July 15, 2001
The infamous bet between Rock and Lovemaker to seduce all of the women of Rushwater Holt.
Note: This is possibly the cleanest story you will ever find that is entirely about sex. Prudish people are welcome, nothing here will make you blush (probably, anyway). This occurs before Firemoss's romance with Darkwater, before Rock is lovemated with Dreamberry, before Clearheart breaks with Surefire, before Sweet Tear changes her name to Smokepath, shortly after Beechnut is born to Dawnmist, and during - well, you'll see.
Part 1
Lovemaker rolled over to his stomach to let his backside dry in the sun. "Oh, I prefer long hair generally. More to hold onto if they are trying to get away."
Rock laughed and wrung out his shirt. He was sitting up on the shore an arm's length from where Lovemaker was drying himself after a swim. Rock had come to wash his shirt, which had been stained by moss during an ill-planned encounter with an elf whose name Lovemaker had been unable to coax from him. "Trying to get away?!" he exclaimed. "If your flirting techniques were any good, you wouldn't have them trying to get away."
This was a friendly squabble between the two, and Lovemaker easily countered, "My techniques certainly don't leave me with lonely furs. You practically plan all the fun out of flirting."
"Well, at least I manage to charm my chosen prey instead of just jumping in like a clumsy wolf smelling a female in heat." Rock sniffed in mock disdain.
Lovemaker chuckled. "Usually it's the other way around, you know. They just can't resist me! So who needs charm?"
Rock laughed uproariously. "Has anyone ever mentioned that you are unbelievably humble?"
Lovemaker grinned. "Oh, I believe that has been added to my long list of qualities at one point or another."
Rock gave his shirt one last wring and said archly, "I don't think that you are half the ladies' man that you think you are, elder. Perhaps in your prime…"
Lovemaker rolled over and sat up, a wolvish smile on his mouth and a dangerous glint in his eyes. "Would you care to test that theory, cub?"
Rock looked at Lovemaker with trepidation. That look meant mischief of the finest type, and Rock just hoped it didn't end up with an unexpected trip into the river. The dark-haired elf was perhaps a hair heavier and more muscular, but Lovemaker was strong and wily, and in the water could best any elf.
But Lovemaker had no desire to move from his comfortable sunning spot. "I have a challenge," he said, leaning back.
Rock raised one eyebrow and waited for him to continue.
"How many of the Holt lovelies do you think that you can seduce in one moon?"
"Oh," Rock said easily, "all of them, if I tried."
Lovemaker laughed. "Humble is one of your qualities, too, I see. I propose a contest. Each of us can try to persuade each of the Holt females to agree to a tumble in the furs."
Rock considered, as slow smile spreading across his face. This appealed to his sense of humour. "What will the winner receive?" he asked.
Lovemaker winked. "I think that the winner already would have collected his prize." The two shared a chuckle over that, and the older elf continued. "Of course, we have to level the playing field, as I am not interested in courting Tendril, or Lark or Dapple, and Sweet Tear is no challenge.
He earned a sharp look from Rock. "You've thought this through pretty thoroughly, haven't you."
A broader grin was his answer. "I've had the idea stewing for a while. Come sit beside me and we will put rules to our little contest."
Snowbird sat near the top of one of her favourite trees. Most of the birds were asleep, only an old owl who was hunting occasionally came to say hello, or a chattery night-singer. So she was surprised to hear a soft clumsy bird call. A very rusty, rough, out-of-tune clumsy bird call, at that. Snowbird peered through the branches to the jungle floor and saw Lovemaker standing below with his hands cupped around his mouth.
With a wince, Snowbird swung down out of the tree and made a show of putting her hands over her ears. "Oh, how awful, Lovemaker. A real clumsy bird would be utterly insulted."
Lovemaker grinned at the dark-haired elf. "I must have had a substandard teacher, then."
Snowbird wrapped him gently. "You're terrible!"
"Thank you!"
Snowbird sighed. "It wasn't supposed to be a compliment."
Lovemaker ignored her. "I came to ask you to go swimming."
"Swimming?" One eyebrow arched quizzically.
Lovemaker leered at Snowbird suggestively. "A nice, romantic moonlit swim."
The dark-haired elf looked back speculatively. "What made you come ask me to go swimming tonight?" she asked.
Lovemaker chuckled. "I was trying to come up with a subtle way to persuade you into sharing pleasures with me, and remembered how much fun it was to teach you to swim."
Snowbird smiled. "Subtlety is not your strong point, Lovemaker."
"Nor is memory beyond the NOW," Lovemaker countered, "but I still recall sharing furs with you before you were Raven and I lost my lifemates."
Snowbird was surprised and a little flattered. "Yes, I remember that." She grinned. "I remember with pleasure!" She cocked her head and looked searchingly at Lovemaker. "I think I would like to take that swim with you, old friend."
Lovemaker was watching his feet as he padded towards the den he shared with Sweet Tear, contentedly thinking on his evening's conquest, and didn't look up until he heard a familiar voice. Immediately alert, he ducked behind on of the large tree roots which arched, moss-covered, from the enormous trees that the Holt was built in.
