Chapter Text
"I'm concerned," Belmeria Winston said, "About the erogenous aspect."
Nika blinked. Blushed. Looked down at her arm. Its foggy, opaque silver was the same as ever, but the sudden emphasis on this rather embarrassing symptom of her condition made her feel like she ought to cover it up. Wear a glove, or something.
That, in turn, got her thinking about gloves. Those white gloves that Sabina used to wear, back at Grassley. The soft, silken feel of them contrasting deliciously against the firmness of Sabina's grip on Nika's inner thigh as she…
"Captain? Did you hear me?"
Nika straightened her posture, summoning a bit of the gravitas she'd been working to cultivate. It came so easily to Sabina, but for Nika it was always a conscious act to be "Captain Nanaura-Fardin". She always felt a little silly, like she was just wearing a costume, or playing pretend. But people seemed to respond to it, so it must be convincing at least.
"Yes, Doctor Winston," Nika said gravely. "Please, explain?"
Belmeria quirked an eyebrow, but gave no other indication that she was onto Nika (which she most certainly was), and said, "The way you described the tactile sensation of having your Permet outgrowths filed down."
Belmeria referred to the charts in her hand, "You describe the sensation as, 'Electric, Cool, Tingly, Soft' etc. And your description of the consequent restoration of mobility bears similarity to the release of tension and rush of endorphins brought about by orgasm."
Nika cleared her throat. "I see. And you're concerned about this?"
"We know very little about Spontaneous Permetic Growth as a condition… frankly yours is the only benign case I've ever seen. One would expect a loss of feeling to accompany the restriction of mobility. And yet your arm has almost a full range of sensation besides pain response. That's suggestive, to me, of simulated sensory experience; the brain somehow creating selective, realistic phantom stimulus. Some kind of parasympathetic response with the trace Permet in your neurotransmitters."
"P-permet in my what?" Nika sputtered, unable to hide her shock.
Belmeria waved that concern away. "We all have traces of Permet in our bodies. It's everywhere, and we're constantly breathing in particulates, especially in places like Quinharbor where there are numerous factories and construction facilities. It's perfectly harmless. Although my working hypothesis is that your condition was triggered by that trace Permet responding to the injuries to your arm, both prior to and during your escape in the Lfrith-Ur."
"So… what's the problem with the… erm… simulated pleasure response?"
Belmeria smirked slightly. A rare look at the real Doctor Winston; cocky and arrogant in her intelligence. "The arm is not ordinarily an erogenous zone, Captain. There's no neurological precedent for your mind to simulate that sensation. To me, that's suggestive of actual, novel feeling. There are no nerve endings in your Permet growths, and yet they trigger a pleasure response as they are filed down. One would expect pain, but no, it's almost as if your body is encouraging you to maintain a stable equilibrium through regular maintenance; rewarding you for being a good girl."
Nika rubbed her chin thoughtfully to hide the blush at the words 'good girl '. Surely Belmeria wasn't doing this intentionally.
"So… what should we do about it?" Nika asked.
"I'm going to give you some equipment; unintrusive, similar to the bioscan and life support functions in a normal suit. I'd like you to wear it next time you induce orgasm. That will allow me to establish a neurological baseline for comparison. Try to do so soon, while your arm has relatively full mobility."
"W-wait. You want me to… but… Sabina isn't here right now…"
Belmeria sighed. "Captain… I'm sure you can figure something out."
–
There was no reason to feel so self conscious. Nika often retired to the Morrigan's cockpit when she wanted to be alone. Hell, she and Sabina had basically lived in it for a few months, back when they were docked at the old Folkvangr station. They'd done all sorts of things in here, both together and by themselves. Sabina even joked that sex was better within Gundam Morrigan. That she - the Gundam - enjoyed it too.
A joke, but one Nika suspected that Sabina half believed. It had surprised her to learn that her wife - the very model of stoic rationality - was actually quite superstitious. Always tossing salt over her shoulder and knocking on wood and performing all manner of other silly little rituals - always with the same seriousness with which she did everything else (which Nika found unendurably cute).
And from the way Sabina often talked about Morrigan - anthropomorphizing her little mechanical quirks, jokingly (jokingly?) referring to her as their third, patting her affectionately after a successful mission and apologizing to her for little piloting errors - Nika suspected that she may actually believe, at least in part, the ghost stories surrounding Gundams.
Which, to be fair, Nika didn't fully disbelieve herself. But she chalked her own up to the usual engineer's superstitions. All machines had funny little quirks of their own, no two exactly alike, and Morrigan was the quirkiest Nika had ever worked with. It was only natural to develop a bond with one's favorite machinery, especially one you took into battle. Even Olcott, who didn't believe in anything had a lucky heat knife.
