Chapter 257: Board Games for Bored People

Alliances are a tricky and often fragile thing. One minute you're allied with one another via an unbreakable bond, swarming Blo Blo's body like locusts in a horror movie, and the next you've betrayed the comrade which you've gone through thick and thin with. Point in case, Ares had worked together with Enyo for a short while. He played nice and was side by side with her as they chased Bellona up to the headrest before exploring her body with great enthusiasm. Enyo kissed up and down Bellona's legs while Ares was doing similar acts of intimacy with her neck before moving to her mouth. It was pretty one sided but, what Enyo didn't know, was that Ares had been whispering to Bellona on the sly and that would prove to be Enyo's downfall. For now though, Ares kept running his warm hand along Bellona's abs underneath her shirt and stroking his palm over her chest. The affectionate petting from every angle was making Bellona feel dazed in her drunken stupor and she didn't even really seem to be checked in anymore. She was just blankly staring at the ceiling with her head rolling gently side to side and letting out small groans here and there. Still, she kept her wits about her as Ares' great betrayal was coming so, when he swapped places with Enyo, she knew it was on the horizon.

Of course Ares played around a bit first before committing to his treachery and took over Enyo's job of kissing Bellona's thighs. When he felt like Enyo was properly distracted, he crawled up behind her and grabbed both her arms, locking them in place as Bellona staggered up from her back. Now it was their turn to bully Enyo and the turntables had turned! Bellona went straight for the chest with her hands to continue the earlier groping session that had been interrupted by Gavel's untimely appearance. The fun bags were soft and bountiful meaning Bellona enjoyed fiddling with them. That or maybe she was taking out her wrath and indignation at the size of them in comparison to her own as the squeezing was definitely not as gentle as Ares would normally do. Enyo was Enyo though and how rough anyone was with her body didn't really put her off, the opposite was true if anything.

While Bellona's hands were busying them selves with the soft mounds, she moved her mouth over to Enyo's and shoved her tongue inside. Bellona's aggression pushed Enyo's head back until it was leaning against Ares' chest but that wall didn't stop her from digging even deeper and really tongue lashing the annoyingly bewitching woman. Enyo had tempted her one too many times and now it was time for her to be put in her place again while she was unable to escape. Bellona didn't do this to Enyo often but she deserved it every time she did, not that Enyo would treat this as punishment anyway but that didn't make Bellona falter. If anything it just served as encouragement to pet Enyo rougher and leave her taste etched onto Enyo's lips. No wonder Ares could get rough with her sister so often, Enyo just had that sort of detestable personality that urged anyone fooling around with her to go further and further. Enyo was like an annoying itch. Bellona even stopped fondling Enyos breasts and used both her hands to hold Enyo's head in place as she poked her thumb into Enyo's mouth. With her lips stuck parted, Bellona spat at Enyo's tongue before re-entering with her own and mixing both of their saliva together for Enyo to swallow obediently. While Bellona was making out ferociously with Enyo, she was sent a mental message by the victim of her assault and thus, once more, the turntables had begun turning.

Ares thought teaming up against Bellona with Enyo was funny? He though betraying Enyo was funny? Well let's see how he liked being betrayed and teamed up on himself! The consequences of his actions were to be made apparent and so the bed he'd made was something he could very well lie in. Also Enyo had to restrain herself not go further with Bellona specifically anyway, as she wanted to make that night special later on, so Ares' privates were really the only ones that could be openly toyed with here today. Plus Enyo had been wanting to rip that shirt of his off ever since he put it on in the first place so he was absolutely going to become the centre of attention today specifically. Sometimes it would be Enyo, sometimes it would be Bellona but, due to Bellona's relative inexperience and not yet being quite ready for things to go that far, it just had to be Ares right now. Lucky man.

