An Inky Interlude (Completed)

This was a collaboration with CrypticCollaborator and his Elder Goddess OC, Inky!

The Elder Goddess Inky woke up with a drowsy yawn.

“Connor! Did you sleep well?” The goopy horror asked, turning her white face to view a smaller, vacant bed nearby.

“Aww. Looks like he’s already left for work. Oh well, I’ll be sure to surprise him with the cleanest darn house he’s ever seen!”

Inky walked through the “home” that she and Connor resided in. From the outside, it would have looked like a small studio apartment, typical of downtown San Diego. However, the apartment’s closet door opened up to a sprawling series of rooms about the size of a city block. This was Inky’s side of the house, and it, like most things in Inky’s life, was composed almost entirely of herself. In her side of the house, every wall, furnishing and floor tile was a separate yet assimilated entity that the energetic goo girl could control at will.

Her artifact room, simply titled “things room” was one of the few locations in her house that housed things actually different from her. Inky loved to hang on to little keepsakes from her previous endeavors, displayed on cute little pillars that she had engraved her face on.

There was a big sphere of gently glowing plutonium she kept to chew on occasionally, a fleshy book containing the secrets of necromancy, even a bus-sized tentacle from an Eldritch Horror that had been left behind after she and it had shared an ill-advised midnight tryst.

Her favorite piece was a huggable plushie of the blue ghost from Pac-Man that Connor had won for her at a local arcade. Unfortunately, she didn’t know its name.

This disorganized mess was the closest thing Inky had to keepsakes from her past. Almost everything else in her house had been converted, accidentally or otherwise, into the goopy hive-mind that was the Elder Goddess. Everything outside of Connor, of course. Even though he was also composed of Inky-matter now, she had made sure that he kept his free will. For now, he was willingly choosing to stay as her boyfriend. Oh, what a sweetheart… Inky thought to herself, blushing at the thought.

As such, Connor’s side of the house was not composed of Inky. But Inky desperately wanted it to be! Even though Connor had been hesitant to let her assimilate all his things, she had been not-so-secretly swapping out his appliances with versions made of herself. Connor pretended like he didn’t notice, mostly because he knew Inky had his best interests in mind and he really didn’t want to make his girlfriend upset, with her being an Elder Goddess and all.

The truth was, he had already long accepted every change to his life that came with dating Inky. He was simply afraid things were moving too fast and wanted to take it as slow as possible. Inky was fine with his indecisiveness. After all, she was a being who had lived for 60 eons. A couple months was nothing to Inky.

She also wasn’t exactly sure what Connor did when he was out of the house. It was something having to do with numbers, she remembered. Either way, it didn’t matter to her. Any excuse to clean his side of the house in her favorite cute maid outfit!

Black fabric with grey frills sprouted from her gooey waist, extending outwards to form both a wavy miniskirt and a corset top which exposed a generous amount of cleavage on her part. Cute, puffed sleeves, a waist apron and a comically large bow to tie it completed the contrasting aesthetics of the set. Her French Maid outfit would have been perfect had it not been for her tentacles, which were so black that they hid the “garter belts” she had manifested upon them.

With a flick of both of her wrists, a washcloth and feather duster were spawned from her left and right hands respectively. These would be her primary tools for commencing with the clean.

Truth be told, his side of the house wasn’t messy at all. She had cleaned it last week, after all. She would have cleaned it yesterday, too, if Connor hadn’t insisted that she only clean the house when it was dirty.

A couple small tentacles grew from the walls and knocked over several things sitting on the counter. “Oh goodness! Just look at this mess!” Inky said. “Someone needs to clean it up, and that someone is me!”

Inky leapt into action. With her tentacles, she quickly grabbed all the plates that had ‘fallen’ off the counter. As her tendrils wrapped around the white plates, where they touched the white porcelain began to convert to shiny black Inky-matter. In mere seconds, Inky was holding a stack of new Inky-matter plates, which she carefully put into the dishwasher. As the plates touched the white dishwasher rack, the tines of the rack began to lengthen and sharpen, until they resembled fangs more than plastic sticks. The bland white inside of the dishwasher began to darken, growing black and shiny. She closed the dishwasher with satisfaction.

