Work Text:
The occasional tea party hosted at the Jade Chamber was nothing if not an illustrious affair.
Few outside the Qixing and the Tianquan’s inner circle ever received an invitation. Those who had attended held nothing but praise for Ningguang’s hospitality, charm, and mouthwatering variety of delicacies she prepared for the occasion. If one was especially fortunate, they might have the honor of sharing a table with other members of Ningguang’s entourage, like Ganyu or Keqing, when they had a rare moment off work.
It was even rarer to have more than one of them present. But “tea parties” that required the chamber to be guarded by a dozen of the Millelith’s finest soldiers, and the “guest of honor” to enter with her hands tied behind her back, were no common affairs.
Still, Beidou held her head up high, and dragged her feet, such that Yelan had to shove her through the door with a grunt.
“Watch the merchandise,” she sneered, meeting the agent’s venomous glare with one of equal hostility.
“I’m afraid I can’t give the Tianquan’s enemies the luxury of comfort,” Yelan shot back.
“Enemies? Come on now, we’re great friends.”
But if that had been true, Ningguang wouldn’t have sent out an arrest warrant to bring in the captain. And when the Millelith were unsuccessful in convincing her to follow peacefully, it fell to Yelan to apprehend Beidou by force.
“Save your lies for somebody who’ll fall for them, lowlife.”
“That’s a long list. Lots of people have fallen for me already,” Beidou smirked, even as Yelan tightened the rope holding her wrists together.
The procession of two ground to a halt at the top of the stairs. Yelan, who narrowly resisted the urge to simply throw her down, and Beidou, who dug her heels into the floorboards, making it as difficult as possible for her to move without risking an accident.
“Miss Beidou.”
Until the captain felt the tender brush of fingers on her shoulder. She turned to regard the newcomer.
“Oh hey, sweetcheeks,” Beidou flashed Ganyu a radiant smile. “Wanna grab dinner later? Crew’s going to be partying at Wanmin.”
The Tianquan's secretary ignored her advances, her grip growing firmer as she gently urged Beidou forward.
“Don’t make this harder than it needs to be. Please.”
Her words hung stiffly in the silence that followed. Beidou simply stared down the stairs as Ganyu tugged on her shoulder again. The Adeptus’ expression was hard, as was her touch. But she pleaded with her eyes.
And waiting at the foot of the staircase, watching her like a hawk, was the Qixing’s Yuheng. Keqing's hand hovered on the scabbard of her sword, wordlessly threatening any further indiscretion.
Beidou was frustrated enough to consider taking on both Keqing and Yelan at the same time–even barehanded–but knowing that I might catch Ganyu and Ningguang in the crossfire drove her back from the brink.
She cast one final glance at the entrance, and the soldiers standing guard all around. Wary, and gripping their spears tight. Any fight she started here would end up wounding them as well, and without Visions to bolster their strength, some of those injuries might very well be fatal.
Ningguang had really chosen a perfect entourage to prevent her from attempting a jailbreak. Beidou returned her attention to the stairs, knowing she had been thoroughly checkmated before she even realized there was a board to play.
“Fine,” she huffed. “I’ll walk.”
She could almost hear Yelan sigh in relief. A fight with the captain was something one could rarely walk away from, and accomplishing that feat twice in one day would be challenging, even for one of the Qixing’s finest agents.
Ganyu held Beidou by the shoulder as they descended the Jade Chamber’s spiral staircase. Keqing greeted them with only a brusque nod as they passed, and the group made a right turn instead of a left. Beidou looked over her shoulder, confused–knowing Ningguang's office was the other way–but Yelan stayed her course.
Until she was led to a door that nobody had ever been invited to step through.
“This is…?”
“Her room,” Ganyu’s curt response only gave Beidou more questions than answers.
“Perhaps she means to keep your sentencing away from even the eyes and ears of her subordinates,” Yelan suggested, sensing her bewilderment. “Be grateful she's giving you this much face after all your… transgressions.”
“Transgressions like defending Liyue from sea monsters and hunting down criminals?” Beidou spat. “At least I don’t stoop low enough to flash some skin to wheedle information out of my prisoners.”
“Your disdain for authority puts even the Treasure Hoarders to shame some days,” Yelan replied coolly.
“Don’t act like you don’t have filthy secrets of your own, you conniving little–!”
Ganyu’s hand clamped down on Beidou’s shoulder, the biting cold stalling that last disgraceful remark before she could say it.
Beidou didn't deign to look at the bits of hoarfrost creeping along her clothes from the Adeptus’ touch, resigning herself instead to an indignant silence.
Yelan, satisfied with this turn of events, leaned past her captive to rap sharply on the door.
No further instruction was needed–the door to the Tianquan's room opened immediately. And the crown jewel of the Jade Chamber peered at her visitors.
“Good morning,” she offered a slight bow to her guests. “I hope she wasn't too much trouble.”
To describe the Tianquan in a word would be simple. As far as Beidou knew, that word would be “immaculate”. It certainly helped that it was a fancy, complicated word that she didn't fully understand–that was just the sort of relationship she had with Ningguang.
Her pale hair was tied into the neatest of buns, with not a single strand out of place. Her skin was so fair, and so delicately smooth, that she seemed just as dazzling as any jewellery in her collection. She’d even done her bloody makeup for the occasion.