Rock was sitting next to Sweet Tear on the bench where the blonde elf had been stringing a small children's sized bow for Lionheart. His voice was low, but Lovemaker, straining to hear his words, could just make them out. They seemed to be talking about Rock's mother. Sweet Tear was talking about Crystal's hair and sweet nature, and Rock added that one of the other elves had told him that she was quite flirty. He continued: "And can you believe that they said that I am worse than she was? I mean, me? Flirty?!" And he hitched himself closer to Sweet Tear with a sensual little hiccup in space and winked at her.
Lovemaker had to stuff his fist in his mouth to keep from laughing aloud and waited to see what Rock was going to do.
Rock continued talking without seeming to notice Sweet Tear's quizzical look. "Were you flirty, before you Recognized Lovemaker, I mean?" He didn't wait for an answer, but sighed romantically and said, "It must be wonderful knowing that no matter where either of you seek pleasures, his love is entirely for you." He directed a sideways look at Sweet Tear and confided, "My father, Timberdust, told me that he had a bit of a crush on you way back when. He even made a carving of you, which I have back in my den."
Sweet Tear smiled at Rock and said, "Really? What an amazing thing!"
Lovemaker knew that tone well. She had figured out that Rock was making a barely veiled pass on her, and perhaps even suspected that there was some kind of reason behind Rock's sudden flirtation, and was shyly flattered, and kindly disposed to him, a fact proven when she stood up and said, "I'd like to see this carving, Rock. Will you show it to me?"
Rock bolted up beside her, and took her offered hand. "Absolutely. I would love a chance to compare the carving with the original. Someday maybe I could carve you, too." He blushed then, and it occurred to Lovemaker that he had made the carving himself, and he was left with no doubts as to how he would be comparing the wooden model with the flesh original.
As they passed out of earshot, Lovemaker could hear Sweet Tear's gentle chuckle.
Lovemaker couldn't believe his luck. A dreamberry bush, right in the middle of nobody's business, where no one would think to look for it. He wondered if Dreamberry had found this particular bush, and looked carefully for footprints. Dreamberry was possessive of her bushes, and secretive, but not terribly careful. By one of the tallest trees there were footprints, and elven ones, at that, but they were smaller and lighter than Dreamberry's. Lovemaker gathered a handful of berries and lay back on a log, eating them slowly, trying to decide a plan of attack for the feisty elf. She would probably be plenty willing, and wouldn't require a lot of coaxing, but the lure of a dreamberry bush would be a particularly good touch if he could figure out how to use it.
Shypaws, laying quietly at the base of the log, looked up suddenly, and Lovemaker could hear someone coming from the direction of the holt.
Honeyhue walked into the clearing without suspecting it of having another occupant until her wolf whined at Shypaws, who scooted back into the underbrush like a frightened hare. "Lovemaker!" Honeyhue exclaimed. "My secret dreamberry bush!" She seemed dismayed, but Lovemaker was delighted by his luck a second time. Here was another elf he wouldn't have to hunt down to privately talk to.
Lovemaker laughed. "No worries, I share!" And he winked at her suggestively and dangled a dreamberry at her.
Honeyhue blinked at him, not certain how to read his actions.
Lovemaker let his grin spread. "I share lots of things…"
The honey-haired elf had never been the object of Lovemaker's particular hunt, and, although she was fairly sure this was nothing like fatherly teasing, she wasn't at all sure that she was really the recipient of it, and looked around as if expecting someone to be standing behind her. When she looked back, she smiled tentatively.
Lovemaker slid off the log and gathered another handful of berries from the bush. When he jumped back up on the log, he patted a spot next to him, and said, "And I've noticed that you're not exactly a cub anymore."
Honeyhue looked proud enough to burst out of her skin, and she paused at the bush long enough to gather a handful of berries for herself before she hopped up to join Lovemaker on the log. "No, I'm definitely not a cub anymore," she said with defiance. She gave Lovemaker a sidelong glance through her lashes and smiled shyly.
Lovemaker fed her a dreamberry, and mentally put another mark on his scoresheet.
"Oof. Wildstar, for a really wonderful Chieftess, you are such a stick-in-the-mud." Dreamberry threw a wad of moss at her from her reclined position on a tree branch. "You don't have any work to do. The Hunt is off hunting, no one is quarrelling, no one is sick, no one is hungry, so will you please stop being responsible and looking for stuff to do and have some fun for once?"
That was an opening if Rock had ever heard one, and he waltzed into the clearing where Dreamberry was relaxing and Wildstar was trying to think of work that had to be done. He grinned at both of them, and said, "I have just found the most marvelous dreamberry bush."
Dreamberry snorted and tossed her short hair. "You can't possibly have found a dreamberry bush that I don't known about. I know where all the best bushes are."
