's sides, lean muscles tensing and relaxing rhythmically under her rosepetal-soft skin. Knowing that Colibri liked it rougher and more physical when she was high on stardust and caught up in the moment, Mouse placed both her hands on Colibri's shoulders and curled her fingers, drawing bright lines of scratches on Colibri's skin before fisting her fingers in Col's hair and leaning down to kiss her. It was a carnal kiss rather than a loving one, hot and hard and Mouse was caught up in the moment just as much as Colibri, and no more clear-headed.

Letting Colibri's hair go, Mouse dropped back down to the pillow with another moan, then managed to force out a low, "Please, Col, anything..."

Colibri had pulled away from her friend's skin just as she felt the nails begin to bite into her shoulders so she wouldn't hurt the woman as her teeth clenched, and she drew in a hissing breath. She had just enough time to give a light shiver before thin fingers curled tightly in her hair, pulling a short moan from her throat. She returned the kiss in kind, growling into her lover's mouth.

Her eyes were glazed over when Mouse finally let herself fall back onto the mattress, her breathing more ragged after that shared spike in lust, and she happily obliged the woman's pleading. A hand slid down Mouse's stomach, turning at her pelvis to allow her fingers to slip between her legs. They teased and brushed lightly for a moment before two digits were pressed gently inside. Colibri let out a breath and bit her lip, loving the feel of the slick heat she found there and watching Mouse's reactions as those fingers began to move and thrust.

Mouse's gasping breaths became a cute little sound of pleasure, a strange and gratifying sound from Col's normally-acerbic lover, and that sound became a full-throated moan just shy of a scream as Colibri's fingers slipped inside her, her short nails adding just the right touch to the otherwise-tender penetration. She was blazing hot now, wet and needy and her fingers clenched into fists in the bedsheets as Colibri's fingers began to move.

There was nothing left of earlier in Mouse's mind now. This is what she wanted, what she needed, where she wanted to be. Just as stardust wasColibri's drug of choice, Colibri was Mouse's, and she rode the physical and emotional high with abandon. Her hands were every where at once, grasping at the bedsheets, running through Col's hair, clawing at Col's shoulders, grasping and squeezing and pinching at her own breasts, never stopping moving. Her coral lips were parted, shiny with her saliva and Colibri's, and she moaned and whimpered and begged for Colibri to not stop, never stop with every breath, and her hips bucked insistently in time with Colibri's fingers.

Colibri moaned watching Mouse in her bliss, her own need quickly nearing the edge of unbearable. But she wanted more from Mouse, wanted to see more, hear more. Col shimmied down the bed, never even pausing in the motion of her fingers, her free hand grasping one of the woman's thighs and lifting her leg. She barely hesitated before lowering herself and engulfing Mouse's clit with her mouth. Her tongue expertly rolled and flicked, sucking lightly and rubbing in time with the curling and thrusting of her fingers.

Mouse's breath caught as Colibri moved down and she bit her lip, tensing in anticipation. Then it came, the touch of Colibri's lips and tongue and her voice rose an octave as Colibri tasted her. Moans became cries as Colibri pushed Mouse toward an earth-shaking orgasm, and her legs twitched spasmodically as she got closer to climax. Her hand was buried in Col's hair, her fingers playing with the red strands and along Col's scalp, but it was a reflex, Mouse too caught up in the pleasure of Col's expert oral skills to think or speak. Her free hand raked at her own chest, her nails scratching across her skin as she bucked against Colibri, egging her on with every breathy, wordless cry.

It didn't take long for Mouse to reach her peak. It never did; the moment was always too much, Col was always too good and she was always too ready to give herself to the pleasure Colibri offered for her to hold out very long. Mouse breathed shallowly, her cries coming higher and faster as she felt the wave of her orgasm crest...crest...and break. She shrieked, a raw-edged howl of surrender and joy and naked release and her back arched into a bow. Her legs clamped around Colibri and she pushed up against her lover's tongue, her fingers curling into a fist in Col's hair, and her wail went on and on as she came explosively, clenching around Colibri's fingers before collapsing to the bed.