Beidou, on the other hand, had just gotten her ass kicked in a fight, and knew she definitely looked the part. The sting of a bruise on her left cheek, her own hairdo barely holding together after being kicked through a door, and her clothes battered and crumpled with a patch of frost on her right shoulder. Normally, Ningguang reserved the right to outright expel visitors for being improperly dressed.
There was almost an absurd quality to their position–a princess and her pauper–and everyone here knew it. Beidou could almost sense Keqing’s distant scornfulness, and Yelan’s quiet mockery, and she seethed under their disdain.
“Nothing I couldn't handle,” Yelan replied, and Beidou was nearly tempted to kick her out of spite.
“Excellent work. Send her in.”
They were talking about her as though she didn't even exist. With a nudge from behind, Yelan pushed her through the doorway–only for the Tianquan to intercept her agent.
“Just her,” Ningguang clarified.
“W-whuh?” Ganyu's confusion was palpable. “Are you sure it’ll be safe?”
“With all due respect, Lady Ningguang! I cannot just allow a simple brigand to–” Yelan’s grip on the ropes tightened… and then loosened, as she found herself unable to argue with the Tianquan’s stony silence.
With a tender touch of her gloved fingers to Beidou's bound wrists, Ningguang guided her captive into her private chambers, leaving her stupefied subordinates outside.
And with the clicking of a lock, they were alone.
The Tianquan's office–the setting of their usual “meetings”-was elaborately decorated, with lush screens of polished jade framing a mountain of scrolls and paperwork. Beidou almost enjoyed arguing with her outside–putting on a bit of a show for her retainers, giving them a little scare.
But her room–her bedroom–invited a very different approach.
Beidou couldn't swallow her unease at the deceptive coziness her chambers seemed to exude. At least, she assumed it must have been some form of trick to get her to lower her guard.
One bed in the corner, and a wardrobe and dresser for all her perfect appearances. The carpets on the floor were the colors of simple, earthy rusk, and seemed to be solely for comfort, rather than beauty. For the last piece of humble furniture she had, there was a long wooden table right in front of them, complete with a chair on each side.
A table lined with tidbits.
Beidou had the urge to say something to question–well, everything–but crinkled her nose as the smell of flowers pervaded her senses.
“Sumeru roses,” Ningguang elaborated, walking past her to have a seat at the table. “Their scent is said to improve circulation and relaxation.”
She tapped a delicate finger to a glass bottle on the table, half-filled with a pinkish oil, with a few wooden sticks poking out of its neck.
“Or at least, that is what real rose oil can do.”
She plucked the wooden diffuser sticks out of their bottle and snapped them in half. Beidou flinched at the noise as a cold realization began to crawl up her spine.
“Exposure to fake oils,” Ningguang continued, keeping her gaze trained on the pirate even as Beidou tried to avoid eye contact, “Can lead to dizziness. And for those who are sensitive, it can cause irritation of the throat, or even bouts of fainting.”
“Crap,” Beidou muttered.
“They may be cheaper, yes. But the detriment to one’s health is a cost that nobody should have to pay…”
Ningguang neatly placed the broken sticks in the bottle and corked it firmly.
“...especially unknowingly.”
She let her words hang in the air, a figurative sword above the captain's head.
She needn’t have said more. Beidou remembered. The intense secrecy with which those Sumeru merchants insisted she help transport their goods, and the childlike glee on the faces of their clients–Liyue merchants–once she had delivered their cargo. Luxury at an affordable price, they had said. That was all it took for Beidou to jump at the chance to help… until the day they simply disappeared from their regular meetings with her.
And shortly after, Yelan broke down her door.
“I didn't realize they were scam artists,” Beidou turned away from the Tianquan's glare. “Shit… did people get hurt?”
The air already felt easier to breathe. Beidou never tried any of the products she transported, since that was usually an implicit agreement between courier and client. But if only she’d known sooner…
“I launched an investigation after the Bubu Pharmacy reported four cases of such dizziness. Thankfully, the merchants were careless in covering their tracks, and were apprehended swiftly.”
“Only four…” Beidou almost relaxed, before catching herself. That still meant she had injured four innocents through her own carelessness.
Ningguang nodded, noting her grimace.
“I know you wouldn't ever have stood for such villainy, Beidou. But ‘I don’t know’ and ‘I didn’t mean to’ are simply not excuses I can accept at this juncture.”
Not with her reputation as Tianquan on the line, either. Any leniency Ningguang showed to her would send the message that she was okay with misconduct, as long as the culprit was someone she knew. Escaping punishment at this point would be impossible.
“Sit,” she instructed, gesturing to the chair in front of her.
Beidou moved–at once realizing that her hands had long since been untied–and took an awkward seat in front of the Tianquan.
Now that she thought about it, this was the first time she’d ever been alone in a room with Ningguang. The Qixing’s subordinates or members of her crew had been present for all their previous meetings. With the usual din of chatter or the clinking of tableware completely absent, Beidou didn’t know what to do with herself.
The silence was deafening.
Ningguang plucked the teapot from its dish, and daintily poured two cups full. One she curled over to herself, and one she offered the flustered captain, who was presently adjusting her hair. All without so much as making a sound.