Enyo used her magic to summon barriers shaped like handcuffs which wrapped around Ares' wrists and linked them together before dragging them above his head. Both his wives then pushed him over backwards so that he was lying down on his back and in the same position Blo Blo was in earlier with no way to escape. His earlier prediction was rapidly coming true and he was rapidly 'coming' too. What was he realistically supposed to do in this scenario with both wives brushing up against him, kissing him all over, and working together like this? Better yet, wasn't it only going to get worse with even more wives thrown into the mix?! Ares was going to have to work on his stamina and mental willpower if he was to stand any chance. Still, getting used to it required practice and he was going to be getting a fair bit of that tonight it seemed... Not that his desire to improve changed his current predicament. Enyo was cheating in her friendly competition with Bellona and had started using her mouth... Bellona's hand was still very much there which just made this a nightmarish combo that was simply impossible to defend against. Ares was bested yet again and was toyed with in ways he couldn't overcome. Enyo was winning the competition by any means necessary but Bellona didn't seem to care as she was pretty engrossed in watching her sister's mouth work. She was very interested in this as it was one the things she was really looking forward to trying so witnessing it first hand like this was an experience she was happy to go through. Part of her wanted to join in now, and Enyo was encouraging it by winking at her every now and then while she was still sliding her tongue around, but it could wait. Things were pretty set in stone right now and everyone was aware of the timeline they would take regarding going in that direction. Bellona felt no need to rush the inevitable and this was good enough for now.

Bellona really wasn't too invested in all this fooling around, because she wasn't ever going to get too deeply involved, so after a few more times making Ares do the deed, much to Enyo's satisfaction as she cleaned him up every time, she went to sleep... Or tried too. The other two had started going all the way and the noise wasn't exactly quiet. They were trying to be considerate but it didn't really matter when the whole bed was shaking constantly. Plus Bellona was still a bit pent up. Just because she chose not to get more deeply involved that didn't mean she was fully content with how things ended. She'd gotten riled up too but didn't get the same happy ending the other two were currently getting so she just stuck her hand down her pyjamas and solved that problem herself. She had plenty of resources to work with so that wasn't an issue and she didn't need to bring out the Ares body pillow that she still had in her possession. It was a joke present but that didn't mean she had to get rid of it. Also, Ares wouldn't always be around so having his pseudo presence was reassuring regardless of what form it took. The ring also technically functioned in a similar manner thanks to being able to check his heartbeat at any point but that wasn't anything visual. The body pillow was actually a decent present despite the intention behind it originally, so much so that even Enyo wanted one still to this day. Bellona had promised to occasionally share it with Enyo instead as Ares had no intention of making another body pillow of himself. One was enough! Ares had learnt the dangers of having multiple versions of himself around back when he made the clones for Appa with the talismans.

Anyway, Bellona eventually got her own satisfaction, much to Enyo's own satisfaction as well as she'd been riding Ares, sure, but had been intently watching her sister and paying her all the attention she had within her. Just because Bellona had gotten the extra energy out of her system, however, that didn't mean she was getting any sleep any time soon because the other two hadn't stopped yet! Bellona was drunk and tired so she just started whacking Enyo with her pillow to try and get the bouncy whore to stop already! It was early in the morning and she was still going! Hell even Ares had fallen underneath asleep her but she was still using his body! How was that even possible?! Ares must have also been tired, as today had been a pretty long day, but to conk out mid rodeo? Maybe it was the alcohol. He did have a fair bit of it, probably more so than even Enyo. Speaking of the succubus, she promised Bellona she'd sop soon... After one more round!

Bellona just sighed to herself, turned around, and buried her head in the pillow. Thankfully Enyo stuck to her word and got off the seemingly dead Ares before going to sleep herself. It's not that she wasn't also tired, there were just some things she valued more than sleep and rest. Or rather, doing that also seemingly energised her and recharged her batteries so the time she lost sleeping was irrelevant. Shortly after Enyo rolled off Ares, he rolled over to Bellona and gave her a big hug from behind. It seemed as though he was keeping his promise from earlier about cuddling naked with Bellona through the night which was something she'd been wondering about. Bellona thought he must have forgotten or just been completely unable to control himself form dozing off. Turns out, he was just playing the long game and pretending to be asleep to get that damn crazy woman Enyo off him. If he was still awake earlier, Enyo might have honestly kept going. She didn't seem as enthused as before simply because Ares wasn't responding any longer so it was more boring than usual, that was why she'd stopped! Ares had taken advantage of that to fulfil his promise with Blo Blo in a timely manner and get around to her before she fell asleep! Again... Why where these two oddly good at manipulating people when it came to bedroom garbage like this?! Not that Bellona was complaining, Ares was a warm man after all. Much warmer than the body pillow and much more comfortable to be spooned by. Normally this would have been the end of it but apparently Enyo had been playing 4d chess as she proceeded to reveal that she too was still awake by spooning Ares from behind, forming a three person chain. Bellona just shook her head and closed her eyes, the two muppets behind her were clearly on something and it was for the best if she just didn't dwell on their behaviour too much.

