Hot Springs

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Hot Springs, Warm Spring Night
Solo!Mary, Karen/Mary
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It was a warm spring night, with a waxing gibbous moon riding high in the sky, and the cherry blossoms were in full bloom. A soft breeze carried their scent through the air, languorous and peaceful, lulling all to deep, dreamless sleep.

Or nearly all. A single figure was walking up the mountain trail, towards the hot springs near the summit. The figure had a little bundle over its shoulder; blankets, a towel, clothing, and a potato for the offering. The figure was distinctly feminine; the breeze gusted very slightly, pressing the thin material of her nightgown against her body; her severely braided black hair glinted in the moonlight, as did her glasses.

The trail, though not steep, was winding and rather long, meandering through open forests and wide vales; and even though the night air was gentle and fragrant, the figure was slightly out of breath by the time she reached her destination, the fenced enclosure that surrounded the steaming spring pools. Alongside it was another pool, one that none would dare swim in; it was fed by a small stream that trickled quietly out of the cliff, and a very faint green glow, so faint as to almost be a trick of the eye, glimmered from its depths.

"Oh, Mother Goddess," the girl intoned softly, taking her offering in hand, "I offer this to you, as a symbol of my gratitude for all that you bless us with." Prayer spoken, she tossed the vegetable into the Goddess Pond; it sank without a ripple or a splash, and the green glow flared for a moment in acceptance. Then the girl turned to the springs, walking into the enclosure and placing her bundle on a rock; this was followed by her nightgown, which she was naked beneath. Her glasses came off next, and the three bands that kept her hair braided; without these accessories she bore little resemblance to the stuffy little librarian girl the villagers saw under the sun every day. The irony was not lost on her, and she giggled naughtily as she slid into the warm, inviting springs.

"Wouldn't they be surprised to see me now," she murmured to herself, sinking lower into the warm, faintly bubbling water. She sighed as the water came to just above her breasts, which were rather larger and fuller than the stuffy little librarian dresses she always wore might let on. She felt no animosity towards the handsome farmer, who had shown her only polite courtesy and professional interest in the year he'd been around. He'd given more of his interests to the others, Karen and Ann and Popuri; mostly Karen, one had to admit. Ann was too much of a tom boy to readily accept him, Popuri too dense and air-headed to really get it; Elli, the nurse, was preoccupied with wrapping Doctor Tim around her little finger (and wrapping herself around the good physician's whole body) to notice Jack.

No, stuffy little Mary in her stuffy little library had only her stuffy little self. Which, frankly, was how she liked it; she wasn't brave enough to act ahead, only to pine and imagine.

Another sigh escaped her, and she closed her eyes as her hands flirted about her body. One hand idly twitched about between her legs; the other caressed her breasts, tweaking and pinching until the soft pink nipples stood out, hard and erect.

In her mind's eye, the strong, deft hands of her imagined lover were doing those jobs, while soft lips nipped at her neck and her ear… mischievous blue eyes gazed out from beneath wild brown hair, promising much and much… a long tongue darted between her legs, doing more and more delicious things until she couldn't stand it any more…

Lost in this fantasy, Mary slid farther beneath the water, moaning softly as her hands played the part of her imagined lover. She was so absorbed in it that she missed the sounds of someone else drawing near…

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Karen loved Flowerbud in the Spring. The air was warm, the nights were sweet and fragrant, and Zack would let her borrow his Dire Straits albums every now and then. Good fun, if not particularly clean fun, but who cared? Certainly not Carter in his swanky church, who was a little too chummy with Elli and Tim to be just a friend. Anyway, Karen held to the old ways of the Goddess, not some church.

In her hands was a bundle similar to what Mary had brought with her a while ago, though instead of a potato she had some fresh turnips, taken from Jack in exchange for a few heady moments behind the store. The thought of those moments, Jack's clumsy hands and awkward mouth groping at her while she whispered sweet nothings, made her giggle. She knew how the womenfolk whispered and the younger men fought; she did nothing to disprove the rumors, after all. It made her giggle again to imagine what they would say if they knew she was pure as snow, that she was in fact just the world's biggest tease.

"What a night," she said happily to herself as she gazed up at the moon, fat and high in the sky, surrounded by innumerable stars. She found herself whistling a Mark Knopfler solo from some Dire Straits song or other as she came upon the sacred pond. "Mother Goddess, benefactor of us all," Karen said softly, holding the turnips aloft, "grant me some small part of your boundless favor." With that she threw the turnips in; they sank without sound or ripple, and the green light flashed within.

That done, she turned to the springs, noting with some surprise that someone had beaten her to it. "Well, company is always nice," she said to herself as she stripped naked and piled her own things on a second rock. Even if she couldn't accomplish her original purpose, the warm water might help out in its own way anyway.