Beidou took a whiff as she raised the tiny cup, and was pleasantly surprised by the fresh, floral hints of jasmine. She was tempted to gulp it down to ease the dryness in her throat, only to dissuade herself from looking any more foolish. Something about the way Ningguang perched her chin on her hands and watched her compelled her to merely sip. And she still wore that impenetrable, enigmatic smile that she showed to everyone.
The silence was beginning to be unbearable.
Beidou set her empty cup down with a thud in a desperate attempt to make some noise, and cleared her throat.
“So… are we gonna talk about my punishment?”
Ningguang leaned over to refill Beidou’s cup without so much as an acknowledgment. The captain was growing antsier by the second. Was Ningguang stalling out of mercy? Was her impending sentence so complex that they had to indulge in a tea party to prepare for it?
Was the Tianquan just screwing with her?
“You are… a free spirit.”
The sound of Ningguang's voice–cutting through the awful silence–jolted Beidou from her reverie.
“Unfortunately, I’m afraid I can’t allow you to keep doing as you please with that reckless attitude.”
“What’re you going to do then, chief?” Beidou quipped, simply happy to be talking at last. “Shackle me?”
“The carrot and the stick,” Ningguang mused, raising her own cup to her lips and taking a long, indulgent sip. “Martial law has its benefits, but when I have to personally step in… I prefer to entice, not enforce.”
She returned her cup to the table with the softest of clinks.
“Entice? You mean like sending an arrest warrant and a lapdog to break down my front door?”
“As a matter of fact, this would be the first time you’ve come to the Jade Chamber at my invitation, rather than barging in,” Ningguang slid over a plate of biscuits. “I thought you would be thrilled.”
Beidou ignored the jab. She reached for one and bit into it, and at once her mouth was filled with a zesty burst of salt and lemons. She let a contented hum slip from her lips, only to cut it off with a fake cough as she caught Ningguang smirking at her.
“Can we just get to the point?” She flicked the plate back towards the Tianquan, “I ain’t the kind of gal that does well with mind games.”
“Work for me,” Ningguang stated plainly.
“Hell no,” Beidou scoffed, leaning forward. “We’ve talked about this…”
Except, the last time Ningguang had made the offer, Beidou had the luxury of not being a wanted criminal.
The Tianquan’s placid smirk remained as she watched Beidou’s sentence trail off into nothingness, followed by her burying her head in her hands with a defeated sigh. She really had chosen a prime opportunity to corner her.
“I’m glad you understand the position you’re in,” Ningguang rose from her seat, languidly strolling around the table to where Beidou clasped her hands to her face. “But, once again, this is an offer, not a threat.”
Like hell it was. Even if Ningguang had no direct hand in her punishment, Beidou knew that word would eventually spread about who had helped those scam artists smuggle fake rose oils into Liyue. And her reputation would go up in flames.
“...where does the ‘enticement’ bit come in, O Great Tianquan?”
Beidou tried not to flinch as Ningguang trailed a finger down her cheek. When she opened her mouth to protest, a sweet popped right in. It was a hard candy, smacking of peaches. Only; she hadn't realized Ningguang’s fingers were in her mouth as well, and inadvertently sucked on them as the Tianquan withdrew from her lips.
“Um…” Beidou felt the heat rising to her cheeks as she beheld the moist stickiness clinging to Ningguang's gloves. “C-crap, I didn't mean to…”
“Working with the Qixing in an official capacity,” Ningguang drawled, ignoring the captain’s luminescent blush, “Would give you a bottomless pool of reputable clients to barter with. From Mondstadt to Fontaine, you’ll never be left wanting for a job.”
“Uh huh,” Beidou’s mind was still reeling from embarrassment, especially as Ningguang’s hands returned to her shoulders and squeezed them with an astonishing tenderness.
“Your trips would be personally funded by me. Expect better living conditions on every ship of your fleet, and watertight insurance for all loss of and damage to property…”
She stopped to pinch the captain’s cheek.
“...provided said vessels are not damaged when illegally moored.”
“Ow, ow, ow! Come on, it was just one–no, uh–three times!”
“Three times for the Alcor… and seventeen combined for your other ships.”
Beidou shook off those spit-slick fingers, only for a different kind of wetness to rub against the bruise on her other cheek, as the Tianquan began to apply salve to her injury.
“Wouldn’t it be nice to have your sailors’ wounds and ailments all treated by Liyue’s best doctors in the event of an accident? With full coverage of those medical bills?”
Forget saying her name in a way that rose goosebumps along her neck. This was the first time the Tianquan had ever touched her so gently. Beidou was having a hard time keeping her breathing quiet and steady.
“...did you ask Yelan to kick me through a wall so you could show off your bedside manner?”
“I didn’t know you were interested in how well I fared in bed,” Ningguang cooed.
“That’s n-not what I m-mean!”
And the Tianquan carried on, completely unfazed as the captain held her head in her hands.
“Provisions on your voyages… luxury at an honest, affordable price. Your pantries would be stocked full with Liyue’s finest teas, biscuits from Inazuma, and candies from Sumeru. Just to name a few.”
She leaned down and whispered the last bit into Beidou’s ear:
“And I wager you’ve found them simply delectable, haven’t you?”
