Lost Pirates 3 Ch 2

(Very much NOT edited)

While Temra went to get dressed, Frank made his way to the kitchen, where he found Esmerelda brewing a pot of coffee. She leaned against the counter in just her bra and panties, cleavage hanging with the edge of her areola barely visible. Damn, she was looking hot. 

“I’m glad to see this world didn’t abandon reason,” Frank said at the pot. 

She eyed it, then him, and chuckled. “It’s good to have you back.”

“Oh, I…” He had assumed it was his Esmerelda, practically spacing on the concept of them being two now. Of course, he hadn’t forgotten about that the night before. 

“You thought I was the other one?” She smiled. “Does she have this?” A finger at the side of her bra, she slid it down so that more areola was visible. Frank almost turned away, feeling uncomfortable. Except, then he saw the scar over it, running along the top and down to the side out of sight. He hadn’t noticed it the night before. 

“Almost killed me,” she said. “Our version of Keisha—tried to put a dagger in my heart. You believe that?”

“I can’t imagine it, no.”

She nodded. “Oh, here.” Taking a cup, she poured some of the coffee and handed it over. 

“Milk? Creamer?” 

“What, like…” She mimicked squeezing her breast into the coffee. “That turns you on?” 

He let out a nervous laugh, waving her off. “No, no… like cow’s milk. Don’t you… okay, clearly you don’t. But what do you drink your coffee with?”

“Coffee.”

“I mean, what do you mix it with?”

She stared, brow furrowing. “Water. Water, coffee beans, steam the water or however these percolators work. Then drink. Seriously, I thought your statement before implied you had coffee where you come from?”

Frank blinked, wondering how a world had survived without milk. Maybe there was a way to finally test his world’s articles that claimed cow’s milk was actually bad for humans to consume, as it seemed that wasn’t done in this world. 

When he sipped the coffee, he instantly found himself not giving a shit about milk or creamer. It was bold, smooth and smelling like cherry and oak. Milk would have ruined the natural flavor. A couple more sips, and then Temra emerged in her getup, complete with white, collared shirt held tight with a bodice-type vest thing. Metal gloves and all. 

“Ready.” She glanced over to Other Esmerelda, eyes moving to her nearly exposed ass, and let out a soft whistle. “Damn, trying to seduce him already?”

“As if I didn’t hear you two coming in just now,” Other Esmerelda countered. “The way he was grinning, he at least got a tug.” Her eyes met his, and she nodded as if she had won an argument. “No doubt about it. Maybe more, even…”

“Shut up. You have thirty seconds to get dressed if you’re coming with.” 

“Coming…?” Other Esmerelda eyed her suspiciously. 

“To grab some food for the house. I figure you and I need to patch things up a bit, and Frank here barely knows you—not this Frank, anyway. So…?”

Other Esmerelda eyed Frank, who nodded, and she said, “Give me ten seconds. I found the clothing stash and can throw on a dress.” 

She jogged out, her ass jiggling as she went and Frank unable to not notice. Temra eyed him and chuckled. “You really do enjoy this, don’t you?” She took his coffee. “Mind if I…?”

“Go ahead. And enjoy what?”

“One cock. So much pussy.”

His mouth dropped open, searching for the words. “Crass.”

“But you love it.”

“Why wouldn’t I?”

She shrugged, then took a sip of the coffee. “Damn, that’s good. Not saying you shouldn’t. When they were touching me last night, and then you… there’s power in numbers.”

Frank blushed, accepting his coffee back. 

“Of course I’m happy. This is… out of this world.” He sipped the coffee, eyeing her, noting her frown. “But it’s not just the sexy. It’s all the other stuff, too. The fun, the… affection.”

Saved by the bell, Other Esmerelda entered, wearing a brown, leather dress with cloth on the bottom that reminded Frank of lingerie. The top cut off right above the breasts, showing that Other Esmerelda had no problem continuing to show off that cleavage outside. 

“Where’re you thinking?” she asked. 

Temra nodded, clearly appreciating the dress, and motioned for them to follow as she led the way to the door. “Maybe some gordies?”

“Oooh.”

Following them out into the morning, the air warming as steam filled the air and was trapped in the clouds, he asked, “What’re gordies?”

“Oh you don’t have anything like it on your world,” Temra said. “They take dough and make it really thin, cook it up, then put meat and tomatoes and whatnot on there. Fold the dough, and voila.”