She washed her hands and tentacles with water from the new black shiny sink in his kitchen. Right before she finished, however, the water stopped running.

“Uh oh! Looks like it’s time for Inky the plumber! Maybe the municipal water supply needs some cleaning!” She shouted with glee, wiping her hands on the inky towel on the rack.

Opening the cupboard, a leaky pipe was not what she saw. Instead, a strange shimmer within reality itself caught her attention. Before she could wonder about it any further, it swallowed her whole. Well, swallowed as much of Inky as it could.

~

The airship R.L.S Hyperborean flew through the air, its colossal balloons buffeted by the dark rain of the storm. Bolts of yellow lightning split the air, but the ship was holding for now.

“We’re approaching the monolith, commander Krysta,” said a techy woman’s voice. “What are your orders?”

The team of eight heroes checked their equipment for the last time before the final assault. Their team was well-rounded, composed of two long-ranged fighters, Ricard and Wilson; two short-ranged, Huell and Conad; the Medic, Grimm; The Cryomancer, Tinala; The technician, Insti; The Pyromancer, Mancer (who frequently assured he hadn’t been pigeonholed into his profession); And the leader, Krysta.

Commander Krysta gazed intensely at the valley below them.

“Land. But keep our distance,” her far more confident voice spoke. “These cultists may either surrender or retaliate and we need to be prepared for both.”

Mancer adjusted his robes, which burst into flames the moment they touched his skin. Thankfully, his control over the flames made sure they didn’t spread. He commented, “I think we should just run them over. These cultists are a danger to the very universe, and I mean that un-ironically for the first time!”

Tinala sighed frostily and said, “It serves us right. While we were slaying dragons to make better equipment, the Cult of the Inky One was advancing their plans in the shadow. We should have known better.”

Krysta shook her head. “The past is in the past. All that we can do now is disrupt the ritual.”

“We’re landing, commander.”

“You know you don’t have to call me that, Insti.”

The specialist team of eight exited the spacecraft, their armored boots touching down upon the serene grass of a peaceful cliff side which oversaw a vast ocean. This was the eye of the storm, and for now, it was peaceful. At the tip of this cliff side stood three hooded figures chanting around a deep stone pit. Krysta didn’t bother to even take off her parachuting gear as she dashed up the hill to stop the ritual.

“In the name of the King and the Goddesses of the Universe, I command you to surrender at once!”

One of the hooded figures turned to face Krysta, glistening pupils peering from within their face covering.

“It is too late to cease. The ritual has already been completed. She Who Engulfs the Stars is here. The salvation of your world is nigh.”

“I’m not impressed. We’ve slayed plenty of demons before, and we’ll slay plenty more afterwards.”

Above them, peals of thunder echoed through the valley. A shimmering portal opened above them, and a small figure fell from it, directly into the pit. As the figure hit the ground, it splattered into hundreds of tiny pieces of black goo, which quickly formed a large pool at the bottom of the pit.

“That was short,” Tinala commented, leaning in closer to see what was in the pit.

A bubbly yawn escaped the large, pitch-black pool of goo. Large, drippy hands formed from the muck, extending upwards until they reached their natural conclusion at the shoulder. The fingers flailed about, as one would do to allow feeling to return to one’s arms after a refreshing night’s sleep.

These goopy tendrils lazily grasped about until they had a decent hold on the terrain around the pit. Obtaining a decent footing, they put an absurd amount of pressure onto the rock, cracking it in all directions like a thin sheet of glass. Whatever this horror was, it was very, very strong.

The center of the oppressive blackness ruptured with the help of the established arms, erecting a plaque-white formation from the dark. This appendage began to form precise details onto itself, such as two closed eyes which sported thick, black eyelashes alongside a petite nose and mouth.

A neck followed this head, which swung side-to-side, ironing out a few kinks from its great slumber. Shoulders followed, visually connecting the massive arms to the rest of the formation. A torso was added, with perky breasts borrowing a good amount of the mass to help form an hourglass figure below.