And it was true that sex was generally better in the Morrigan, but Nika chalked that up to the added privacy of a fully sealed and soundproof cockpit. She had a tendency to be… vocal, and holding herself back to not announce her pleasure to all of Basecamp Danu was distracting enough to dampen it a little. Within Gundam Morrigan, however, she was free to really express herself. That was the most logical explanation.
So why was she feeling self conscious now? Perhaps the medical nature of this? But it wasn't like Belmeria Winston would be seeing anything other than basic neurological data. And as loathsome a person as Nika found her (though, less so lately), Winston was an excellent doctor. Smart, professional, and with a surprisingly good bedside manner. Shame about all the human rights violations.
She was getting distracted. Self conscious or no, this was a potentially important test in understanding her condition, odd as it was, and it wasn't as though she wasn't already horny. Sabina had been gone for days now, accompanying Naji to a meeting of the various cells to discuss DoF's long term goals, operational best practices, and a whole bunch of other strategic and tactical arguments. Nika wouldn't have been out of her depth - she was actually quite adept at that sort of thing - but Sabina cut a more imposing figure, and knew the jargon better. So they'd agreed to send her as the representative for Basecamp Danu while Nika stayed behind to work on Morrigan's repairs and modifications, and keep an eye on things.
It made sense, and was the right course of action at every level. Except that Nika missed her wife. She missed talking to her and touching her hair and working together on the day to day tasks of running their happy little home base. She missed her scent. The way her eyes looked like distant bonfires in the dark. She missed pampering her; even the back and forth of convincing her to be pampered. She missed the intensity of her stare and how hungry and needful she was when they were alone together.
She missed her lips and her fingers and her tongue. The way she could be both tender and relentless at once, coaxing Nika to the brink slowly, patiently, holding her down with one hand while the other did its work. Meticulous. Thorough. Taking Nika apart like she was cleaning a gun. Staring into Nika's eyes the whole time; not allowing her to look away - the sheer pressure of her regard affixing her like a shackle. Feeling Nika's every undulation, using that like battle tactics to cruelly hold her just at the edge of release for what seemed like hours. Until Nika would have been begging, if she were coherent enough to form the words.
Nika gasped as she came, unaware that she'd even been touching herself. She shuddered in the seat, holding the cry in her throat out of habit.
"Dammit," she muttered.
She'd forgotten to put on the testing equipment - two small pads that adhered to the forehead. Quite unobtrusive, but not much good if not attached. But that wouldn't be a problem; she was hardly satisfied with just that. She knocked her silver hand against the side of the cockpit as she started up the main computer. She wasn't taking Morrigan out for a joyride or anything, but Sabina had left Nika a little something, in case she got lonely. The only rule was that she had to watch it in the cockpit, on all of Morrigan's monitors, so she needed a little power.
"Good morning," she said to the Gundam as its systems came online. A little ritual she'd picked up from Sabina. "I gotta do something a little lewd. For science. You okay with that?"
Nika jumped as a flicker of blue pulsed across the cockpit screens. Once for yes? No, no, no. That was silly. It was just going through its boot sequence. Still, it made her feel a little less self conscious. Maybe Morrigan was missing Sabina too.
Nika undressed, shivering a little. She was alone in here. It was the small hours of the morning, and nobody would be in the hangar for a while. And even if someone did show up, there was nothing to indicate that anybody was in Morrigan. So why did she feel like she was being watched? Leered at, even?
"Enjoying the show?" Nika asked Morrigan, canting her hips and undoing her braid, shaking her longish blue and black hair out and fluffing it up a bit.
No blue pulse this time. See? Superstition. Or maybe she just wanted more.
Nika took out the little care package that Sabina had left here for her. Inside, neatly arranged, were a data drive, a set of very precise instructions, and vacuum sealed and sanitized, one of Sabina's old white gloves from her Grassley days.
"Oh, Sabina, you are terrible," Nika purred.
She read through the dry, emotionless manual (which included detailed steps for both setup and cleanup after), took out the glove, and after a bit of testing to make sure her mobility was still good, slid it onto her silver hand. She made sure the testing equipment was also in place (wait'll you see this data, Dr. Winston). Then she slotted the data drive and told it to play.
The cockpit screens came to life as one. And there, sitting in the very same seat in which Nika sat now, each wall showing a different angle of her body, was Sabina. She was nude but for the glove's twin, which she waved at Nika with, wiggling the white-clad fingers playfully. Her face was as impassive as always, but her firelight eyes glittered with mischief.