She almost walked out into plain view when her ears picked up the sounds of the other person from within, making her halt mid-stride. The sounds were easily identified, especially in her current frame of mind; moaning, heavy breathing, rhythmic back-and-forth sloshing noises. To Karen it was definitely feminine, and a quick peek around the corner of the fence proved her right. That long black hair was unmistakable; only two women in the village had hair like that, and Manna wasn't the masturbating sort.

Of course, so far as Karen had known until now, neither was Mary. Frowning, she went back and picked through the other pile of things, and sure enough, there was a familiar pair of glasses. "Well well," the brunette whispered in surprise. Then again, it shouldn’t be any surprise at all; cooped up all day every day in that stuffy little library, it was no wonder none of the young men in town were interested in Mary. Except maybe Gray, but he didn't really count; he was too shy and withdrawn to do much with what he felt, if he felt anything at all.

Then again, Karen's mind went on, wasn't it always the cute, shy girls who got the hunky guys in those smutty romance novels she liked so much? And weren't they always just wild once the hunky guys got past their shyness? Karen grinned again; maybe this would turn out better than she'd expected…

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In the springs, Mary's fingers and her imagination were doing their work well, and with the water surrounding her acting as an extension of the heat building up within her body, her muffled moans soon gave way to a soft, sharp cry as climax washed over her. Her back arched slightly, poking her nipples out of the water, until it passed, then she relaxed and fell back. "Ahh," she sighed, sinking into the water up to her neck again "that felt good." Despite her relaxation, there was yet some unsatisfied portion inside her that remained, like a subtle itch she could never reach. She imagined it would take another person to reach that itch, but she was far too shy to ask that of the one person she wanted to do it to her.

She sighed again and made to stand up when there came the sound of something falling, swiftly followed by a muffled curse; the surprised librarian gasped and ducked back beneath the water to hide her nakedness, though that brought a mouthful of water down her mouth. Mary stood up again, choking and wheezing, desperate to get the warm water out of her airways; swiftly, another person was at her side, thumping her on the back. That didn't work, and Mary was sure she would black out when whoever it was drove their fist into her stomach; she cried out and doubled over, but the sudden whoosh of exhaling air did the trick, freeing her throat once again.

Mary coughed and wheezed for a second until she could breath normally, then straightened up to regard her savior. She made out a pair of concerned green eyes framed by long brown hair, two soft hands gently holding her by the shoulders. "K-Karen?!" she spluttered, taking a step backward, tripping and falling against the edge. "What are you…?" She couldn't help but glance down at Karen's body, and quickly looked away again, blushing and crossing her arms over her own chest.

"Whoa, easy there," Karen replied worriedly, putting a hand out again. "You almost choked, if I hadn't been here…"

"If you hadn't been here you wouldn't have startled me," Mary mumbled, avoiding Karen's gaze. She slid back beneath the water, as much to hide herself as to get away from the slightly chilly night air. "But… no, that sounds horrid," she said after a moment, looking up again. "Um, thanks."

"No problem," Karen replied easily, sitting down herself. She decided to ignore, momentarily, what she had almost caught Mary doing. "Do you come up here often?"

"Um, when it's warm out, yes," Mary said uncertainly. She knew Karen had to have heard her earlier, so why didn't she say anything about it? "Especially in the spring… I adore the cherry blossoms…"

"Oh, me too!" Karen replied, smiling. "When they're falling, and the breeze blows, and they drift down and you can smell them!" She gestured wildly as she spoke, splashing Mary a little. Mary giggled and relaxed; Karen wasn't so bad.

"You know…" she said, half to herself as she leaned back to regard the moon, "it's kind of funny. You can live in the same town with someone for almost twenty years and never know them at all." Her gaze lowered, and fixed on Karen's. "You know how Elli and Tim are so into each other lately? I never would have guessed even a few months ago…"

"That's nothing," Karen scoffed. "I went to a party last week, and some of the things those two said around Carter!" She shook her head. "That preacher man is a hypocrite, he has to be."

"Yeah, you're right!" Mary rejoined, sitting up straight as she got into the conversation. "Where does he get off, anyway, leading people astray from the true beliefs?" and she gestured at the Goddess Pond, just beyond the fence. "He's a fake and a crook!"

Karen, however, was intrigued by something Mary had let slip. "You… you believe in the Harvest Goddess as well?" she asked, sliding a little closer.

"Of course I do!" the raven-haired girl replied. "Just because I play the organ for Carter doesn't mean I believe what he preaches! If you're going to do something you may as well do it right!" This was true; Anna had taught Mary extremely well, and the two of them were the only ones who could play any sort of keyboard in the whole village.

"That's not what I mean," Karen said softly, sliding a little closer again. "Do you believe in the Harvest Goddess?"

"I just said…" Mary began, before suddenly noticing Karen was much closer. Her face went red again, and she crossed her arms over herself. "Could… could you back up… please…?"