The rest of the pooled blackness was dedicated to her shapely fused legs and generous hips, the latter of which caused a large tidal wave of darkness in all directions as it exited into view. She shook these hips side to side, softly grunting in pleasure as her spine de-stiffened itself.

“<<Aww, why did you have to summon me right then? I was about to explore the city water supply!>>” the Elder Goddess complained in English, a language completely incomprehensible to everyone listening.

The cult sprang into action, walking in a circle around the pit and chanting phrases towards the Elder Goddess. Little did the heroes know, when these ancient chants translated to their language, the chants meant “Devour our planet, adorable one!” Not even the cultists knew what they spoke, as the phrases were from a long, dead language and they had only learned such blasphemy from books of old.

“<<Aww, stop it!>>” The horror responded in the old tongue, its voice oddly playful and friendly. “<<You guys are making me blush! I’m not supposed to be eating planets anymore, but if you insist...>>”

Indeed, her cheeks were glowing a faint yellow, just like the color of her baleful yellow eyes. With a rumble, she began to grow in size. With that, everyone had eyes on the inky blight.

“Commander, what do we do?” Wilson spoke in a panic “Their demonic chants are making it stronger!”

Krysta drew her sword and replied, “We kill them before they make it any worse.”

But they were too late. Thick, black tentacles erected from the creature, striking the cultists and rooting into their chests like tree trunks as its mass continued to expand.

Despite this, all the heroes could do was watch in anxious anticipation as the threat before them grew larger and larger, ascending into the sky and descending into the ocean below. The creature then blushed, cupping its hands to its face in satisfaction as it felt the brisk air of a new planet.

The Elder Goddess then shouted, “Hello, new world! Thanks for inviting me here!” However, at her colossal size the volume of her voice nearly ruptured the eardrums of everyone in the party, so much so that none of them actually caught what she was saying.

A tidal wave of liquid darkness rose up over the hills, its mass the size of a skyscraper to the party of eight.

“Run for it!” Mancer shouted.

As the wave crashed down onto the cliffside, the heroes scattered, unsure of the fate of each other, much less themselves.

Krysta was the first to recover, spotting Wilson nearby. Unfortunately, his leg had been caught by a disembodied tentacle and the inky substance was quickly spreading up the rest of his body.

“Steady, Wilson.” Krysta said, trying her best to remain strong.

“Wilson? Who’s Wilson?” The person who was no longer Wilson responded in a voice that was becoming more and more cutesy and feminine. His eyes were already glowing a baleful yellow and black tendrils were sprouting from his back. “I’m Inky! Nice to meet you!”

Krysta’s breathing quickened as her comrade of twelve years became unrecognizable to her. His body spasming as ink tentacles began to pour from his orifices like dark chocolate rivers. It wasn’t long before he—no, she—had become identical to the massive adversary in the sky.

“Grimm! C’mon man, get up!” Krysta suddenly heard Mancer’s voice from somewhere along the cliffs. “Whoa! What the shit!?”

Krysta could only assume the same fate had befallen Grimm as well. But this was no time to dwell on potentials as she narrowly dodged an interaction with the creature that was formerly Wilson. She regrouped with Mancer, filling him in on the fact that Grimm was basically a goner at this point. She saw Conad fending off three other half-formed Inkys who she recognized as Ricard, Huell and Tinala. Then she spotted Insti, who looked happily dazed as her technology was recalibrating from something.

“Insti! W-what’s the status on-”

“Close, but no cigar!” She interrupted cheerfully, her eyes suddenly turning black with yellow pupils as tentacles of black goo wrapped around her from a source on her back. “Just more Inky!”

The situation was falling out of Krysta’s favor fast. Only Mancer, Conad and herself remained. But now was not the time to give up. So what, this eldritch being had a few tricks up its sleeves? So did she! Besides, with Insti compromised, they weren’t leaving on her ship anytime soon. Returning to the high ground at the top of the cliff’s edge, the three remaining party members hatched a plan.

“Conad! You continue to keep the tentacles rising from the sea at bay with your ranged sword! Mancer! Try the most out-of-the-box spell you can think of! I need some time to observe!”

“Observe what?”

“To see if this is a situation that calls for Soul’s Light.”