Around Nika, Morrigan pulsed blue once, eagerly, but she didn't notice. She was too busy admiring her wife. Viewed from every angle at once, Nika could truly appreciate the taut musculature of her warrior's body. The way every part of her rippled with power. Even that coy little wave sent her forearms dancing, every tensile movement visible, like a perfectly tuned mechanism. Her hair was loose, falling across her shoulders in a lavender cascade. Her legs were spread, revealing that neatly groomed patch of hair, and other things besides. Sabina sat for a moment, as if luxuriating in Nika's attention, before finally speaking.
"Hello, Captain," she said, arching one eyebrow.
The lustful huskiness of her voice was subtle. Barely a difference in inflection, but Nika would have heard it from across a crowded room. Her own heart hammered in reply.
"What? No hello for me?" Sabina said, having anticipated her speechlessness. "That's fine. I didn't make this recording to talk."
As if to illustrate the point, Sabina ran her naked hand across her body, drawing Nika's eye along with it. She had a farmer's tan from long hours working in the sun; running drills, managing troops, overseeing supply lines. It cast her arms, shoulders, and face a luxurious golden hue, while her breasts, abs (six pack!) and legs were pale as moonlight.
"Oh my god," Nika groaned, almost annoyed, "she's so hot!"
"Now," Sabina went on, pinching one of her nipples and biting her lip, "Far be it from me to give you orders, Captain." She began to knead at her breast, indolently twisting at the pert, pink flesh with her thumb and index finger. "However, I think it will be in your best interests to be obedient. Watch me closely and do exactly as I do."
She hardly needed to be told. She was already matching Sabina's movements, just out of sympathetic habit. Whenever they were in Morrigan, they moved in effortless synchronicity together, but they were also, quite often, simply on the same wavelength. Nika pinched and worked at her own, much more modest breasts, switching from one to the next in time with Sabina. A soft whine escaped from low in her throat at the sharp, electric pleasure that jolted through her; the illusion that Sabina was doing this to her yielding an increased sensitivity she rarely felt when attending to herself.
Sabina was rarely vocal in bed. Not like Nika was, anyway, but that wasn't for lack of enjoyment. Like all things, her expressions were more subtle and quiet. More in the body than the voice. Nika could tell that Sabina was feeling the same sensitivity by the slight angling of her head, slowly, one way and then the next. The curling and uncurling of her toes. The way her eyelashes fluttered over her half-lidded eyes.
Nika stared. Enraptured. Mesmerized. How could a person be so beautiful? How could such a gorgeous, strong, passionate woman have chosen her? A skittish little runt from the back alleys of Quinharbor with a body like a flathead screwdriver?
As if in reply, Sabina, her gloved hand at last moving down to rub delicately at her clit, whispered, "I can almost feel you watching me, Nika. My perfect, clever little Bluebird. Keep watching me. Don't overthink. Just act."
"Yes," Nika whispered back, matching her, gasping at the silky touch of the gloves against her most sensitive places.
Unbeknownst to Nika, Morrigan pulsed blue around her once, echoing the agreement. Beneath the glove, also unnoticed, her hand began to shimmer with the faintest traces of Permet lines.
"Are you being good?" Sabina asks, rubbing in slow - agonizingly slow - circles around her outer folds. "Are you matching me exactly?"
"Yes," Nika whined.
"I know you are. My obedient Bluebird. So powerful now. So cunning. You who command an army, who answer to almost nobody, and yet, so good for me. I… ah! I quite like that contradiction."
She was teasing her. Drawing things out. Nika wanted so badly to escalate. To go faster. Harder. Chase her pleasure with reckless abandon. But of course she wouldn't. She would be good for Sabina, because Sabina always rewarded her so well for it.
Nika watched Sabina. Waiting for her reward. In the video, the lighting almost made it look like traces of Permet marks were glittering across Sabina's arms and hands, curling across her taut, flat belly and circling beneath her breasts. An optical illusion, surely, and one Nika was in no mind to pay much attention to.
Finally - finally! - Sabina slid a gloved finger inside of herself. Slowly, with all the care and precision of a bomb disarmament, she moved her finger. Turning it. Coiling it. In and out. Slowly. In and out. Steady. Metronomic. Fucking herself - fucking Nika - with her patient ruthlessness.
Nika moaned, allowing herself to be vocal. To be loud. It was only her in here. Her and Sabina and Morrigan, who continued to quietly pulse blue, dimly recognized by Nika, but quickly chalked up to the Gundam's usual eccentricities. She was too busy to think. The entire world ceasing to exist but for her and Sabina and her hand and Sabina's hand moving as one. Dragging her slowly, relentlessly, to the brink.
