Reverse-Cowgirl Diplomacy

Alistair stood down the hill from her, resplendent in the shining armor of a templar. He did not look up at her approach, instead staring longingly at the demonic illusions around him. They were all female and they were all dressed in mage robes, and yet...not. Each robe was cut differently from the style Elissa normally associated with the mages of the tower. There one left the arms of the mage bare and was cut extremely low, revealing almost all of her breasts. Another ended just below the mage's hips, revealing all her leg, the rounded curve of her lower buttocks, and just a hint of shadow near her cunt.

As Elissa watched, Alistair licked his lips nervously, standing very properly at attention, trying to pretend he wasn't staring. Another templar came by, this one wearing the device of a knight-commander. He handed Alistair a vial and left after Alistair dutifully drank the contents. Alistair, though visibly calmer, looked utterly miserable as he went back to staring.

Two scantily-clad mages strolled past him arm in arm. "Good evening, Ser Alistair," they simpered, giggling when he mumbled a shy greeting, his ears turning red. Their hips swayed as they walked away, and as they put their heads together and whispered, looking back over their shoulders at Alistair, Elissa noticed something else.

They each bore a resemblance to her.

They were not identical, or even close. But this one had Elissa's high cheekbones and the arch of brow, that one the color of her hair and the fullness of her lips, and still another wore her hair in a style very similar to Elissa's own.

Alistair, she smirked, approaching him. How very interesting your imagination is.

"I can't quite decide," Elissa began, startling Alistair as he whirled to face her, "whether this is your dream or your nightmare."

Alistair opened his gauntlet to reveal the empty lyrium vial within. "Definitely a nightmare. You don't seem to appreciate how close I almost came to this."

"Really?" she canted an eyebrow at a mage with bits of her anatomy strategically exposed. She considered making a derisive remark about the improbability of a tower filled with sparsely clad nymphs all intent on driving him mad, but considering her own nightmare, refrained. "Oh, Alistair," she sighed instead. "What a conundrum you present."

"In what regard?" he asked.

"Clearly the idea of a lifetime of chastity--seeing all the women you might have had but can't parading before you--scares you witless, yet you get so smugly self-righteous when confronted by someone who freely embraces sex and pleasure. You wish to experience those pleasures yourself, but when given the chance you run from them and hide behind your virginity."

"Isn't there any room for a middle ground in your philosophy?" Alistair challenged. "Sex without the excess? Maybe with a touch of, I don't know, affection? Or commitment?"

"Are you asking me if I'd consider monogamy?"

"Yeah, I suppose I am."

"I honestly don't know. My parents never saw the need. My father embraced my mother--despite the fact that she started as a whore--and adored her until the day they died. Once they were wed, however, her approach to things changed. She made certain she never conceived a child that was not his, and that when she had sex with another it was with his consent. She'd use sex to benefit father in his dealings with others, and often just to please him, because he loved to watch her receive pleasure without being distracted by his own need. But he never asked her to do that which she was unwilling to do. They used sex with others as a tool to benefit the partnership they had formed, and also to enhance the pleasure they experienced with one another." Elissa looked at him curiously. "Does that strike you as a relationship lacking affection?"

"I don't know," Alistair muttered. "Never having met them, I suppose I couldn't say."

"Well, allow me to assure you, they worshipped each other," Elissa said, her voice tight, feeling her eyes burn with a grief she thought she had left behind her. "My mother stayed willingly behind to die beside my father rather than flee without him. Their last words spoke of the good and joyful life they'd had together, and how much they loved one another. Does that strike you as a relationship lacking commitment?"

"No," he answered, looking stricken at the sight of her tears. "No, it doesn't."

"So, to answer your question, no, I don't suppose I ever have considered monogamy. I'd always assumed that once I married, I would do much the same as my mother, and use sex judiciously to advance the prosperity and standing of my family, and that my husband would be a willing participant in that plan."