The two pairs of eyes before her widened.

“I sure hope it doesn’t have to come to that.”

“Let’s hope it doesn’t.”

The three warriors took their positions. Mancer began shifting his hands in specific positions, with sparks of flames igniting the very air in front of him into a roaring fire. He then used this flame as a source, bending it to his will as he prepared other magical spells.

Meanwhile, Conad made the rounds, using his enchanted blade to slice at any tendrils within a certain range. He appeared successful at first, his strikes effortlessly slicing through the soft bodies of the eldritch horror. However, each time one of the tentacled girls was cut apart, she’d near-instantly regenerate back to whole. Tiny tendrils of black goo would sprout from each tiny piece of the monster, and pull each piece back together none the worse for the wear. Thankfully, the ink seemed to stall itself as it regenerated. All Conad could do was hope that he could hold it off long enough while Mancer completed his fire spell.

Eyeballing his target as the inky mass in the sky, he cast the biggest fireball he knew how. A large sphere of cascading flames erected from the tiny fire, expanding ferociously until it connected with the pale face of the creature.

A direct hit! That didn’t happen too often on Mancer’s part!

Too bad the fire merely dissipated on contact. In fact, it seemed to only have a positive effect on the creature! The massive face in the sky almost appeared to smile and blush as the warmth spread across its cheeks. A large smile accompanied fluttering eyelashes afterwards. Did his warmth make the creature… horny?

Thankfully for the three remaining party members, Mancer’s spell did manage to halt the encroaching blackness. The elder god took its time basking in the pleasure of the dissipated flame.

And then the creature grew larger.

“Ack! W-what the fuck!?

“Mancer, I don’t think fire’s the solution to this problem! It only seemed to make our problem worse!” Conad shouted as he struggled to fend off the tendrils, which were now encroaching on them at an even faster rate.

“D-don’t worry! I’ve got something even better than just a big ol’ fireball! We’ll see if this creature can take the heat when it gets hit with the very concept of fire itself!”

Mancer took a deep breath, calming himself. Such a risky move would require his full concentration, something that he was finding harder and harder to achieve. Then, he grabbed the summoning flame itself and tore it from the ground like he was pulling a turnip.

He spent a moment to gently cradle it in his hands like an egg, the flames of it spreading passively on his robes. This was no ordinary fire. It was fire that called upon the very building blocks of the universe’s fire itself! He had been using it since he was a child and it had never let him down, providing an endless flame to draw from.

“Take this!”

With a perfect toss directly into the center mass of the elder creature, Mancer watched the flame intently. Sure, a little fire may have felt pleasurable, but an endless gauntlet of flames? The very concept of fire itself? Surely, this would be the victorious strike that won the day for Krysta’s team. The flames instantly engulfed the entire Elder Goddess, setting everything from the gooey puddle she rose from to her black hair ablaze with white-hot fire. It was as if he had just tossed a match into black oil.

But then, something unexpected happened: The flame began to turn black, then it died out completely. Mancer felt an overwhelming sense of dread wash over him as he began to ponder what this could mean. Did this creature just extinguish the very idea of fire from the universe?

Mancer’s assertion was wrong, however. What had happened was even worse for them.

Despite being the middle of the day, the sky began to get very dark. The three remaining heroes watched in horror as one of the twin suns above them began to morph into the massive light-grey face of their adversary, displaying a light level similar to the moon as it blushed in its own heat. The ink creature hadn’t just absorbed the very concept of fire, it had altered it into more of itself, seemingly without even realizing it.

This would prove to seal Mancer’s fate as the fire that passively burned on his robe morphed into corrupting, wiggling tentacles before his very eyes. They slinked up his body and squeezed him tight.

“You know, this isn’t half bad!” Mancer said in a cutesy voice, his body already reshaping itself to match the rest of his assimilated companions.

On the other side of the field, Conad was having trouble keeping the ever-expanding inky mass at bay.

“Calidon, how are you holding up?” He said to the spirit of his magical sword.

“Well... Maybe we should stop resisting her. Being part of her isn’t so bad!” the voice of his magical sword replied.