“So… a taco?”

Temra frowned, looked away, and mumbled, “What’s a taco?”

“What you just described.”

“No, I… No way. How is it possible I was in your world and your grandpa never showed me where to get a good taco?”

“You were in Seattle, for one. The really good tacos are down in California, all along the border states. Seattle has the best Korean food, oh and teriyaki joints.”

“Well, we’ll see.” 

Elena cast him a humored glance, then licked her lips before turning her attention to the hill they were descending. The three came to the water they had seen the evening before, crossed on a bridge of sheet metal hung together with rope and wire, coming to the other side to the other side as Frank recounted a bit of the adventure they had had, for the sake of Other Esmerelda.

“No shit?” She shook her head in disbelief. “And here I am thinking we have it bad. The Rising Storm will be glad to have you in our ranks.”

“The what?” 

“Rising Storm,” Temra explained. “Essentially the resistance, or freedom fighters. Whatever you want to call us—the group that fights against the evil emperor.”

“We’ve suffered bad, lately,” Other Esmerelda said. “But the thing is… they don’t have to know you’re a fake.”

“I’m not a fake,” Frank countered. 

“No, but… you know. Not their Frank. You can lead them, when the time comes.”

He nodded, but then stopped, turning to face them at a point where the roads led up to more hills, the scent of what smelled like tacos on the air. “Listen, I’m just a college kid. Until very recently, I was worried about trying to find a girlfriend, dealing with grief over losing my grandpa, and hoping to finish a report on transcendentalism for some bullshit class that ultimately wouldn’t matter in life. Now you’re talking about me leading some resistance group called the Rising Storm?”

Other Esmerelda blinked at him, taken aback. “You… have to.”

“How can I?”

“You know the answer to that,” Temra cut in. “You say all that stuff like it’s who you still are. But no—you’ve accomplished a hell of a lot since I met you, and your stories you just shared prove you’re a leader. A leader, and a great fighter.”

He frowned, considering his leveling up, the shield, awareness powers, and new branching path skills the compass gave him. Maybe it was that he was nothing without the compass, that gave him this feeling of unease and insecurity? He patted his jacket pocket to ensure it was still tucked away in there. A puffing sounded and then a burst of steam rose out of the street at the edges, causing him to startle. 

Other Esmerelda put a hand on his shoulder. “Couldn’t you just time travel and train yourself, spend years becoming the ultimate warrior, even getting tech from the future or whatever? I mean, that should work.”

“No, because every time I would do that, it would create an alternate dimension or world, and… I don’t want to think about the repercussions of that.”

He put his hands to his head, taking a deep breath. They were right, he probably needed to do exactly as they were suggesting, but didn’t have the slightest clue how or where to being. 

“Let’s just get the food,” he said, turning to see if he could spot the cart. Instead, he saw four of the ruffian-looking guys they’d passed the night before, walking their way from along the water.

“Forgot to pay the toll,” one of them called out. “We’re here to collect.”

“Fucking Little John over here,” Frank muttered, not in the mood for this. “

“What’d you call me?” the lead one asked, stepping forward with a long, metal stick that had blue sparks shooting out of the top. The man had a belly, mutton chops, and was a good foot taller than Frank, which was saying something. Thinking of the Little John scene from one of those old Robin Hood movies, Frank imagined going back to the bridge and challenging the guy, both going down in the water and then him eventually rising up, victorious. 

Not likely to happen though, because Frank was hungry and annoyed at having to deal with this guy while thinking about the Rising Storm bullshit. 

“Don’t rile ‘em up,” Temra said, starting to walk as if she was simply going to ignore the guy. 

“Oh, we’re already riled, Princess,” Little John said. 

“Princess?” she spun on him, took three bounds to cover the distance, and hit him with her metal glove right in the gut. As he doubled over, she snatched his sparking stick and swept his legs out with it, shouting, “Who’s a fucking princess?”

“Shit.” Other Esmerelda ran forward to join the fight. 

It took Frank a second to realize what was happening, but then we went in for it too, as the other three charged up to protect their buddy. Frank didn’t bother with branching paths or any of that here, though he let his upgraded strength, speed, and balance give him a little leg up in the situation. 

When the first one came at Temra, Frank threw himself at the man and sent him rolling back and into the water. Then Frank spun and caught another with a wild haymaker—not the most skilled punch, but then Frank’s memories of training with his grandpa in ninjitsu came to him and he went full martial-arts expert on the third, even before Other-Esmerelda could get a punch in. 