Lifting her head, she smiled down at Col, urging her up for a kiss, and the feeling of Col's body between her legs, the taste of herself on Col's tongue and the need writ across her face kindled the spark of Mouse's lust anew. Breaking the kiss, Mouse panted, "That…was amazing, Col." Then she smiled wickedly at Colibri and tightened her legs around Colibri's hips. Flexing her stomach and her legs, Mouse flipped Colibri to the side and slid atop her. Shifting, she leaned in for another kiss before tracing the pointed tip of Colibri's ear with the tip of her tongue and whispering, "But now its your turn."

Colibri returned the smile as she wiped her mouth with the back of her hand, and was all too eager to crawl up Mouse's body for the offered kiss. Then, suddenly, she was on her back, pinned by Mouse. A shot of adrenaline went through her as a flash of that horrible scene returned briefly, but then Mouse's lips were against hers, she could feel her friend's warmth, and she knew all was well.

The adrenaline, however, lingered, and it buzzed in her head, heightening her already tingling senses, causing a shudder rather than a shiver with the feel of her lover's tongue against the edge of her ear. “F-fuck, Mouse,” she breathed, already panting and trembling with need.

"Yessss..." Mouse laughed breathlessly in Colibri's ear, nipping the lobe before dragging a series of kisses across Colibri's cheek, making her way back to Colibri's sensuous, panting mouth. She kissed Col again, her arms coming up to prop her upper body up on her elbows and her hands cupping Col's cheek. It was a brief flash of tenderness, gone in a moment, and Mouse had long ago accepted that her entire love for Colibri had to live inside those little moments. So she kissed Colibri with her eyes closed and her mouth open, her fingertips tracing Col's cheekbones and her palms warm and soft on Col's face for several long seconds. Then the wicked, giving lover was back, and she caught Colibri's lower lip between her teeth and pulled away, nipping it before letting go and nuzzling into Colibri's neck, biting and sucking hard enough to leave small bruises in between the much less aggressive kisses.

Just as Colibri had, Mouse moved downward slowly, letting Col's anticipation build as she kissed and nibbled her way down over the swell ofColibri's breast, her hand mirroring her path on the other side. With one fingertip, she lightly pinched Colibri's nipple, rolling it between her fingers as she gave the other a single teasing lick, then blew gently on it, the sudden chill causing Colibri's flesh to stipple with gooseflesh before Mouse enveloped the other woman's nipple in her mouth once more, catching it gently between her teeth and flicking the tip with her tongue.

Colibri hummed pleasantly into the kiss, her own hands coming up to flow over the shape of Mouse's body. When the nip came, Col gave a pleased “Ah!” and then was tilting her head to give her lover better access to her neck as she moved further down. She shuddered and moaned with each mark she was given, the dull pain against the nerves in her neck sending heat throughout her body each time, enough to have melted her if she hadn't already been laying down.

The feel of her red, sheer top brushing over her skin as the two moved only added to the sensations as Mouse moved down to her chest, gasping and mewling with each suckle, flick and tug, her body writhing lightly with the abuse her nipples were receiving.

“Damnit...M-Ah!-Mouse,” she gasped, hands now gripping her friend's shoulders, “you've already been teasing me enough. Please, just-” her words were cut off by another gasp and a light moan as the woman's tongue flicked against the sensitive nub.

Mouse laughed softly, a purring, throaty sound that matched her heavy-lidded gaze. "Mmmmm, since you said please..." Mouse strightened up, lifting herself up to her knees, her hands trailing down along Colibri's chest and stomach to her hips, where she pulled on the edges of the flimsy thong before reaching down to place her hands under Colibri's legs, forcing them up and back. Sliding her hands back down, savoring the feel ofColibri's skin and the taut curve of her ass under Mouse's palms, Mouse slid the silky red undergarment up Col's legs and off, tossing it carelessly aside. She kissed the sole of Col's dainty, upturned foot and smiled down at her lover before pushing Colibri's legs down and apart. Licking her lips heavily, Mouse bent double, displaying her flexibility as she bent between Colibri's legs until her stomach was pressed against her thighs and her back was arched to bring her lips between Colibri's legs.