Conad gasped as his sword began to sprout black tentacles, the magical white gem in its hilt turning into a yellow eye that looked up at him. In a panic, he dropped the sword. Now there was nothing keeping the intruding ink at bay.

“Fine.” Krysta finally spoke. “It’s time I call upon the power of the goddess.”

Once again, Conad was hesitant.

“No, Krysta! Remember what happened the last time you did that! Her light nearly burned your soul away!”

“I don’t care. Everything else has just made this monster scarier and more dangerous! We’ve seen what it does! Would you rather I become soulless or the entire universe as we know it?”

Conad couldn’t argue back. All he could do was respect his leader’s decision. A sacrifice for the ages. One that would guarantee the future of humanity would be one of free will.

Krysta took a deep breath as a white aura surrounded her body. Her soul called upon a long, dead goddess. One whose power still flowed somewhat within her bloodline. The fearless leader found her body becoming quite cold as all of the warmth within transferred to her hands, which became a blinding white, almost appearing featureless.

She then thrust her hands forward, which launched her body into the sky towards the encroaching inky mass that was blackening the heavens. Her trajectory placed her right at the face of the Inky beast. Krysta worried for a moment that the creature was going to strike her out of the sky, but to her surprise the gooey colossus smiled.

“I love your light powers! They’re so beautiful. Would you like to hold hands?” The Elder Goddess asked.

One million questions fired off in Krysta’s mind. It wanted to participate in hand-holding?

Krysta grabbed her necklace, a golden statuette of the goddess, and held it in front of the eldritch horror. The statue began to glow with white light. She shouted, “BY LIGNENTA, GODDESS OF PURITY, I VANQUISH THEE IN ENTIRETY!”

Her necklace glowed, sending pulses of blinding white up the pale arms of the elder deity. Then, she froze in place, alongside all of her extensions, as they all began to phase out of reality through the last remnants of Lignenta’s unbreakable will.

“Oh, well, goodbye then.” The monster said, pouting.

And then, all aspects of the ink faded away, consumed by the light. Krysta, who was floating several hundred meters above the sea, found consciousness fade from her as she began to plummet from the sky at rapid speeds.

Her life began to flash before her eyes, but not before looking over at the cliffside, only to see all of her comrades safe and unharmed from the goo now that the light had returned from the nearby sun. She had done it. She had ensured a future of freedom for those she loved.

Finding the last of her strength, Krysta remembered that she had never unequipped her parachute gear from when the ship was landing. Pulling the cord, she was hoisted into a stalled descent, allowing her to drift safely back to the cliffside where she promptly collapsed into the dirt. 

Her cohorts helped free her from the chute, which had collapsed atop her, before easing her semi-conscious body onto a rock in a sitting position.

Her entire group came to sit beside her. They seemed exhausted, but also equally exhilarated! Now freed from the influence of the Elder Goddess, everyone seemed to be back to their normal selves.

“Phew! That was a close one, Krysta! Thank goodness you had that one last trick up your sleeve! If you had gotten corrupted earlier, I don’t think we woulda been able to banish that horror back to whence it came!”

Krysta smiled weakly. “I did my duty. That’s all.”

“I can confirm now with 100% accuracy that such a creature could only be stopped by the equal will of a goddess. Our world would have been consumed had Krysta not had the courage to risk her soul.” Insti added clinically, adjusting her glasses. “You must have refined your technique. This time, you are still conscious after calling upon her power.”

Conad muttered, “Uh, has anyone seen my sword anywhere? I dropped it back in the battle and it got lost in the pool of goo. You don’t think that it’s gone, do you?”

“Enough about your sword. I say three cheers for Krysta!” Huell shouted heartily.

“J-just give me a moment… please…” Krysta finally spoke, waving her hand weakly. Her party nodded their heads without objection.

It’s strange. The last time I did this, her power burned like ice and fire at the same time. It pierced my armor and burned away so much of me. This time, it didn’t.

It’s… strange. When I close my eyes and look for the presence of my goddess, she feels… different. Her cold distant light seems… warmer, somehow.”

Conad turned to Tinala and asked, “You were the first to get eaten, right? What was it like?”