Rock smiled at her, a mischievous glow to his eyes. "Oh, probably not, but the dreamberry bush I'm thinking of has the most comfortable fur for three lying out beneath it, and I would be sooo lonely eating dreamberries all by myself on this really comfortable fur." His smile spread into an irrepressible grin, and he added candidly, "Can I interest the two most beautiful women in the Holt in a night of pleasure?"
There was no doubt as to his intentions, and Dreamberry whooped. "Now that is more like it!" She jumped down from her tree branch and planted both hands firmly onto Wildstar's back. "We accept," she said, giving Wildstar a shove.
Wildstar opened her mouth.
"Shush," Dreamberry said before Wildstar could say anything. "Don't be a spoil sport."
Wildstar opened her mouth again.
Rock inserted, "I made sure that there was nothing pressing that needed to be done at the Holt before I came to find you."
Wildstar glared at both of the other elves, and finally said, "I was going to say that it sounded like fun."
Firemoss lay on her stomach at the river's edge, watching the shadows dacing at the bottom of the sluggish water. Fish liked to play in this little area of backwash, and Firemoss was watching them intently. The sun was just beginning to tint the treetops behind her.
Soft steps behind her distracted her for a moment, and she looked around abruptly. Lovemaker stood behind her with his hands behind his back. His look was treacherously innocent. Firemoss rolled over and stood up.
"You look like trouble," Firemoss said suspiciously.
"How you wound my fragile ego!" Lovemaker bantered with a grin. He brought his hands to the front, revealing a generous fistful of violet flowers. "I've brought you flowers, O' suspicious one."
Firemoss took them with trepidation. "What do you want?" The last time Lovemaker had brought her flowers, he had been ears deep with Foxears and tried to convince her to grow some stinging nettles in one of Duskwater's favourite sitting-and-thinking places.
Lovemaker feigned a wounded look. "Can't I bring a beautiful elf flowers without being suspected of ulterior motives?"
Firemoss laughed. "Not you, Lovemaker. You usually have one thing on your mind, and every elf in Rushwater knows what that is!"
Lovemaker sighed, and let his shoulders slump. "Foiled by my own reputation."
Firemoss laughed suddenly. "No one said you were foiled!"
Rock watched Birchbark head off for an early-night hunt and rubbed his hands together. Colorcast was a shy one, and her relationship with his sister was a true one, but he had talked a little with Birchbark earlier and decided that both of the lovemates were amenable to the idea of extra-curricular romances. He settled back on his tree branch. He didn't want to pop into their den the moment Birchbark left; it would take more tact than that to win Colorcast's attentions.
He waited until the first moon had just barely started to colour the sky and swung down the to the den opening. "Birchbark?" he called.
Colorcast yawned and stirred inside the den. "Rock? Birchbark went hunting early. I'm being decadent and sleeping in. I have no idea when she'll be back, but I'll tell her you're looking for her."
Rock hid a grin. "Oh, I was just looking for someone to talk to. Can I come in?"
Colorcast sat up with a smile. "Sure, Rock. I haven't seen much of you since Birchbark moved in. You'd think that you disapproved of us." The two laughed, since both knew that this was not the case at all.
Rock levered himself into the den and settled himself at the foot of Colorcast's furs, well within reach. "I get busy, I guess," he admitted sheepishly. "I really need to start spending more time with my two favourite females." He winked at Colorcast.
Colorcast laughed at him. Her eyes were languid from sleep, and her tousled hair streamed over bare shoulders. "I'll bet you say that to all the elves."
"You'd think I was a dedicated flirt, or something," Rock protested. He discretely edged closer to the chestnut-haired elf.
Colorcast leveled a gaze at him. She was not frequently the object of Rock's flirting, and it surprised her to realize that this was precisely what he was doing. "Aren't you?" she bantered back, a little shyly.
"Ah, well, perhaps," Rock replied. He brushed a lock of hair back from Colorcast's shoulder suggestively. "But it's only because I am surrounded by such stunning women. How could I not become a flirt, when you are such a temptress that I cannot resist your wily charms."
Colour bloomed in the brown-eyed elf's cheeks and she lowered her gaze, flattered and a little embarrassed.
Rock sidled up until he was at her side. "Don't be embarrassed, lovely Colorcast, I wouldn't say it if I didn't believe it." He let one hand rest on a bare shoulder, and touched Colorcast's hand with the other. "Say the word and I will creep off in shame, but never believe that I don't mean what I say, even in the throes of flirtation."
Colorcast looked up and met his eyes, and a slow smile tickled her face. "Oh, I have no desire to say the word. You are welcome to practice all of your flirtation techniques on me."
Rock let his hand drift off of Colorcast's shoulder to trace her collarbone towards the hollow of her neck. "Oh, this is hardly just practice…"
Colorcast smiled further and brushed a stray lock from Rock's eyes. "Wonderful," she said. Colour rose afresh in her cheeks as she said coyly, "because these furs were getting cold, and I was just thinking I needed someone to warm them up for me…" She slid down until just her eyes were showing above the furs. "Coming?"