"Do you want to know something about me, Mary?" the brunette said, very softly. "All those stories you hear about me and the guys? It's all lies; I've never done anything beyond kissing or holding hands, or letting them touch my breasts." She reached out and pulled on Mary's chin, and their eyes met. "The fact is, I don't like guys. They're big and sweaty and gross and far too easily manipulated. I could never do the things I did to them to another girl." She took another step; they were now just inches apart.

Mary's eyes had gone wide, and her face was pale. "Is… is that so," she murmured, her gaze flicking from Karen's eyes to her mouth. She'd never seen such an intense look in anyone. "Karen… I…"

Something clicked in Karen's mind, and she smiled slightly. "Who were you thinking of earlier, Mary, when you were playing with yourself?" she asked, pulling Mary's hands apart. The tone of her voice indicated she already knew the answer, or thought she did. "Was it Jack, or Gray? Or maybe Kai?" She looked into Mary's eyes again, and leaned forward very slightly, tilting her head.

Despite the warmth of the water, Mary was trembling, from being so close to someone else, so vulnerable to anything the other girl could do. Part of her loved the feeling of helplessness, of being at Karen's mercy, and she felt the heat spreading out from between her legs again. "No… it, I… I've always thought of…"

"Yes…?" Karen whispered, one hand gliding down the other girl's side, the other snaking around to rest in the small of her back. "Come on, out with it…"

And then, maybe it was the moon, or the smell of the cherry blossoms, or maybe the Harvest Goddess had heard their prayers; whatever it was, Mary suddenly felt very excited. "You, Karen," she whispered, looking right into the other girl's eyes. "You're everything I wish I could be… beautiful, bold, honest…" Her hand stole up, gently caressing Karen's face. "Ever since we were young, you were always… I don't know…"

For a second, Karen was a little taken aback; Mary had never been this direct, this intense. She'd always been shy, uncertain of her own femininity, cute in her own way but never vivacious. "Should I be flattered?" she asked with a small smirk, half-closing her eyes and leaning in a little farther; Mary giggled, but didn't respond. Instead she closed the distance between them, her hands lightly encircling Karen's neck as her lips gently pressed against hers.

It was a strange moment for both of them; Karen had never kissed another girl before, and Mary hadn't kissed anyone at all. The softness of their lips was enticing, the feel of their hands on each other arousing; the smell of the cherry blossoms and the water surrounding them made them bold, and the kiss went deeper, became hungry, even as their hands got bolder and just a little rougher.

Karen pulled back, eyes wide and dark with lust, her breasts heaving as she panted for breath; opposite her, Mary was the same. "Wow," they both said at once.

"You're even better than I imagined," the librarian murmured, leaning in to kiss and suck on Karen's neck. The brunette moaned and let her head fall back, but Mary didn't linger long; slowly she worked her way downward, along Karen's shoulder and down her chest, using her tongue and going in circles around one full breasts. "I could just eat you up…"

"Go ahead," Karen panted, her hands tangled in Mary's long black hair, all her attention focused on the sensation of her mouth circling around her breast. When at last it closed around her nipple, sucking and biting very gently, she almost shrieked; when a hand grazed its way down her stomach and around her inner thigh, she trembled and moaned. "Mary… ahh, where'd you learn…?"

"I read books," she replied, intent on pleasuring Karen, though she didn't neglect herself either; the hand that wasn't stroking Karen was stroking herself, helped along by the sight of the brunette writhing in agonized ecstasy. She sped up the rhythm of her actions, and was rewarded as Karen's moans and pants grew in urgency.

"Mary… Mary! I- I'm gonna-!" the brunette gasped, her eyes wide and unseeing, her hands clenching and unclenching in Mary's hair. Mary nodded and bent down to her knees, taking a deep breath and sliding beneath the water. Such a cute little pussy, she thought; it was shaved, and currently swollen and pink from pleasure. Smirking again she pressed in and slid her tongue inside, using her finger on the little hard nub that was Karen's clit.

That drove Karen over the edge, and a scream burst from her throat as an intense orgasm exploded throughout her body; her back arched up almost painfully, and stars birthed and died before her eyes, until at last it faded and her muscles relaxed. "Wow…" she gasped, as Mary emerged from the warm waters again, a self-satisfied look on her face. "Who would've ever guessed…"

"That the stuffy little librarian girl was actual a consummate master of girl-on-girl action?" Mary finished, her smirk widening. "Truth is, I had no idea that would work; I'd only read about it in books my mother would burn if she found them." She grinned and pulled Karen in for another kiss, a slow and languid one this time. They crawled out of the water and stretched out on the bank, just holding one another, as the night crawled on.

After a while, Karen shook herself and looked up; the moon had moved on about an hour and a half. "We should go back," she said softly, giving Mary a gentle shake. "Someone might come; I know Jack likes to come up here early in the morning sometimes, if he slept badly." That and people would wonder where they were, and there might be a ruction. Mary agreed, and they stood up and dressed. Then, holding hands, they walked back down to the sleeping town below, breathing deep of the cherry blossoms and reveling in the moonlight on their skin.