Alistair had no response to that, but Elissa was pleased to note his defensive posture had softened. When he looked once again at the demons masquerading as scantily-clad mages, his eyes were speculative, as though seeing them in terms of what pleasure he might derive from any or all of them, rather than simply the torment of what he could not have. It was a long moment before he met her eyes again, but that guarded reserve that had been there since that night in Redcliffe was gone.

Alistair swallowed hard. "I'm not saying you're right. I'm not saying I could ever...be like your father was with your mother. But...I think I understand a little better now just where you're coming from. I can't guarantee much success, but I will try not to make such a scene about it in the future, even if I don't really approve. And I'm sorry."

Elissa blinked. "Whatever for?"

"For your parents. For your loss. For being an ass and calling you a harlot."

"Thank you, Alistair," she answered, her voice choked. "I...regret that you discovered the truth about me the way you did. I can see how that must have been shocking for you, and I'm afraid I haven't been very understanding, nor terribly respectful of your boundaries. You didn't consent to be witness to that display in the tavern, and I should have found a way to warn you rather than forcing it upon you."

Alistair nodded in acceptance of her apology, and they fell silent for a moment as he stared particularly intently at two female mages who seemed to be getting very comfortable with one another. "Well...if it hadn't been such a shock, I might have enjoyed it far more."

"You seemed to enjoy it well enough," Elissa flung him a flirty smile and was pleased to see him blush.

"Yeah, for all of five seconds. Then came the red face and the agony of humiliation."

"You just haven't had the opportunity to practice," she shrugged. "As with any other physical endeavor, stamina and endurance improve upon repetition."

"Riiiight. I'll be sure to add that to my daily routine, immediately following sword practice."

"And why not?" she asked crispy, a trifle annoyed, and at her tone he turned his eyes from the pair of cavorting mages to meet her gaze. "It's all well and good to want to cling to your virginity until you find the right person and the right time. Believe it or not, I actually did much the same--though admittedly my definition of 'right' had less to do with sentimentality and more to do with opportunism. But there's nothing to keep you from pleasuring yourself while you wait."

"I do--I mean, I have...sometimes. Occasionally. I think that falls into the category of activities frowned upon by the Chantry for templar initiates," Alistair replied, squirming. His eyes darted back to the mages, one of whom was presently sucking the breasts of the other. He closed his eyes and swallowed hard, forcing his gaze back to Elissa.

"Yes, well, we've already been over my opinions on that particular matter, and I don't think they bear revisiting."

"Fair enough," Alistair nodded. "I suppose you're right there as well. If this says anything about me, it says just how much I didn't care for the Chantry's insistence upon celibacy."

"Then for Andraste's sake, quit letting it have such a hold over you! If not for yourself, think of the enormous favor you'll be doing the woman you someday decide to sleep with." Elissa paused then, temptation stirring within her. She drew a deep breath, poised to speak, then shook herself and swallowed what she had to say. "No. No, I'm not going to do that."

"Do what?"

"I'm trying to respect your boundaries," she said primly. "I don't have your consent to seduce you with words any more than I do to employ more physical or visual means."

He shuddered then, and when he opened his eyes again, his pupils were dilated, consuming the honey-amber iris. "You seem to be doing a fairly good job of that without even trying."

"You're an easy target."

"Much to my chagrin." Alistair sighed, then, clenching his jaw. Finally, after a long moment of indecision, he gritted, "Oh, Maker's blood! Please, just...say what it is you were going to say."

"You're sure?" At his tense nod, Elissa smiled, her voice dropping to a purr. "I was just going to encourage you to remember this scene the next time you're alone in your tent."

"I doubt there's much chance I'll be able to forget," he replied, his voice strained. The mage who had been enjoying herself with the breasts of the other was now on her back, her knees bent and parted, while the other mage blew a teasing hint of magical frost across her folds.

"Ah, but there's remembering, and then there's remembering. And when you do so, let your hands to explore your body, much as those two are doing there to one another. Imagine your hands belong to someone else, perhaps one of them, or perhaps to someone else you desire. Don't just go straight for your shaft and rub yourself to completion. Take your time with it. Allow your hands to wander, to seek out what is most sensitive. What's ticklish? What makes your gut clench with a sudden surge of arousal? What makes you hard?

