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“Edie, that’s a beautiful necklace you’re wearing. Would you mind if I tried it on?”
When they were alone in the most personal recesses of their eternal gravesites, she called her "Edie."
“Of course, of course, Ellie dear. You can try it and you shall have it. It would look gorgeous on you.”
Her voice never slurred, her words never faltered, even in the haze of the sharp, dry red in her cup. Her perception was not altogether too distorted, but there was a greater shameless to her.
Eden was at her most generous when she was at her most drunk. Few pleasures remained to the image of herself that had been preserved across time. Drink, good company, and the eternal joy of having an infinity of treasure to share. Nobody in the Golden Courtyard sought this kindness out other than Elysia, however. Sitting across from the pink-haired, buxom elf in a little table in the garden, just the two of them. Vision wine-blurred as she captured those crystalline blue eyes in her own.
She wanted nothing more than to see a beautiful girl like Ellie have all that was hers.
That was when she was at her drunkest, her most wishful, that she almost forgot what the future stood for in their situation.
“Really? Oh you’re the best.”
But she wasn’t always drunk. She was always generous, but she wasn’t always so effusive.
Sometimes Eden wanted to hold some things back also. Or to give them of her own accord. To have the pleasure of giving, rather than the pleasure of complying to give.
Elysia had a habit of pushing, however. And she never developed a commensurate habit of pausing.
“Edie, could I get a closer look at those earrings? They’re fantastic.”
“Edie, you look ravishing in that dress! Could I borrow it one of these days?”
“Edie, wherever did you find such beautiful shoes? Could I wear them?”
“Edie, your cup is so magnificent. I bet the wine would taste better from it. Mind if I--?”
“Edie-- Edie-- Edie--!”
It was fine on small intimate occasions. She would give Ellie the world--
--but perhaps not as often as Elysia requested to have the world.
Every so often the seemingly innocent requests would crash like a cascade over Eden. And those beautiful blue eyes and those soft pink lips took on a mischievous glimmer. She was doing something; something more than the act of asking.
And it was not simply gifts she desired. It took more than trinkets to sate her after enough of their infinity had passed.
“Edie, I’m here again! Can you give me a compliment? I’d be delighted.”
“Edie! You want to hear a tip?”
“Edie, you ever hear the story about how people started saying ‘Kalpas is here!’ all the time?”
“Edie-- Edie-- Edie--!”
Out of everyone in the Flame-Chasers, Elysia was the most sociable, and Eden the least likely to banish her from her sight. Everyone else was some combination of cryptic, a loner, impatient or standoffish, and in their own way, all were too insane for each other’s constant companionship. For the people who had died and been interred here to continue the war against the Honkai, the character of human life was distorted. Only Elysia and Eden could share a simple cup of tea together and play out the acts of being alive with one another as if they had never seen their world burn. It was impossible for such a thing not to change them. And over time, even in the unchanging eternity, the character of that insanity had ample room to be exposed.
Over time, the operatic queen of the arts who dominated the stages of a long gone world realized she was not able to keep up with the sheer desperation of activity that surged from Elysia.
It was in that way, perhaps, that Elysia was as insane as all the others. Perhaps even moreso than them.
So little by little, across spans of time impossible to comprehend, that beautiful voice became a bit--
--grating.
Those beautiful crystalline eyes that chased her across the closed space of the Elysian Realm turned--
--unsightly.
And all of her little quirks became so pronounced--
--and Eden recalled that she was part of an unchanging eternity with Elysia.
“Edie--”
“Of course, dear.”
Her precious Ellie would never hear a word of her displeasure. That was just not Eden’s way.
No matter how much she prodded.
No matter how much she chased.
No matter how much that lovely pastel girl peeked into her room, out into the garden, through the lounge door. Again, and again, and again, and again, and again. Several times a day, every day of the week, sometimes seemingly every minute of every hour. They never said an unpleasant word to each other, but Eden came to understand the behavior when she saw it. Their almost programmatic routine that triggered sooner and sooner, faster, and faster, until it felt like a shrill undertone of every action--
“Edie, you always choose the most fantastic accessories. Could I have a closer look at--?”