Sabina's back arched as she put another finger in. Nika cried out as she did the same. Through half lidded eyes saw that the illusory Permet lines on Sabina - were they clearer? - seemed to concentrate at the nape of her neck, as if Morrigan were gently nibbling there. And Sabina responded, tilting her head the opposite direction as if to allow better access.
What in the…?
Nika yelped as, suddenly, in the exact same spot as on Sabina's, she felt a delicious chilly, pinching sensation, as though she'd just been kissed by electrified ice. It was not unlike the feeling of Permet burn, except gentle. Very gentle. It wasn't pain so much as pressure, like when Sabina bit her in just the same sensitive spot.
Nika was almost startled out of the moment by this, but then Sabina moaned. "Nika… Nika, don't stop…"
Fuck it. Call it part of the experiment. No way she could disobey Sabina when she asked like that. If Morrigan wanted to join them, that was just fine. Nika knew - an absurd and irrational thought - that Morrigan would never hurt her.
"More," Nika answered to Sabina or Morrigan or both. "Please, more."
Sabina quickened the tempo as if in reply. Fucking herself harder. Still rhythmic. Still meticulous. But fiercer now. The webwork of Permet - the optical illusion? - moved down, gathering around her breasts, encircling the nipples and lazily turning around and around like a water wheel. Nika felt the same, and looking down she saw that very illusion tracing that same movement, shocking and pleasuring her with that coldly biting touch.
There was surely a logical explanation for this. Some parasympathetic response between the Permet and her brain's unconscious desires - move here, touch there, etc. - and Nika would think long and hard about it. Later. Right now she was too busy.
Sabina was being cruel, bringing her almost - almost - to her climax and then slowing to near stillness, giving a cocky smirk at Nika as if to say "nice try."
"Don't you dare rush ahead of me," Sabina breathed huskily, her chest rising and falling, slick with sweat.
Morrigan's invisible caress ran down her hips. Her thighs. Encircling her sex but not quite touching. Sabina seemed unperturbed - as if she'd been expecting it - writhing gently in the seat, letting Morrigan set the pace for a bit. Nika squirmed as she felt the same touch. Letting out gasps and moans and tittering little whines, undignified in her need.
"I won't," she answered. "I'm… I'm being good… so please…"
Sabina drew it out a moment more. And then another. And then, at last, she whispered, “Tell me what you want. Give me your order, Captain.”
“Fuck me!” Nika cried.
Sabina responded, thrusting hard into herself. And that chill, that pressure, that electricity thrust in too. Sabina fucking herself. Fucking Nika. Morrigan fucking Sabina and Nika both, separated by time and distance and yet, somehow, still in perfect harmony. Sabina tilted her head back. Bit her lip hard. Closed her eyes. The muscles of her neck worked in time with her thrusting, her whole body arching. Something raw and powerful building inside of her. Nika wasn’t so languid in her pleasure. She writhed and bucked, toes curling, calves gripping onto the seat for dear life. Coming undone beneath her lovers’ touch. Even Morrigan seemed to be responding. The video screens flickered. Lines of blue shuddering across the interior of the cockpit. Nika felt her orgasm coming. Felt Morrigan and Sabina pulling it up from the core of her with their clever and skilled touch.
“Nika,” Sabina cried, cresting, surging upwards into herself. Clenching her entire body around the orgasm that rocked through her. “N-now. Now!”
Nika obeyed, cumming with a scream of pure animal ecstacy. It was a total, annihilating sensation, the world contracting and graying out before erupting back into sharp and vivid color. Nika collapsed back into the seat, shuddering as little aftershocks shook her. She sat dazed and panting, staring dreamily at the screen, where Sabina sat in similar enervation. Her wife's eyes met hers through the artificial distance. She smiled in exhausted satisfaction.
"Well done," Sabina said, looking at Nika but also patting the side of Morrigan's cockpit fondly. "I hope that will tide you over somewhat until I return, Bluebird. I miss you."
"I miss you too," Nika said.
"I love you."
"I love you t-"
Nika jumped as her radio crackled to life, her dreamy afterglow interrupted by one of the last voices she wanted to hear.
"Captain? Are you there?" Olcott asked, tense and serious. "Respond."
Nika shrieked, a thousand worst case scenarios playing in her mind. She scrambled to stop the video and compose herself.
"Fuck! Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck," she finally got the radio in hand. Tried her best Captain Nanaura-Fardin voice. "I'm here, Olcott. What's the situation?"
Olcott hesitated. He spoke cautiously. "I was hoping you could tell me, Captain. Is… everything alright?"