Tinala’s normally chilly demeanor softened a bit. “It was difficult to describe. I’m not sure I’d call it getting ‘eaten,’ or even being ‘assimilated.’ I wasn’t getting erased and replaced by something else. It was sort of like getting filled with new thoughts and memories. She is vast. So vast. And we are so tiny.”

Huell nodded. “Yeah, that’s what it felt like for me, too. It’s weird, right? I could still remember being Huell, but I also remembered being an Elder Goddess, and I’d been an Elder Goddess for a lot longer than I was Huell.” Huell’s companions stared at him blankly. He sighed, “Well, that’s the best I can explain it.”

Krysta clutched her necklace, a tiny statue of the goddess. As she clasped it in her hands, she didn’t notice a tiny speck of blackness had appeared, and was growing upon it.

She thought, That creature was ultimately kind of friendly for a supposed eldritch horror. Maybe we could have negotiated with her? Maybe she just wanted to be friends with us.

Grimm raised an eyebrow. “So, what do you two still remember from the creature’s memories, then?”

Tinala shook her head. “Not much. When Krysta banished the creature, most of the creature’s memories went with it. I only remember faint glimpses. I don’t even remember what the creature called herself. I do remember one thing, though…”

“Oh?” Insti said.

“Yeah, the Elder Goddess wasn’t trying to hurt us at all. I’m not sure what exactly she wanted, but it wasn’t to destroy us.”

That got Krysta’s mind thinking again. They were right about that. As part of Inky, they would have been immortal, free from pain, and forever cuddled by her. I wish I hadn’t banished her. The people here would have been scared, but after her embrace they would have been happy.

I feel hungry. I should find something to eat. Chocolate, perhaps? I could go for some blue raspberries, if they exist in this world. Yes.

 My tenta- no… my limbs feel cold, yes. Perhaps I should find someone to hug. Yes. I should definitely find some cute mortals to hug.

“You feeling better now?” Mancer spoke, patting Krysta on the back. He had just informed the king of the good news via seeing stone.

“You bet!” Her voice was unusually cheery. She put her necklace back under her shirt. It had changed from a gold figurine of an imposing robed woman, to a shiny black figure wearing a frilly dress. “Let’s go back to the city and have a celebration!”

~

“

Hoooooneeey! I’m hooooome!” Came a voice from the front door, followed by the all-to-familiar ambience of a door shutting.

“Connor! Welcome home, my darling!” Came Inky’s voice, although it appeared to come from somewhere below the floorboards of all places.

“Inky? Are you in the basement? Also, since when did we have a basement?”

“I needed some space to wind down. Now get over here, Connor! I want to hear all about your exciting day!”

As Connor descended the newly-modeled stairs, he was surprised by just how many steps there were. Just how deep did this basement go?

Eventually, the steps ended, yet the ending just seemed to lead nowhere. It wasn’t until Inky’s massive head came into view that he began to piece everything together.

Maybe “massive” was selling her form a bit short. She had been large before, mountainous even, but her entire body was borderline intergalactic at this point. Her average “large” size was slightly smaller than the height of her pupil now.

“Goodness, Inky! H-how did you get that large!?”

“I went to a new place and met some new friends! They were really fun to play with. I even met a goddess!”

“That’s great! Did they have a fun time too?”

“They sure did! Every single one. Even the goddess!”

A brief moment of silence passed, then Inky remembered something else on her mind.

“Oh, darling! What did you think of my thorough cleaning of the house? Do you like all my additions?”

Admittedly, Connor hadn’t spent much time observing every detail of the house. After all, the first 15 minutes after getting home were spent walking down a skyscraper’s worth of recently-crafted steps.

“U-uh, yeah! Totally! But, uh, why don’t you give me a rundown in case I missed anything?”

Inky smiled wide as Connor was suddenly thrust up the hundreds of stairs he had just descended. A smaller, yet identical Inky greeted him once he exited the basement door.

“Hi there, honey!”

The first thing that immediately stood out to Connor were the dishes in the drying rack. They had all been replaced with shiny black ones, the same inky color as, well… you know.