Thus the end of their night was at hand as they all went to sleep properly. Enyo did fiddle around and put her hands in various places they had no business being but it was sort of like learning to sleep outside without a fly net to prevent small animals from annoying you. Both Ares and Bellona had gotten used to her constant pestering by now so it was fine. Also, it seemingly helped her get to sleep quicker, like a weirdly perverted version of a kid playing with a teddy or something. Point being, despite Enyo's antics, date night was well and truly over. It was nearly five in the morning, so it had gone on for a lot longer than planned originally, but that was fine as they didn't have anywhere they had to go tomorrow. The next tournament match wasn't for a couple of days so they could relax and take a day or two off to recuperate their depleted energy. Not that today hadn't been fun or relaxing, it's just that the last leg of it was... Draining, in various ways. Especially for Ares as he was put through the ringer more than anyone else in the room.

Although there had been a lot of fake sleeps going around, this time everyone really did fall asleep in a matter of minutes thanks, at least in part, to Enyo's art that she'd casted on all three of them simultaneously. It was seriously a useful tool, that one, and she was glad to have it. She'd also set it to function like an internal alarm for herself specifically as she wanted to be sure she got up before the other two and removed their hangovers before they actually had to deal with it. Despite being dead drunk they would wake up refreshed as though they'd just slept for a week straight after eating and drinking nothing but nutritious goodness and exercising consistently throughout it all. They would be perfectly healthy individuals upon waking up later and then Enyo could just go back to sleep herself. She would have even removed it now if she could but a person needed to be drunk for a considerable period of time before this art was activatable and they also needed to be hungover in the moment she chanted her art. The trio had met the first condition but there wasn't any signs of a hangover just yet. Maybe if they'd stayed up for another hour or two it would have started to hit them hard, and then Enyo could have cut it off early, but that wasn't in the cards and so she'd do it the hard way by waking up a little early.

Roughly nine hours later.

The trio all woke up in a fantastic mood feeling well rested and more than capable of running a cross country marathon if need be, Enyo included. After waking up to remove the hangovers she put herself back to sleep again with her art pretty quickly so her sleep hadn't actually been impacted that much. It wasn't quite a heroic sacrifice but it was still a respectable decision to inconvenience herself temporarily for the sake of others. To thank her for her actions, Ares turned around and hugged her while lying around in bed for a bit. He'd already missed lunch, and so the Aejaz lot had likely gone out into town in search of grub, meaning he didn't really have anyone to feed right now. He could make some stuff for the two sisters but they weren't too hungry and would be fine with some small snacks here and there until dinner instead of a full blown meal. They'd pigged out plenty last night and were also cultivators, who didn't need to be fed much, at the end of the day.

Ares had nothing specific he wanted to do, other than maybe work on pressurising the Backfire Bindings here and there, so he just spent time with Appa, Enyo, and Bellona doing whatever they were in the mood for. Bellona wanted to go to the forgery department and have some board games ordered, Enyo wanted to... Well what Enyo wanted was obvious so Ares just obliged. And then there was Appa who just wanted to spend time with everyone and that was definitely the easiest, and least demanding, request of them all. Appa didn't know too much about the world so, even though it could have asked for something more, it didn't even really know what kind of thing it wanted to do. Ares would seriously have to take this thing on some adventures in the future so it could become more accustomed with what was on offer in the wider world but, for now, he was happy to spend time with it. As for Bellona's order at the forgery department, she wanted a chess set, a connect four set, and a monopoly set. Naturally she offered to cover the costs and so the department got to work and were done with it pretty quickly, only taking two days to finish everything despite their otherwise busy schedule. Ares did help lighten their load a bit though so it was understandable how they were able to manage everything on their plate at once with his help. Ares also worked on his runemancy and stall offerings in the mean time so he was probably even more busy than the forgery department despite him having time off right now!

Anyway, once the board games were made, everyone in the house flocked to them as they were one of the few forms of entertainment available other than intercourse, books, or past times like 'I-Spy' that didn't require anything other than two people to be present and aware of the rules. In terms of who was good at what, Ares was a pretty standout performer in the chess department. His expertise in manipulation and psychological warfare put him in pole position to abuse other's narrow and linear thinking. Actually, it seemed like Ares would have made a pretty decent chess player. Not a grandmaster or anything but he would have been up there in the rankings had he gotten into the sport sooner, that was for sure. Still, this wasn't his first encounter with the board game as there was one chef in this town that was perhaps at the grandmaster level, someone who rocked Ares world countless hundreds of times without ever losing even a single time. That old guy was a serious contender! He'd taught Ares a few tips and tricks here and there, all of which Ares had remembered and put to good use against his family who were unable to beat him even a single time.