“Ellie, dear.”
“Yes, my lovely, lovely Edie?”
“I could use a little time to myself. I’d like to play the piano a bit.”
“Oh but Edie, I would love to hear you play!”
“Dear, you know I hardly ever say no to you--”
“It will be as if I wasn’t there at all. Pinky-promise!”
Elysia was being a bit of a brat. Luckily, if it took an eternity to develop this situation, an eternity was enough too to see it solved.
Eden’s hands lifted from the piano. She retreated to her quarters and of course, she was followed. She knew she was.
You could count on Elysia being where she was unwanted. And Eden did count on it. Even in the deepest, most secret recesses into which the Flame-Chasers could retreat to avoid being seen by their successors, where they could have peace with themselves to cope in the ways that they did. Elysia the pink spy could pry into any space no matter whom it belonged to. Mobius’ lab, Su’s meditative spaces, and of course, Eden’s room.
Elysia was not all-powerful, however.
She did not want to be.
Eden had discovered long ago that her precious Ellie had certain vulnerabilities.
“I have something for you, Ellie dear.”
Upon hearing those words, Elysia stiffened up. As if they had crawled down her unguarded back like tendrils to restrain her.
Eden’s room was practically a dragon’s hoard of gold and jewels.
She had every conceivable treasure. So of course, she also kept the key to her greatest treasure within.
Upon a set of drawers inlaid diamond. There was in one brilliant gem-studded drawer, a box.
Carefully wrapped, as if new. A small gift box, lifted up by Eden’s slim but strong hands. Whenever it was broken, it could be wrapped anew. And it had been broken before.
“Sit, dear.”
She gestured toward an ornate chair near the drawers.
“Yes-- of course Eden.”
Her tone of voice changed. Unsure, surprised. Pleading.
Elysia sat beside her. Eden leaned in close and set the box on the pink elf’s lap.
“Unwrap it, dear.”
Eden's tone was soft and sonorant and yet it carried a sternness to it. This was Eden’s own request to Elysia, her rare but treasured request.
And when Elysia heard it, her skin shuddered again. Her fair cheeks flushed bright.
Her body tensed and her toes curled.
She unwrapped the gold ribbon from the box and carefully unfolded the bright red foil.
“Open it, dear.”
Eden’s hand settled on Elysia’s shoulder.
She could feel the woman’s heart beating faster through that perfect skin.
Inside the box was a loop of unblemished white gold fitted with every imaginable gemstone.
This slightly open loop could be locked with a brilliant pink-and-blue stone that accompanied it.
It was just the right size to go around the slender neck of a certain girl made up of the matching colors.
“Do you like it Ellie?”
“It’s--” Elysia briefly hesitated.
Her voice trembled. Her hands which neared the object trembled with it.
Eden’s greatest treasure--
“It’s Eden’s special necklace.” Elysia finally said. Those words came clumsily out of her lips.
“Indeed. And it is yours now, Ellie.”
“T-Thank you, Eden.” Elysia stammered. Her eyes drew wide, her smile a little crooked.
“It’s very special. Remember the promise we made? What happens when I give you a very special gift?”
“I--” Elysia picked up the necklace. A tiny smile crept across her lips. “I have to follow the special rules.”
“You remember the special rules?”
“Yes, Eden.”
“Then be a dear and wear the necklace for me.”
Elysia’s cheeks and the skin of her long ears turned a warmer pink.
She picked up the necklace and carefully closed it around her neck.
Locking it from the front with the gemstone.
“It fits you so perfectly. You are truly magnificent.” Eden said.
Elysia had no response to those compliments but gently, slowly nodding her head.
Her hands on her lap, an expression of mixed joy and shame and something else--
Eden left her side and sat down on the mighty, luxurious king size bed that framed their drama in the background. Just firm and just soft enough. Just like herself, in that sense. Smiling placidly, filled with a slightly twisted sense of pleasure at seeing her gift around Elysia’s neck. She patted her hand on the bed.
“Sit next to me, Ellie.”
Quietly, Elysia stood from the chair, walked a few swift, long-legged strides to the bed--
Whereupon Eden guided her to not only sit, but to turn and put her head back.