Beidou’s remaining eye widened as she realized. Of course, this had been a ploy from the very beginning. Enticing her with food, though? That possibility never even crossed her mind. But she had to admit, the snacks were appetizing as hell, and having them on a voyage would certainly make some idle afternoons much less stale. Though, it was hard to string that thought together when her heart was pounding away like cannonfire.
“...I feel like I’m being treated like some lost puppy,” Beidou sighed, leaning back in her chair.
Only–the chair lacked a backrest–and Beidou narrowly suppressed an unbecoming squeak as her head fell into the embrace of something soft and warm.
She didn't dare move as the Tianquan’s hands crawled up from her shoulders, to perch daintily on her cheeks. Almost pulling her back into the softness of her chest.
“Well?”
The way the word rolled off her tongue, dripping sweet and sticky into her ear, had Beidou instinctively ducking away. But there wasn't any room for escape from her embrace.
“Are you a lost puppy, Beidou?”
Beidou tried vainly to dispel the tension creeping down her spine with every word that left the Tianquan’s honeyed lips. She could feel a warmness, a tightness, tangling into an incomprehensible knot in her stomach. It wasn’t nearly seasickness, but it did make it difficult to sit still.
“Um… woof?”
Why did her body feel so hot? Ningguang had called her name a thousand times in their lives, mostly to scold her. Not once had her name ever been spoken in a way that sounded so loaded, so tender, so… suggestive.
“How very amusing,” Ningguang shot her down immediately. “But I don’t keep pets. I keep people.”
“You’re keeping this ‘people’ in suspense…” Beidou huffed, reaching for her panacea– the gourd of ale she always wore on her belt. “Are you always this… um, handsy in private?”
“Though far rarer,” Ningguang continued, seemingly branching off on a nowhere tangent, “Exposure to fake rose oils… can lead to an aphrodisiac effect in some individuals.”
Beidou dropped her gourd, where it fell to the floor with a dull thunk.
“Ahaha… uh, what?”
The warmth continued to creep up her cheeks, spreading to the tips of her ears.
Slowly, deliberately, Ningguang held her by the jaw and forced her to look up, smushing the back of her head against the swell of her chest until the captain was left staring blankly into her smouldering gaze.
“Doctor Baizhu was proficient in treating my physical symptoms.”
Ningguang pressed her lips to Beidou’s forehead, and Beidou swore she could almost feel her soul leaving her body as her legs involuntarily clamped together.
“...and as for the psychological symptoms,” the Tianquan purred, her breath hot against her skin, “I’ll need you to take responsibility.”
Beidou opened her mouth, hoping she could say something snarky, something clever to break up the cloying atmosphere.
But no words came.
Even as the last dregs of her common sense tried to push her to say something– anything at all– to the all-too-obvious lust burning in the Tianquan’s eyes, her body’s will to protest was crumbling fast.
Ningguang’s hands left her head. The warmth of her palms and fingers instead hugged Beidou’s shoulders and slowly glided down her body. Mapping out each and every contour, down to the curve of her hips to the tune of her breathless gasps.
“I had to watch you gallivant about without a care in the world while I was stuck in my room,” Ningguang hissed, raking her hands back up the captain’s torso to grope her chest. “I had to fill in reports about your smuggling, while suffering from the side effects...”
“Oh hell, you were one of the-w-woah!”
She yelped as Ningguang’s kneading gave way to a warning pinch on a strip of exposed skin.
“I never imagined the day I would grow jealous of your reckless unboundedness. But I’m frustrated, Beidou. And rather than seeing you laughing and fooling around, I’d like you to do something different for me.”
Her thumbs hooked onto the black cloth covering her chest and pulled down.
“...what’s that?”
Beidou’s voice came out at a higher pitch than she would have liked, given the suddenness with which she found herself exposed.
The Tianquan cocked her head, holding her prey captive with that piercing gaze, and the forcefulness of gloved fingers digging into pliant flesh.
“I need you to scream.”
And she pinched her.
As far as her buccaneering life was concerned, Beidou was no stranger to pain. The chafing of salt-bitten breeze, the hard falls on the deck when the waves rode rough, and the burning aches that came after every fight.
But this–this playful pinch–set her nerves on fire in a way that the rush of battle never could.
“A-ahh…”
She moaned at the Tianquan’s behest. But she would have been a fool to think that she would be given any respite.
“No, that’s not loud enough.”
Ningguang continued to massage Beidou’s heaving chest, each delicate click-clicking of the claws on the end of her gloves introducing a fresh shiver down the pirate’s spine. The cold hardness of the metal was at odds with how invitingly warm and supple the rest of her was, the contrast of temperatures rapidly wearing away at Beidou’s composure.
And with a swivel of the chair– Beidou now realized the chair could spin in place too– she found herself facing Ningguang.
Beidou wasn’t even aware of how tightly she’d been squeezing her legs together until Ningguang forced them apart.
Her burning blush grew even hotter still as Ningguang simply stared. With her skirt flipped away, the only thing covering her modesty was her dark leotard. Surely the Tianquan could see, with her sharp eyes, the growing patch of dampness seeping through the fabric. A dampness that only grew the longer Beidou pined for relief.
“... Ning, c’mon…”
Beidou saw the Tianquan’s gaze snap up to regard her, the captain’s lips remaining parted with each needy gasp that slipped from her throat. Under fire from the sparks of her own arousal, and Ningguang’s teasing chipping away at her. She swore she felt Ningguang’s grip on her legs grow gentler–but only for a brief moment–before digging back into her skin.