They had to actively boot him off physically in order for anyone to play a match against someone who wasn't him as winner stays on was clearly not functional with him around! Granted winner stays on was always the fairest way to run just about any game but the validity of such an approach was brought into question when the skill level of one specific player was simply way too high. Part of the joy with competitive games was playing against equal skill level players to yourself. Sure getting wiped out by someone like Ares, who was just better in every way, could also be an eye opener but there were only so many times you could get thoroughly dumpster-ed and still be in the right mindset to learn. It was annoying losing on repeat like that and no wins ever would just be demoralising, especially if Ares' opponents were improving but unable to tell because they were improving against a person they weren't coming any closer to beating. Their skill level went up but their chances didn't, diminishing their accomplishment somewhat.

There were benefits to playing someone worse than you, someone equal to you, and someone better than you, but all three should happen in moderation. Teaching someone else something you knew was a great way to internalise it but if you just spent every match wailing on people worse than you then you stood to gain nothing new out of it ever. Playing a match against someone better was a great way to learn new things that evaded you previously but it was hard to practice the basics while you were getting destroyed for your lack of advanced ideas. Equal skill players allowed you to figure out where you were in the spectrum of players exactly and learn your own playstyle's faults and strengths. You could get a better grip of where you were falling short without being punished too heavily for it and correcting it progressively as the match went on instead of just losing on the spot or never paying for your mistake. All of this to say Ares needed to go! But he wasn't the only one... He was winning at chess but he was not winning at connect four or monopoly no sir!

Connect four? Ares could rarely connect the dots on anything! Monopoly? Ares, despite his extensive skill set, was always broke! These two games were out of his wheel house and so he wasn't dominant in either like he was in chess, no, the title of supreme went to Leo and Trixie respectively. Leo was fantastic at connect four because of how unassuming he was. You thought you were playing an even game up until he snuck in a win that you couldn't see coming, only to look over at his smug face as he was licking his claws. Detestable bastard! He was also good at setting traps two or three moves ahead for people to unknowingly stumble into and that probably had something to do with the rats he hunted regularly. The farms were positioned almost like a connect four grid and he'd learnt how to cut off routes quite efficiently so the skills translated nicely to this game. He was the predator and all his opponents the prey. It was worse to be Enyo and Ares, though, as they could understand his shit talking directly thanks to Ares' bloodline. The damn tiger was still as mouthy as ever even if he was mouthing off to the owner of the house he was freeloading in!

As for monopoly, Trixie wouldn't be the best on this street ever, as that title would definitely go to Onno if he were around, but in this house she reigned supreme. Her tactic was to go all in on one or two residences and destroy anyone who landed on it like it was some kind of landmine... Which, again, was very much in line with her nature as a bomb setter. Still, her dominance was entirely reliant on luck as she needed people to land on her selected spot and so she didn't win as consistently as the other two champions did at their own games. She still had upwards of a 70% win rate though so her strategy seemed highly effective. Aejaz was also pretty respectable at the game as his strategy involved bartering for other people's properties with offers they couldn't refuse, resulting in him getting their properties at a 'steal'. He was very good at telling what people had and wanted out of it so he was quick on the draw to make beneficial moves the second he landed somewhere that was valuable to someone else. 

Of course this was just a random round up and, had the board games been more varied, there probably would have been a wider range of champions. Enyo, for instance, would be great at surgery related games as her hands were the steadiest of everyone by a country mile. Knowledge board games... Would actually also be won by Ares as he'd read countless books and had Dominus inside him to boot. Bellona would likely do well in games that involved conquering territories as she was a headstrong person who charged into whatever land she wanted like she already owned it. Plus she had no qualms with turning on an ally to get what was needed for her to win the second she needed to do it. Point being, more board games were in order here! Ares and Bellona would go back to the forgery department and pester them again at some point but what they had would do for now as everyone was having fun. There were a few game nights being run here and there and it was a good way to socialise with Trixie and Lacy a bit more. Playing hard would be followed by working hard, however, as the final match of the tournament was drawing ever closer. There was still one more match to watch tomorrow, though, the one between the Umbras and Mako... That ought to be interesting! Quick, but interesting!