The smaller Inky seemed to know exactly what he was looking at. “You like the new dishes? They don't get dirty so quickly! They’re also much less destructible. Observe!"

Inky dropped the black plates from above her head, and they hit the ground and shattered. In seconds, however, the cracked edges of the plates grew tiny tendrils which shot out and reconnected with the other shards of ‘ceramic.’ The tendrils pulled the pieces together, and soon there was just a neat stack of plates sitting on the floor where once there had been shards.

“That’s a neat trick, Inky. I don’t think it was necessary, I haven’t dropped a plate in years.”

Looking around the kitchen, he noticed that all the appliances were now a similar shiny black. Faint organic noises gurgled from within.

“Sooo, what’s, uh… with that noise?”

"That’s the sound of efficiency! The dishwasher no longer uses water, nor does the washing machine! And with the new stove, you won’t have to worry about fires anymore!”

“Do I even wanna know what’s in the fridge?”

“Food, silly!”

“Right.”

Connor then looked over to see his bed still next to hers, however, all the bedsheets were carefully replaced and tidied with shiny black ones.

He walked into the bedroom and ran his hand along the additions to his bed, thoroughly surprised by their warmth.

“And what exactly is the advantage to these?”

Inky blushed, "J-just use them, Connor! Don’t worry about it! You’ve had a long day, after all!”

Connor wrapped his arms gently around Inky’s waist.

“Inky, if you wanted to hug me, you could just ask.”

Inky nearly melted with joy as she wrapped herself around Connor. For Connor’s part, embracing her warm boneless body was like hugging a body pillow. She was soft. So soft. Connor closed his eyes and let his girlfriend wash over him.

Before he knew what he was doing, his hands were all over her. Connor has learned a couple weeks ago that Inky’s most sensitive parts were actually the base of her tentacles. His hands inched closer and closer up her tentacles, until he hit a sensitive spot and Inky squirmed about with pleasure. She leaned in closer and gave him an impossibly soft kiss, her tongue going deep into Connor’s mouth. She tasted sweet, like candy. She did have a tendency to go a bit too deep, but Connor was used to it. He squeezed her tendril-like tongue with his teeth, appreciating the affection that was plain from her black eyes.

“I luth yu,” Connor said, his voice muffled by Inky’s tongue in his mouth.

“I love you too, Connor…” She said, her voice somehow clear as a bell despite being throat-deep in her boyfriend.

Connor gave her one last squeeze, then he let go. Inky politely let him go, though he could tell she wanted nothing more than to hug him for all eternity. There would be plenty of time for that when they were married, he thought.

“I should get to bed… I have work tomorrow, after all,” Connor said, slumping on the couch.

Inky pouted and crossed her arms. “Why do you even go to ‘work,’ sweetheart? Could I not simply provide all your needs? Yes! You have already let me replace your flesh with my substance. Just say the word, and I shall make it so that you will never need to eat or drink or breathe again!”

Connor shook her head. “I know you mean the best, Inky, but… I want to stay human for now. As human as I can be anymore, I guess. I’m sure I’ll accept your offer some day, but for right now, I’ve grown attached to the routine of life, and the people around me.”

Inky furrowed her brow in confusion. “Now that you are made of my substance, you are immortal and eternally youthful and immune to all pain. Does that not separate you already from humanity?”

“It does, but I still need some time to process it all.”

Inky sat beside him, and massaged his shoulders with two of her tentacles. Despite having no fingers on her tentacles, she was surprisingly dextrous.

“I do not understand, but I can wait for you as long as you need, darling.” Inky cooed.

Connor smiled. It was her sweet nature that he fell in love with, more than her endless array of powers.

After getting ready, Connor crawled into bed. He couldn’t deny that his new arrangement was definitely more comfortable than before. However, as he squirmed a bit to settle to sleep, he heard Inky giggle both beside him and underneath him. He had a strong hunch as to why. His hunch was all but confirmed when the blankets themselves began to gently wrap themselves around him without his input.

Even though Connor wanted a separate bed from Inky, that wouldn’t stop her from finding any opportunity to hug him to sleep. It was comforting in its own way. He drifted from consciousness with a smile on his face.