Such that she laid facing up at Eden from her lap pillow. Her slender body laid supine at Eden’s mercy.
And Eden looked down at her, so precious, gem studded collar glistening, her bright pink hair framing the plaintive, soft expression on her face. Eden could not help but run a gloved hand down those fair and silk-soft cheeks, soft enough to feel even through the fabric over her fingers. Stroking locks of bright pink hair preserved forever in their youthful perfection. Gazing down at those luscious, quiet lips and resisting the urge to kiss.
“Ellie, you are truly the most extravagant of my treasures.”
Her fingers lifted briefly from Elysia’s cheek--
--and came down again--
again--
again--
Elysia winced ever so slightly as Eden patted repeatedly on her cheek with escalating force.
Her lips spread almost as if to speak--
Then the hand came down much harder, slapping that same soft cheek red.
Elysia gritted her teeth, eyes shut tight. Cheeks flushed from the strike--
--and from the tensing of skin as Eden’s other hand traveled to her chest and glided over the fabric.
“You are such a brave, brilliant girl, my Ellie.”
Elysia had kept herself from speaking even when struck. She had followed the rules. What a treasure she was!
Her reward was prompt. Eden pressed her fingers over Elysia’s impressive bust, able to feel the hardening of the peak of her breast, the stiffening under that gaudy, tantalizingly bold top. She seized upon where she knew Elysia would be sensitive and drew the tiniest whimper from her, fingers squeezing past each other over the erect nipple. Elysia’s legs shifted, her thighs rubbing for a moment with growing need. Those restrained little noises drawn from her teasing started to whet Eden's appetite--
But every production had a script. And this was their script.
“Hmm. Getting antsy, dear? You have to be patient to savor the good things in life.”
That hand which had slapped Elysia and come to rest on her cheek took hold of her chin.
As Eden looked down upon her, her thumb rubbing over Elysia’s lips.
“You have such a pretty little mouth Ellie. Sometimes your speech does mar its perfection.”
That playful thumb forced its way suddenly into Elysia’s mouth.
Eden felt a rush as she pressed down on the moist flesh of Elysia’s mouth, on that gentle but irreverently loud tongue. Watching that composed, confident smile vanishing in the rush of submissive, pleasurable distress that washed over Elysia’s face. Two fingers deftly joined the invading thumb and pushed into Elysia’s mouth until she almost gagged, pinning down a fighting tongue and drawing spit and noise. Elysia looking up with eyes blue as mist, lost in the fantasy of struggle, her body automatic while her mind wandered in submission.
She was so obedient. Such a good girl. She was following the rules so perfectly.
Watching her bosom friend squirm under her grip with a gentle, untroubled smile. This was the least elegant desire that Eden had. In the unchanging world of the Elysian Realm, the rarest satisfaction was to see something different. But the truest vintage, the highest form of pleasure was bringing about change in those with whom you were familiar. This was Eden’s treasure; to make Elysia all her own.
“Ellie,”
Eden’s fingers lifted from Elysia’s mouth, trailing a delectable string of spittle.
Elysia’s head laid still as if a doll’s, her lips spread in an insensate expression, eyes gazing somewhere far.
“Ellie,” Eden whispered. “Ellie, Ellie, Ellie.”
Her other hand moved from teasing Elysia’s breasts, gliding over her firm stomach and between those plush, rubbing thighs that had been begging for touch. Squeezing down hard on the fabric of Elysia’s tight little shorts, pressing right against the bulge of her needy dick. Thumb rubbing down the shaft while the remaining fingers worked the shorts down from her hips enough to expose the head of her little cock.
“Such a pretty little thing. Won’t you let me feel it between my fingers, Ellie?”
In a tone gently mocking, mimicking Elysia’s requests; while those fingers squeezed close around the shaft.
Stroking up and down in motions Elysia begun to mimic with the involuntary bucking of her hips.
Tiny cries leaving her lips, her hands clutching Eden’s sheets as if begging--
“I can be mischievous too, my dear Ellie.”