Mouse started slowly, with a teasing lick that barely skimmed the edges of Colibri's lower lips, and she made a noise of pleasure deep in the back of her throat as she tasted her lover. Her tongue stop a bare quarter inch from flicking Colibri, and she smiled at the frustrated sound and motion that she dragged from Col. Then she pushed her hips down, sliding her body along the bed and bringing her arms up around Col's legs. Her nails were a shade long to risk emulating Col's performance, but that didn't mean she couldn't use them at all. Licking Colibri again, she snaked her arms around Col's thighs to place her palms on the supine woman's hips. The nails of her slender pianist's hands scratched at Colibri's skin idly, and she pressed her thumbs against Col's heated flesh only an inch above her swollen, neglected clit, and she pushed upward gently, drawing back Col's flesh to give her tongue better access as she finally lowered her head and gave Col what she craved, starting gently with slow lapping licks and kisses, letting Col set the pace.

Colibri gave a gasping moan as that tongue finally pressed fully against her, that first, full touch sending prickles of pleasure over her body as it always did. It wasn't long before Col was whimpering, her hips rolling, “Please, more! Make me cum!” Her voice was a mix of breathy moans even as she spoke, her legs now shaking with want.

Usually she could last longer than this, usually she loved being teased, but after watching Mouse moan and writhe, after everything that had happened that night, she just couldn't stand it.

Mouse abandoned any restraint she had left at Col's plea. One hand still on Col's hip, Mouse's other hand had stolen down between her own legs, and her second orgasm was fast approaching, sped by the vision of her lover's pleasure. She licked harder, and faster, flattening her tongue against Col's clit and moving it roughly in small circles, and her fingers mirrored her movements on herself. She moaned into Colibri, panting through her nose, filled with the musk of Colibri's pleasure and she closed her eyes to better savor the moment. She sped up her pace, licking and nibbling and flicking urgently, and right as Colibri was about to cum, Mouse curled her fingers inward, scratching and adding one last note of roughness.

Colibri cried out when Mouse's restraint vanished, her back arching, hands balling into fists in the sheets, her entire form shuddering. Her moans were loud and unashamed, only interrupted by a hitching of breath every time she felt that sharp buzz shoot through her groin that told her Mouse was doing it exactly right.

Her head lifted a moment to better watch her lover's ministrations, only to be slammed back onto the pillow with the force of her pleasure. Col's hands reached up, grasping at the headboard, the wall, the pillow, anything that was above her to gain purchase, to steady herself in this whirlpool she was caught up in.

As she neared her peak, the hitches in her breath became more and more frequent. The heat and pressure deep in her gut soon built to a nearly unbearable level, her breathing suddenly stopping entirely as her entire body tensed, even curled slightly. It was then that Mouse's nails raked over her skin and her tongue moved just so once more, sending Colibri crashing over the edge, her head falling into the pillow again, her back arching as she screamed. She gasped her next few moans, her hips twitching with each aftershock of the quake Mouse had just sent through her body.

Mouse came with her, uttering a short, sharp cry as the pressure between her legs exploded through her body in a wave, causing her to arch and writhe before collapsing, now utterly drained. She lay with her head pillowed on Colibri's thigh, her ragged breathing slowing down to more normal levels and her face twisted up into a happy smile, licking her lips and nuzzling the soft skin against her cheek as she disentangled herself from Colibri, wiping her face with her off hand before reaching up to gently caress Col's leg.