“You are far too easy,” she scoffed.
“I-I dunno,” Beidou choked on a chuckle as Ningguang slipped the leotard aside, just enough to reveal her glistening womanhood. “I just feel easier with you… I guess?”
She thought she saw her eyes widen in surprise, but that image was soon scrubbed from Beidou’s mind as Ningguang brushed her fingers along her folds, sending a wave of pleasure coursing through her.
“W-what–! D-don’t tell me you’re embarrassed…?”
There was definitely something in Ningguang’s eyes now. Beidou knew that look well. She had seen it and borne its judgment each and every time she barged into the Jade Chamber. Only… this time, she wanted to see more of it. More of that frustration, more of that anger.
“I… didn’t ask for your opinion,” Ningguang huffed, her breath coming the slightest bit heavier.
She sought to silence Beidou, or at least, keep her from prattling on with that idiot mouth of hers by sliding her digits into her snatch. Whatever sugar had been on those gloves of hers was soon steeped in the wetness within her folds. Beidou instinctively tried to shut her legs at the intrusion, but Ningguang held her ground, each pump steadily working her fingers deeper and deeper into the captain’s hold.
Each time, coaxing out a warm dribble of nectar.
Each time, coaxing out a lurid moan.
Her own fingers never felt this good. And after this, Beidou wasn’t sure anything could ever compare. She never knew how to properly touch a woman, at least not with this level of sheer finesse and vigor. Ningguang had her body completely figured out in just a matter of minutes, and now she was hopelessly wrapped around her fingers. In both a literal and figurative sense.
“Nnngh… go a bit… f-faster…!”
Beidou found herself surprised by how shaky, how desperate her own voice sounded, but Ningguang didn’t seem to mind. The captain lurched in her seat as she felt those roving, slender fingers speed up. Scooping generous, obscene dollops of her juices out as she hunted down her pleasure button with every fervent thrust.
“A little louder than that would be lovely…”
Each intrusion was getting more and more difficult. Beidou couldn’t stop herself from tightening up each time she felt her lover’s knuckles, digging into every pleat and fold of her womanhood with a ferocity fuelled by frustration. She found her own hands roving up her body, playing with her breasts as she felt the pleasure building. Ningguang’s ministrations slowed for only a moment as Beidou let out a louder groan of bliss.
She stared wordlessly, studying Beidou’s silly grin, watching her recklessly squeezing her tits as she grew closer to climax. All she needed was a little push.
“...oh, fine.”
Beidou barely heard what Ningguang had said. But she did feel the sudden emptiness of her fingers leaving her snatch, and she looked up in alarm to see the Tianquan removing her sodden glove.
“You’ve been good,” Ningguang sighed, returning her hand to Beidou’s needy sex. “I think you’ve earned this.”
And with a grunt, she hooked her third and fourth fingers into those wet, wet folds–and pushed.
“Nnn–ahhh–!”
The sensation of those slender, smooth fingers digging right against her g-spot sent Beidou’s mind reeling. And Ningguang began to pump her hand, firmly fucking that very spot, over and over.
The Tianquan’s onslaught was relentless. Even with the hapless captain clenching and trembling around her fingers, she saw fit to press her lips to the pliant flesh of her inner thigh, leaving a featherlike kiss. And then another. And then she lavished Beidou’s other thigh with a long, indulgent lick. Each scrape of her teeth, every lush lap of her tongue, was pure electric on her skin.
“N-Ningguang… o-ohh, Archons…!”
Her groans came more readily, each throaty cry more unrestrained than the last. Until the Tianquan’s fingers abruptly left her, and Beidou instead felt the wet heat of Ningguang’s mouth as she buried her face into her cunt.
Beidou’s hands immediately found their way to Ningguang’s perfect hair, and she twined her fingers in those silky locks, now matted with sweat. Surprisingly, Ningguang let her hold on, and if anything, Beidou’s forcefulness seemed to embolden her.
Ningguang ate her out with a frenzied urgency, giving the captain neither the luxury to breathe, nor the delicacy to compose herself. Her tongue plunged into her shuddering folds, savoring every bit of nectar she had to give, darting back out to lap at the swollen nub of her clit. And there was nowhere for Beidou to run, as the Tianquan’s hands–one gloved, and the other bare and sodden–found a secure grip on her waist, and forced her to hold still. Forced her forward, and Beidou found herself grinding against her lover’s face, the searing pressure growing too much to bear.
Her groans erupted into high-pitched whimpers, and soon–as spasms racked her legs–Beidou could only find it in herself to scream.
“Nn-ahhh…OH FUUUCK–!”
Driven by a primal urge to chase her high, her legs snapped shut around Ningguang’s head, her heels locking together–and at once her world went white. The release she’d been ravenously pining for, with all of Ningguang’s frustration digging into her needy cunt. A molten rush of sparks up her body, and hot nectar gushing out of her as she arched her back and screamed. Ningguang continued to ravish her through her climax, greedily lapping up her juices and sealing her lips around her womanhood so not a single drop would be wasted.
Beidou slowly drifted back down into reality as her orgasm waned, her breath still coming in heaving hiccups, as Ningguang finally pulled away.