Her thumb pressed down at the very tip of Elysia’s cock and scraped the sensitive pink skin--
And then her hand lifted entirely from the groin of the pink and blue elf.
Elysia was cut off just before orgasm.
Hips bucking, thighs together. Her breath caught as if her heart had stilled.
A rumbling, pleading want still thrumming under her skin, shaking down her spine.
Leaving her full of unexpressed desire from the tips of her breasts to her still throbbing dick.
Those dreaming eyes gazing up with an awakening realization.
“Sit up, dear.”
Eden smiled at her. That same, unchanging, elegant smile. It was only the context which made it cruel.
Elysia slowly raised her head from Eden’s lap as if unable to comprehend it.
Sitting next to Eden, hands on her lap, perhaps trying to hide the pathetic little bulge in her shorts.
Perhaps trying to satiate it a little.
“Good things come to girls who wait quietly and patiently for them.” Eden said.
Her hands gently guided Elysia’s own hands off her own body and to the bed.
Elysia’s eyes looked down at the floor. She had a wan expression.
But there was an undercurrent of nervous excitement too.
That heightening pulse as she held Elysia’s hands told Eden all that she needed to know.
“I am going to play the piano alone for a while. Wait for me in the lounge.” Eden said.
Elysia’s face flushed. She said nothing. She couldn’t say anything.
“If you act like the good girl I know you can be, Ellie dear, I will have more wonderful gifts for you.”
With that, Eden nonchalantly stood up from her bed and walked out of her room.
Confident in the knowledge that Elysia would dutifully follow her script. Such a treasure of a girl she was.
Dr. Mobius walked the halls of the Elysian Realm with a perplexed expression.
Something was off.
“Hmph. The atmosphere-- something is missing. I have a thesis, but I need evidence.”
Her inquisitive nature brought the sadistic green-haired girl from her own corner of the sealed world to that detestable little lounge where Elysia was a common sight. And there, of course, she found her. Everything was amiss, however-- the atmosphere was bereft a certain element. Elysia was sitting on the couch, hands on her lap, staring at the floor. Her hair a little tossed, and something around her neck. A lot of gemstones; some kind of necklace.
Whatever. It was probably something she pawned off Eden again. Didn’t matter.
She found the evidence she had been looking for.
“Well, well, if it isn’t the pink bimbo. I knew it; it’s so weird in here because you finally shut up.”
Dr. Mobius spread her arms wide in a theatrical gesture as she shouted across the lounge.
In turn, the pink elf waved her hand gently and smiled, closing her eyes.
Her expression was a bit strange. Cheeks flushed; her body language entirely too closed, sedated.
“Cat got your tongue? Has your IQ dropped even lower?”
There was no response from Elysia, but her expression was still strange.
Mobius read embarrassment or maybe shame into it.
Puzzling--
“Oh, doctor. Good afternoon.”
A familiar, elegant voice streamed in from the adjoining hall, interrupting Mobius' thought process.
Eden strode in, each step perfectly practiced, with that exact expression of reserved gentleness.
Elysia’s eyes drew wider, and she finally stood from the couch.
Mobius shot her a look.
“Apologies, doctor, I’ve actually come to collect Elysia for tea. Perhaps we can chat another time?” Eden said.
“I haven't time to chat. Unless the two of you want me to turn you into soft harmless jellies, then maybe I do.”
"Perhaps another time."
Eden’s austere golden eyes moved from the doctor to the flighty blue eyes of the pink elf.
Elysia easily, obediently, followed Eden out of the lounge without saying a word about it.
Mobius stood dumbfounded for a second.
“Very puzzling.”
She shrugged her shoulders. “Ah, whatever. I’ll savor the silence while it lasts.”
Mobius retreated back to her lab. Confident she knew everything about Elysia there was to know.
She was not the only one who would be savoring that silence, for the moment in which it lasted.
One little eternity in an unbroken chain of them.
Before another cycle of Elysia’s need began that only Eden could sate.
Perhaps little by little, gift by gift, in this way, Eden could finally teach her properly.
But it was her own insane nature to give and give without end anyway.
Those moments of sumptuous silence between them were Eden’s greatest treasure after all.