"Is it the curve of your neck, where it meets your shoulder? Or perhaps the shell of your ear. Or maybe your nipple. Does it respond to a light, teasing touch? Or to something harder? A firm stroke, such as you might receive from a tongue? A pinch, fingers closing gently around it as it becomes erect, then squeezing, harder, until the touch hovers on the brink of pain. Or, if you are so inclined, even crosses that line."

"Oh, sweet Andraste...." Alistair breathed.

"Run your hands down your belly, feeling the skin ripple and twitch. Those hollows just below your hip bones, let your fingers dance across them, let them run lightly over the soft skin where your hip meets your belly. Ah, and now you want to take hold of your cock, but don't. Make yourself wait. Enjoy the anticipation. Tease yourself. Reach back behind your cock and stroke the skin of your sac, softly, oh, so softly! Run your fingernails lightly down the inside of your thighs. Cup your balls and squeeze gently.

"When you finally turn your attention to your cock, explore it. Know every inch of it like you would your best beloved. Feel that hard tendon on the backside just above where it meets your balls. Know the slide of the foreskin as you slowly pull it back and let the head emerge. Know the ridge at the base of the head, and don't neglect the frenulum, that sensitive spot on the back of the shaft where that ridge tapers down into the shaft itself. Tease the slit in the head, using the fluid that emerges to enhance the pleasure of your palm rubbing slow circles against the tip."

Alistair's eyes were closed, his fists in their gauntlets clenched on his thighs. His attention was no longer on the two illusory mages fucking one another. Instead, he swayed as though mesmerized, his body trembling. Elissa watched him, unwilling to move even a little and break the moment. Her own cunt clenched and quivered with longing, and she wanted to escalate the matter, make her words reality. She wanted to take him into her hands and listen to his moans, to stroke him to completion and lick his seed off her hands when he was done. Instead, she used words and ignored her own arousal to concentrate on his.

"Only when you can't stand another moment do you take the shaft in hand and begin to stroke. Slowly at first, and then gaining speed. Imagine that the gliding of your skin up and down the shaft is the sheath of your partner, that you're sliding inside her, that the clench of your fist is the muscles of her sex closing around you, embracing you. Hear her moans in your mind, her sighs, her soft whimpers for more. As you feel your climax approaching, try to fight it off, force it back, so that you may give your lover just one more moment of pleasure. Hold it off as long as possible and let it build, and build, and build until control is lost and it bursts forth. Envision your lover taking your seed inside herself, tasting you on her tongue. Taste yourself, to know what she experiences."

Alistair's face reddened. His head fell back and he gave a low growl, shaking violently. Beneath the long crimson skirt of the templar armor, she could not see the results her words had wrought, but his ragged breaths as he panted told her what she needed to know.

"Maker's breath, how did you do that?" he gasped at last.

"Words and images can be very potent weapons," she said, smiling softly. "Wielded properly they can bring enormous pleasure, and my education was no less attentive to that aspect of seduction than to any other."

"I don't know whether to be mortified or to beg you to do that again."

"Do it for yourself, next time you're alone," she answered. "That is how endurance and stamina is built, and also how you learn to please your partner. How can you ever expect to give a woman pleasure if you don't know what pleasure is yourself?"

"I can hardly wait to get back to my tent."

Elissa laughed. "Then my work here is done!" she announced. "I'll make a proper libertine out of you yet." She gave him a moment more to absorb her words, then rose. "Now...are you ready to leave this place?"

The mages stopped pleasuring one another and were approaching, obviously intent on attempting to stop them from leaving.

"Definitely." It wasn't until he rose that Alistair grimaced and squirmed uncomfortably. "Oh, of all the bloody--How exactly am I supposed to fight like this?"

"Don't worry," she assured him. "It will disappear when you continue to whatever comes next here. Really. You should have seen the state I was in after I located Sten...."

(Feedback is food for the writers' soul!)