Utter terror. Disastrous prognostications, each more absurd than the last, battered her mind. Somehow Morrigan had transmitted everything. Somehow everyone knew what she was doing. Her authority would be forever compromised, Sabina would leave her. They would come up with horrible nicknames for her and record them all in the history books.
"Yes. I'm fine. Everything is fine. How are you?" she stammered. Not the most convincing, but she was flustered.
"Just startled, Captain. Was there some sort of technical error, then?"
Confused, Nika flipped through Morrigan's diagnostics. Checked the external cameras. Burst into relieved and disbelieving laughter. The entire hangar was filled with white steam, and readouts showed that Morrigan had vented heat at around the time that Nika had hit her climax. The scream must have been comparatively quiet to Morrigan's usual, since there wasn't much heat to burn off, but it still must have scared the shit out of the sleeping residents of Basecamp Danu.
"Oh, that. Apologies, it seems to have been…" Nika rattled off a bunch of jargon terms, more to mystify Olcott than to explain anything. She didn't think there was a technical way to explain that your Gundam had just had a screaming orgasm.
Olcott, sounding no less baffled, but mollified, said, "Understood. Thank you, Captain. Sorry to waste your time."
"Not at all. Your diligence is always appreciated, Olcott. Captain Nanaura-Fardin, out."
–
Sabina laughed as Nika finished recounting the tale, pulling her closer. They sat in the Morrigan's cockpit, enjoying their first private moment together in over a week. It was a habit of theirs, carried over from their time on Folkvangr station, when the Gundam had served as their bedroom and sanctuary.
"What about the test?" Sabina asked. "Did Dr. Winston get her baseline?"
Nika pouted. "No. And she chewed me out for doing it inside of the Gundam. Too many excess variables. But then she took another look at it, got that funny look she gets, and said she'd need to review the 'interesting anomalies' more closely. Then she kicked me out. So I guess she got something useful out of the whole thing."
Sabina smirked, her eyes sparkling. She glanced down at Nika's hand. "And did she say anything about…"
She trailed off, but Nika didn't need her to say more. Her silver hand, which had been mobile at the start of her little session, was now locked into a rather… obvious position, with the middle two fingers proudly erect and the others slightly curled. She'd have to wear her brace until the next filing day to avoid any embarrassing questions.
"She probably knew better. I can have her shot at any time after all," Nika said archly.
"Not that you would."
"Not that I would. But it's good to keep a healthy respect for authority." Nika banged her silver hand irritably against the side of the Morrigan's cockpit. "Otherwise you get insubordination at every turn."
"You think she did that on purpose?" Sabina said, raising an eyebrow.
"I'm sure she did. I should have had mobility for another two days. Apparently our Gundam is both a pervert and a prankster."
"So… how serious are we about that?" Sabina asked. "Do we really think that she's…"
"Alive? You seemed to always think so. I was rewatching the video…"
"Oho?"
"...to confirm! And you seemed like you were expecting her to… um… contribute."
Sabina considered this, running an idle finger up and down Nika's silver arm. Caressing her and, Nika now realized, Morrigan too. The Gundam was asleep now, not responding in that overt but still deniable way she sometimes did, but it occurred to Nika that Sabina had always taken care to show physical affection to the Gundam in various little ways.
"Not expecting it. But it didn't surprise me. I think perhaps that was a part of what I was trying to accomplish with that video. In addition to the obvious."
"Why? What had you so convinced?"
"Not convinced. The most likely explanation is the one you proposed; Morrigan's Permet link to us creating a parasympathetic response during heightened physical or emotional states. But… during our escape… when I was on the brink of succumbing to the Data Storm… I think I saw something. Felt something."
Nika gave Sabina a comforting squeeze. She had difficulty remembering that day, due in no small part to being delirious from pain and blood loss, but she had a vague idea of what Sabina was talking about. An impression, fleeting as a dream. Of a silhouette surrounded by ravenous blue, protecting them. The shape of someone familiar and new at once; an overwhelming feeling of love.
"If she is… alive… I wonder why she doesn't just talk to us."
Sabina shrugged. "Maybe she can't. It feels like she's asleep right now. Most of the time, even. Maybe she's not even aware that she is aware."
"Or maybe she's playing coy."
"Or that. She does seem to have a mischievous streak."
"Mmm," Nika agreed, snuggling in close with Sabina, feeling sleepy herself. There was something to that. Something familiar and important; that reminded Nika of the past in a way that she couldn't quite articulate.
"We'll ask her," Sabina said, also sounding drowsy. Understandable. She'd had a busy week. "When she wakes up."
Nika tried to agree, but the warmth of the embrace was too seductive, and before she knew it, she was asleep. Resting safely in her lovers' arms.