The crown jewel of the Jade Chamber, the most dignified and proper lady in Liyue, kneeling between her legs… her immaculate hair now dishevelled, and her face an obscene mess of wetness that dripped onto her dress, leaving dark, damning stains on the pristine fabric.
There was almost an absurd quality to their position.
But if the Tianquan felt any shame at gorging herself on Beidou’s climax, she didn’t show it, instead rising to her feet with a sigh.
“Loud and foul-mouthed, aren’t you?”
“Um… hah… hah…”
Beidou couldn’t find the breath to crack a joke. Her mind was still mushy from the force of her climax. Especially when Ningguang leaned in to pinch her nose and she could smell her issue all over the Tianquan’s face.
“Get up. Unless you’re ready to admit that this is all it takes to exhaust the ‘Uncrowned Lord of the Ocean’.”
A small surge of anger welled up inside the captain, just enough to will her trembling legs to obey as she jumped out of her chair. By some miracle, she was able to follow Ningguang, stumbling over to the bed and flopping face-first onto the mattress.
“Oof… I can’t feel my feet, dammit.”
She sniffed the spotless sheets deeply before rolling over to stare up at the ceiling. In the corner of her vision, she could see Ningguang stripping. Peeling away that elegant, priceless qipao to reveal inch after inch of perfect skin. Beidou let her gaze wander as the dress pooled around the Tianquan’s legs, and she began inching her shorts down as well, exposing her shapely rear.
She really did cut a most lovely figure. With nary a blemish or scar to be seen anywhere on her, an hourglass figure that most women could only dream of, and slender legs that seemed to go on forever…
Beidou rubbed the back of her neck, suddenly feeling self-conscious. Even though Ningguang had started this, even though she had been called here by her, Beidou couldn’t help but feel a twinge of shame.
Her own beauty regime was virtually non-existent, owing to her life out at sea. The callouses on her hands from years of swinging a blade, the rough spots on her skin that felt like sand grains from Yaoguang Shoal, and the permanent brand of a leviathan’s rage forever seared into her left eye.
“Why are you still dressed?”
The Tianquan’s palpable annoyance nudged Beidou out of her reverie. She blinked up at her lover, who slid onto the bed, placing a dainty hand on Beidou’s thigh.
“Um… I f-forgot,” Beidou fumbled with her words, hurriedly undoing her own dress while blushing under Ningguang’s glare. Ningguang moved to help her with her boots, placing them neatly on the ground and tucking her socks into them.
“What?” She frowned at Beidou’s visible surprise. “I’m just getting them out of the way so we can start sooner.”
Those were the words that left her love-slick lips, but Ningguang’s hands were gentler than they had ever been as she helped undo the numerous buckles and clasps holding Beidou’s seafaring dress together. She even brushed a finger to the bruise on Beidou’s cheek, murmuring to herself when she saw no sign of pain in her lover’s expression.
But as soon as the clothes were out of the way, and Beidou was laid bare before the Tianquan, that stone-faced affability returned. As did her fingers to the pirate’s womanhood.
“Ooooff…” Beidou shuddered at the waves of pleasure Ningguang’s deft digits left in their wake.
She had to admit, Ningguang had mastered the art of playing her body like an instrument in a little over twenty minutes. Part of her was embarrassed she was so easy to read, but a stronger urge within simply couldn’t wait to be used by her lover.
Once she determined that Beidou was ready, Ningguang glided into position, as gracefully as ever. She let down her hair, allowing her ashen locks to drape like flowing silk over their bodies as she hooked Beidou’s leg over her shoulder. Beidou had some idea of what she had in store, since she knew of this position when other people were doing the deed. Not that she ever had the opportunity to get practical experience before this.
She squeaked at the first brush of the Tianquan’s womanhood against hers. She was still sensitive from her previous climax, and stimulation this direct had her jerking in surprise.
Ningguang stopped immediately, but Beidou quickly grabbed her by the waist–Archons above, she was so soft–and shook her head.
“W-wait, I’m fine. We can… keep going.”
“I’m not stopping for your sake,” Ningguang huffed. “I’m simply adjusting my position.”
Sure she was.
Beidou let the silly grin return as she watched the Tianquan’s perfectly powdered cheeks slowly redden. This time it was Ningguang’s turn to avoid eye contact, but she had her own ways of turning the tables, namely by grinding their bodies together once more.
“M-mmmh!”
Except it was her that made the first moan. A look of mortification spread across her dignified face (as dignified as she could be while naked and riding her lover), and she pressed a pillow onto Beidou’s face to smother any snark she might have had.
Beidou didn’t bother. Just seeing the little cracks in the invincible Tianquan’s armor was normally more than enough to make her day. But to have Ningguang enthusiastically humping against her was a whole other level of satisfaction she never knew she needed.
The pillow soon fell away as Ningguang turned her attention to the rest of her lover’s body. Those lovingly skilled fingers trailed up her body, sparking pleasure wherever she touched. Beidou reached for her, closing a calloused hand around one of Ningguang’s breasts. Perfectly firm, and just big enough to comfortably fit into the palm of her hand. It certainly helped that she seemed especially sensitive there, given how she moaned again in response to the captain brushing against her nipple.