For a long moment, Mouse just lay there, letting the world return to something resembling its normal pace as her sexual fervor receded. She basked in the afterglow, both of the physical release and the emotional high that she always got when she was with Col. It would be gone soon, she knew, but that seemed far away just now, and with another caress of Col's leg, Mouse propped herself up on one elbow and asked in a languid tone, "Mmmmm, feeling better, solnyshko?"

Colibri was floating, riding along on the warm current that was the twin high of drug and release, being pulled back to the present only when Mouse spoke. Long lashes fluttered as she pulled her focus back to the beautiful woman at her legs and looking at her with faded eyes and a hazy smile as she gave a nod. “Much better, Babe. C'mere,” arms that felt only little more than noodles were held out, welcoming Mouse up and into her embrace.

Though her mind was far from her nightmare or memories, something told her that having her friend cuddling against her back was a bad idea, though to her it wasn't anything more noticeable than an odd tingling along her spine, and so she scooped the other up against her own stomach and chest instead. Once they were about settled, Col removed the patch from her arm, making a face at the thing before tossing it aside. She never had liked the feeling of the things on her skin. Besides, she had just enough running through her to keep things at bay but still let her sleep a few hours. And even if her dreams did go south, at least she was with Mouse...they never did seem quite as bad whenever the silver-haired Russian was close by.

"Babe."

A casual term of endearment, nothing more than a useful stand-in for the awkwardness of using a name between two people who knew each other well. It meant nothing to Colibri, probably didn't even register that she'd used it. It certainly wasn't an affirmation of anything other than the sex they'd just had.

But oh gods, how Mouse wanted it to be more.

As it always did once the sex was over and her libido had taken a back seat to her brain, Mouse's mind crept back to the darkness like a craproach. Why in the galaxy did she kep doing this to herself? Why keep pursuing something she knew was never going to happen, that she couldn't even talk about to anyone, when she knew that no matter what happened, it would end with her crying alone as she watched her friend leave out the door.

Or worse, get put in the ground, those lovely features shot away or contorted from the agony of a Stardust overdose?

And good gods below, why the fuck were they staying on this ship? Col was going to freak the hell out once she heard what Mouse knew, and Mouse trembled for a moment at the storm she was going to have to ride out.

Mouse squeezed her eyes shut tightly for a moment, trying not to cry, and her hand came up to stroke Colibri's spine slowly in a reflexive attempt to remind herself why she stayed. She concentrated on the smells of sex and skin and hair, the warmth against her breasts and under her palm, and not the deep, gnawing dread and old, familiar sadness inside her.

Meanwhile, with the monsters gone and her hungers sated for the moment, Colibri was quickly asleep. By now, Mouse knew the deep, slow breathing pattern that accompanied the redhead's NREM state. It was interrupted briefly with a slightly quicker intake of breath and a tightening of her arms around her friend, almost as if she needed reminding that she was still there, before continuing and Col's body taking on the weight of one truly asleep.

Mouse waited patiently, silently damning herself for her stupid, childish, one-way, thankless, hopeless love.

It wasn't long before Col's breathing slowed and stabilized. Mouse knew the signs, her friend was dead to the world. With the lethargy that followed sex coming hot on the heels of a small dose of Stardust starting to wear out and a long day dragging her down, Mouse was pretty sure she could beat someone to death with a brick at the foot of the bed and Col wouldn't so much as twitch.

Safe for the moment, knowing that Col wouldn't wake up and that with no makeup to leave any traces, Mouse began to cry. She'd learned to do it silently, almost stoically, a year before she'd met Col, when she was still a girl chained up in the semi-dark of an Aral station brothel, and the skill had served her well ever since. There were no great, wracking sobs, no whines of anguish. Just tears, large and bright, almost jewel-like as they poured down her face and dripped off her nose onto the pillow, and she stroked Col with almost painful intensity, as if by main physical force she could keep her close.

As Mouse began to drift down into the darkness, she knew that Colibri would be gone in the morning.