The one in the water was back up, charging into the fight and Temra gave him a whack that sent him stumbling over toward Frank, who caught him with a spinning back kick that sent him tumbling into the water again. His buddy followed, while the third followed. 

One lay on the ground unconscious, the other two in the water took off running, and the third hesitated before grabbing his unconscious friend and begging to be left alone as he dragged him away. 

Frank and the ladies weren’t jerks, so they let him go, staring menacingly as a warning. If they came back with reinforcements, Frank wasn’t going to hold back. 

“You were great.” Other Esmerelda jumped into Frank’s arms, kissing him. He held his hands up, not kissing back. As much as she seemed like Esmerelda, he knew this wasn’t exactly his Esmerelda, and wasn’t about to start cheating on the group, if that even made sense. 

“Esmerelda…” Temra said, eyeing the two. 

It was easy to forget that she’d had a thing with the other version of Frank, too, as evidenced by the kiss he had first received from her when arriving in this world. 

“Ah, right.” Other Esmerelda pulled back, gave him a bashful smile, a hint of sorrow playing through, and turned to walk ahead of them, leading the way. 

Temra eyed her, worry creasing her brow. Frank thought he had a good idea what was going on with her—she had only recently joined in the physical side of the relationship as well. To see your lover but not be able to touch them had to be damn tough. 

“The others… let me join,” Temra said, moving up next to Frank. “They’ll probably consider her, too.”

He scrunched his nose, considering how that would play out. “You don’t think that would be weird for Esmerelda?”

“Which one.” 

“Both. Either or. Part of me sees this one as no different from my Esmerelda, in looks and even personality. It’s crazy, so my heart aches seeing her anything other than completely happy. But I get how crazy the situation is.”

“What if there were two of you?” 

“Me?” He frowned, trying to imagine him but from another dimension, there in bed with him and his ladies. Kissing them, fucking them. “It’s too weird, I don’t know. On the one hand, that’s another guy—another cock, right there. It’s just weird. And on the other hand, it’s me. But not really… but really.”

She laughed. “I agree. Confusing.”

Other Esmerelda had come to a stop where the road bent, and there at the corner was a little taco stand. As far as Frank could tell, the only difference was the lack of cheese. Since this place didn’t consume milk, or at least other than breast milk when they were babies, he supposed this made sense. Still, he would’ve loved to have some cheese on those tacos. 

They ordered enough for the house, then waited for them to cook ‘em up. Frank took a seat with Temra and Other Esmerelda at a bench out front and slightly up the hill, so that they could look down at the water flowing slowly below. He leaned back, about to take Temra’s hand but then thinking better of it, as that might make Other Esmerelda sad or jealous. 

“How did it first happen with you?” Other Esmerelda asked. 

“How did what happen?”

“You know… a guy forms a romance with one woman, sure. But… all of them? You are with all of them, right?”

“Not the ninja and the other lady, Rose. But the rest, yeah. How…” He thought back on it, trying to remember. “There was a point when one of them seduced me near a waterfall, and I remember going on a treasure hunt, that being probably the first time it became more than just one on one. I was so nervous… I don’t know why.”

“I get it,” Temra said. 

“You?” Frank scoffed. “What could you be nervous about?”

“When it’s one on one, you know the other person is fully into you, enjoying, not judging. When there’s a handful, it’s like you don’t know if some are being spectators, more watching your tits or your ass, thinking about how they’re not big enough or too big or whatever.”

Frank considered this, but shook his head. “First of all, you’re stunning. Both of you are. Second… I think if anything that kind of thing turns me on.”

Other Esmerelda grinned, while Temra nodded. 

“We know that about you,” Temra said. 

“Oh.” He was relieved to see the man in the taco stand wave, two boxes of tacos ready. “There’s our cue. And by the way, if we get in a fight… I have to warn you that I’m putting the tacos above all else, even my own safety.”

“Completely understandable,” Other Esmerelda said, and helped him carry one of the boxes. On the way back home, he told them more of his stories, losing himself at times with the upgrades and trying to describe the sensation of being back in the pirate times in a tropical paradise. 

By the time they got back, he was so giddy, he barely noticed that he was talking loudly. Not until they saw the four men in uniforms trying to break open the door, and so ducked back around the corner, all three freaking out.