“Dammit,” Beidou gave a low chuckle, “You’re so perfect it ain’t fair. Standing beside you, I’m just…”
Ningguang’s hips never slowed, but her hand flew up to grab onto Beidou’s face, forcing the captain to look her in the eyes as she fixed her with a fierce glare.
“You…” Ningguang hissed, suppressing a gasp as she found the perfect angle for their clits to rub together, “...have nothing to be ashamed of. Don’t you dare start this.”
Beidou frowned, trying to piece together the Tianquan’s implicit intentions. All while that knot, that fire in her loins continued to churn and build.
“What do you… ow!”
The Tianquan’s gaze grew almost furious as she gripped Beidou’s jaw hard enough to hurt.
“Take a hint, you meatheaded brute. All these–mmmnn–years, have I ever chosen my retinue based on anything other than merit?!”
Why did she have to use big words while screwing her? Beidou was barely able to form thoughts of her own, let alone process anything longer than three syllables.
“But, uh…” Beidou kept her other hand on Ningguang’s waist, urging her to ride faster, harder. “Your re... rete... revenue doesn’t get to fuck you, so why…?”
Ningguang continued to glare, angry as she’d ever been, and Beidou felt compelled to at least try racking her brain for an answer. But with her fluids leaking into a slovenly, wet mess being mashed between their bodies, there wasn’t much she could think of. Except…
“Aw, shit,” Beidou blinked, furrowing her brow. “Don’t tell me you’re actually in lo–”
Ningguang’s swift judgement rained down upon her face in a hail of golden pebbles.
“Ow, ow, ow!” Beidou winced as the rocks bounced off her face, “What? You were asking me, so I answered–”
The Tianquan shut her up for good, by sealing her lips with her own. She dug her tongue into Beidou’s mouth, ravishing every inch of her there was to taste. It seemed like almost a full minute before burning lungs forced them apart, a thick string of spittle hanging between their flushed faces.
“...you infuriate me to no end,” Ningguang panted.
And she kissed her again.
The bedsprings protested as the Tianquan’s hips picked up speed. The cloying atmosphere overtook them soon enough, suppressing any and all rational thought in the heat of passion. The sweat and lurid warmth of their naked bodies grinding together, and the ever-burgeoning warmth of their loins. The throaty moans, slipping from Beidou, and Ningguang, who greedily drank in every noise of pleasure she made.
“Mmmm… MMMMMNGH–!”
The shudders returned with a vengeance, and Beidou found her legs once again twining around Ningguang’s body, this time locking her ankles behind the Tianquan’s knees. Forcing her down harder still, bucking her hips up against her lover. Until Ningguang was once again forced to break their kiss.
Since Ningguang had been so eager to use her Vision to shut her up, it was only fair that Beidou returned the favor with her own powers.
The next time their hips ground together, Ningguang’s eyes flew open as she was greeted by the zap of sparks between them, sending a wholly unknown pleasure searing through her body. She couldn’t have prepared herself in time. And even as she seized up, even as Beidou felt her perfect body trembling in her grip, she continued to hump against her lover. Trying to pry that crack open. Ningguang was helpless against her counterattack, and so the next time she opened her mouth, she did so with a scream of pleasure.
“B-Beidou, I– HYAAA–!”
The remainder of her wail she buried into Beidou’s cleavage, but Beidou could barely hear her over the sound of her own cries as they peaked together. Still grinding away, greedily rubbing their bodies together, twitching and spasming in each other’s embrace as their nectar gushed forth, splattering those once-pristine sheets. Beidou had already had the chance to cum once, but Ningguang had yet to experience that euphoria until now. And by the Archons, she was needy as all hell. Even after Beidou had recovered from her orgasm, Ningguang still writhed in her grip, hiccuping and moaning away as her lithe body continued to shudder in both felicity and contentment.
So she held onto her, hugging the Tianquan for as long as it took for her to regain her senses. As long as it took for her sex-drunk groans to whittle away into faint, wet gasps. She lay on Beidou still, drooling onto her chest, but Beidou didn’t mind.
She reached up at last–and Beidou instinctively tilted her head away when she saw her fingers primed to pinch–but Ningguang instead flicked away some pebbles that still remained, before resting her palm against the pirate’s cheek.
“Not. A. Soul.”
Beidou nodded in silent understanding.
Her face was still red with all the colors of fresh romance and embarrassment as she rolled off her lover.
“...I hope you’ll consider my offer from earlier.”
“Oh right. We talked about that.” Beidou sat up as well, adjusting her eyepatch with a sigh, “Well, if it means more of all this, I guess I don’t mind.”
A silken handkerchief was dabbed to her face, and she made a soft noise of surprise as Ningguang cleaned up all the wet and messy bits that had been left over from their lovemaking.
“Then… that concludes your sentencing. We’ll sort out your contract tomorrow.”
Sentencing? Beidou didn’t feel like she’d been punished at all. But then again, that was precisely the point, wasn’t it? Ningguang knew that the best way to reign in this salty sea dog was to throw her a bone.
Beidou was soon asked to get off the bed so Ningguang could change the sheets. An endeavour that she tried to help with, only for Ningguang to sternly direct her to the bathroom to clean up first.
Ningguang took her turn in the shower soon after–without waiting for Beidou to leave–but the awkward silence remained. The deafening whisper of what they wanted to say to each other, but lacked the courage to. It didn’t matter if it came out in a squeak or a whisper, that message was too loud at any volume for either of them to think about.
At least, until they had dried off, and found themselves nestled under a warm set of fresh sheets, staring up at the ceiling together.
Ningguang looked over at the table lined with their abandoned tidbits and looked as though she wanted to do something about it. But she eventually decided against the idea and instead plucked forth a wooden comb from her bedside dresser.
Beidou stared at the comb as Ningguang brought it to her ashen hair. Unlike the rest of the Tianquan’s treasures, the simple design and imperfect craftsmanship made it stand out from the rest of her collection.
Beidou finally decided to say her piece, and so, just like before, she broke the silence first.
“...one day, when I was young enough to still have depth perception, I was walking around Yaoguang Shoal. Looking for trouble.”
“When are you ever not?” Ningguang began sorting out her damp locks.
“Hey, I wasn’t that much of a scamp when I was little. But there wasn’t much to do at home besides cause mischief,” Beidou tousled Ningguang’s hair, much to her annoyance. “And wouldn’t you know, I found trouble pretty quick.”
“Did you now,” Ningguang arched a quizzical eyebrow.
“Yeah. Little girl, probably around my age, trying to sell handmade wooden combs to fishermen and passersby. But she stepped on a Geovishap Hatchling ‘cause she didn’t know what it was, and it damn nearly jumped on her, too.”
Ningguang remained oddly silent, her only response being to continue combing her hair.
“I wasn’t a smart kid, but I knew when folks needed saving. So I ran up to the monster, smashed a rock on its head, and sent it scampering off.”
“...so what did the girl say?”
“She said thanks–she was a real polite sort of girl. And I told her she was cute.”
“She didn’t appreciate that, I assume,” Ningguang wound her fingers into Beidou’s messy brunette mop, and began combing her hair instead.
“Nah, she told me to, uh, kiss her ass or something. She always had a sharp tongue… and an even sharper sense for money.”
“I see,” Ningguang’s tone was unreadable.
“So I vowed to look out for the cutie. Had my eyes on her until ‘eyes’ became singular, and until she became a real big shot in Liyue… and then it was really hard to actually keep meeting her.”
Beidou fell silent, letting the Tianquan’s tender hands continue undoing the knots and curls in her hair.
“Every bit of you is infuriating,” she murmured. “So that’s why you love to stir up trouble.”
“Some fines and an occasional ass-whooping from Yelan seem like a pretty good price to pay,” Beidou chuckled. “Especially since I get to check if the girl’s doing better these days.”
“I assure you that she is,” Ningguang set aside the comb, running her hands through her lover’s hair once more to check that there were no errant knots left. “But she would be a lot less stressed if you could stop doing stupid things all the time. Like being so needlessly roundabout.”
“What?” Beidou frowned at her, “You were the one being roundabout first, getting me ‘arrested’ so you could screw me. But hey, I love girls with character.”
Ningguang promptly slapped her, but Beidou only laughed her off.
“Don’t say such serious things with that joking tone of yours!” She snapped.
“Nothing wrong with saying I love you–” Beidou grabbed Ningguang’s wrist as she tried to smack her again. “-and hey, if the ‘Uncrowned Lord of the Ocean’ can say it, what’s stopping the Great Tianquan from–”
“It’s embarrassing,” Ningguang hissed, wriggling free of Beidou’s grip, and throwing herself under the covers before Beidou could further her advances.
“Aw, where’d all your confidence from before go?”
“We’re done for the night here,” she pulled the covers over her head. “Sleep now and don’t speak to me until tomorrow.”
“It’s only nine o’clock!” Beidou protested, moving to crawl past Ningguang and get out of bed. “And I promised my crew I’d go and party with them once my sentencing was…”
She was stopped by the Tianquan’s hand, shooting out from under the blanket and grabbing onto her arm.
Beidou thought to simply pull away until she saw the expression on Ningguang’s face.
The way her eyes pined for her, begging her to stay, even if she was too proud to say it. The slight pout on her lips as she was caught between her pride and her affections.
Beidou had seen that expression before, only, on a much younger face. It was the fear of having to walk all the way home by oneself after narrowly escaping a monster attack. The crease in her brow as she dreaded the prospect of being left alone. And, newly present, the latent jealousy at the notion that Beidou would dare to leave her side, and have fun with other people.
And her heart melted a little.
“...okay, fine.”
She crawled back under the sheets, and Ningguang clung onto her immediately. And despite her initial recoiling at their nakedness, she realized there wasn’t an inch of her that she hadn’t seen anyways. So Beidou wrapped her arms around her princess.
And they lay in each other’s arms, even as the tea and biscuits grew cold.
Beidou cooed little ‘goodnights’ into the shell of her ears, even as Yelan and Keqing gave up on standing vigil in front of those secure, soundproof doors and decided to go home.
Ningguang scolded her as usual, pinching her cheeks to shut her up, even as the moon rose high above Liyue.
And the moon painted upon the land of Teyvat a silver brushstroke of ocean that stretched from Liyue Harbor to the reaches of Yaoguang Shoal…
Illuminating the long-forgotten footsteps of a young merchant who once held hands with a nameless village girl, as they walked across the sand.