Chapter 553: You Smell Like Wet Dog: Redhome Interlude Part 3

"Sis... Why did you abduct a random woman?" Bellona was aware that this was probably 'Sandy' sitting in between her and Enyo but she couldn't rule out Enyo dragging women off the streets for inexplicable reasons. Enyo was a few screws loose from battery farming women for her harem...

"If I'm not mistaken..." Enyo's finger shot out at Sandy in an accusatory manner. "... Our husband has touched this woman inappropriately!" Though her claim might have seemed dubious and unsubstantiated, there was nobody who could be trusted more about such matters than Enyo thanks to her weirdly omniscient pleasure pillar talents. If she was saying it, that Ares had left some indelible mark on Sandy only she could sense, then it was probably an accusation worth treating like gospel... Though now Bellona wanted to know the extent of how touchy Ares got! She was hesitant herself about such things but that didn't mean she wanted to be pushed to the back of the queue! This new sister could get in line! No matter how many souvenirs Ares brought home if he was playing with other woman there would be reprimands and hell to pay, Bellona would make sure of it!

Sandy couldn't deny this accusation, it wasn't even just Ares' hands as his mouth got to work absorbing the poison too back then, but it didn't seem like Sandy needed to be defensive about it. Enyo was hardly bothered and it seemed like Bellona was more interested in picking a fight with Ares himself rather than her so she was in the clear and could be honest and upfront. "Ah... Sorry about that. One thing led to another... He was saving my life though!" Sandy tried her best to dig Ares out of the lurch she was technically responsible for him being in but neither sister was interested in excuses, they just wanted cold hard facts with which they would determine Ares' innocence. There was a reason the woman holding scales in the most common depiction of justice was blindfolded!

"Alright alright, we'll get to that in a minute. First, why don't you tell us about yourself?" Enyo noted Sandy's defensiveness over Ares, that she tried to get him a lighter sentence by easing his 'crimes' before his wives via relevant context, and gave her a few brownie points for that. What she wanted now, though, was to get a grasp for who she was dealing with, who Sandy herself was and not just who she was in relation to Ares. After this could then come her history with Ares and how things developed between them, for which Enyo could use her memory sharing art to see everything from her unfiltered perspective, and then following that would come an unspoken judgement. This was the correct procedure. If Enyo and Bellona were in unilateral agreement at the end of it all, the conversational tone would shift, become more welcoming, and they'd talk about themselves as they indoctrinated... Ahem... 'Integrated' Sandy into the family. If Bellona and Enyo disagreed on Sandy's credentials they'd ask Sandy to wait here for a minute while they discussed the matter in greater detail in private and went from there. If they both viewed Sandy as an opportunistic floozie who was just exploiting some manner of naivety from Ares, unlikely though that was as Ares wasn't the chump he frequently painted himself as, she'd be kicked out, to the curb, immediately and Enyo might even pull some strings to get her out of Red Sun entirely with no hope of ever coming back. She'd do everything in her power to make sure Ares never saw this woman's face again.

Enyo was aware of Sandy's strength, expert cultivators were impossible to not spot and Sandy was definitely one such person, but she wouldn't back down even if it came to a fight right here and now. Bellona would also not sit idly by and the combination of these two meant there was probably not a single person in Sheryashka who could withstand their joint attack other than bloodline awakening Ares. Sandy was at the mercy of these two sisters so she'd have to do things their way even if it was a bit pushy. This wasn't a criminal investigation, they weren't in a locked grey room with a crooked light dangling overhead and some shady investigator turning off the cameras, but it was close in terms of intent! Enyo and Bellona had come to an understanding that the former would be the 'good' cop and the latter the 'bad' cop. Enyo was more prone to wanting this newcomer to prove her stuff and become a part of the family, she didn't want to disappoint Ares and chose to believe he made a well reasoned decision with Sandy rather than not. Bellona had no skin in this game and wasn't some pervert who wanted more women around to fondle so she could be more objective. If anything, Bellona was, though not outspoken about it, somewhat competitive when it came to having other women around Ares. She would have to suck it up, it was unavoidable and she was arguably the reason this harem even started in the first place as she gave Enyo the ammunition to aim at Ares for that particular discussion, but in a situation like this? She had some power here and had no intention of making Sandy's life easy! Well, not while she stood firm at the gate, however. Sandy appeared to be quite a bulky woman, not quite as feminine as Enyo, so Bellona felt some kinship in that regard. As long as Sandy met the initial criteria she would probably root for her in solidarity... What Bellona didn't know couldn't hurt her, however, as Sandy was definitely incredibly feminine and the clothes she wore really gave off the wrong impression. Ignorance is bliss and there weren't going to be any new members to the flat faction of the harem this soon. Poor Blo Blo.

Sandy felt oddly pressured right now, like she was a soon to be corpse being eyed up by two circling vultures, but she also had a plan she could levy to defend herself from these two bids of prey. Before leaving Xasca Ares had asked her to test something if she didn't believe it would be taken well by the sisters and so she had her own bombshell to drop here. Ares had mentioned Sandy's name to these two sisters during his letters with them but there was a part of it he'd intentionally left out. "About me... Ok, well, my name is Sandy..." She hadn't said it aloud yet so the sisters thought she was jsut confirming it with them. It would be truly awkward if Enyo really did get it wrong and abduct some unrelated woman off the street. Enyo was already confident she'd gotten this correct but Bellona visibly heaved a sigh of relief and secretly wiped away some sweat on the back of her neck now that her worries were alleviated. This was still just minor for now, though, as Sandy was about to set the tone for the rest of the conversation and put the tide in her favour! "... Sandy Redhome."

...

...

"... Redhome?" Enyo's head tilted as she visibly decoded the meaning behind this second name in real time. Bellona could see the changes in her sister's eyes occurring at light speed, as well as her dropped jaw slowly raising and becoming the foundation for a friendly grin, and Bellona was quick to realise she was about to lose her only ally in this interrogation! Enyo was being enticed by a foreign enemy into letting the trojan horse in! This wasn't how this was supposed to go! If anything the sisters were supposed to offer Sandy something to give up the ghost and come clean on her end, not the other way around! Enyo was being bribed in real time and Bellona could do nothing to stop it!... Admittedly the name was pretty cool, and Bellona also liked it, but she had morality and principles on her side. She wouldn't given Sandy a free pass just to have access to her name. Bad Enyo! Where did all her earlier convictions go?! Well, wherever they went they certainty didn't take the massive and congenial smile on her face with them as she was beaming so hard she'd actually started to glow a little thanks to her innate holiness. "Sister!"

Aw fuck me. Bellona slapped her forehead as Enyo sold out on the spot. This wasn't what being a 'good' cop meant!

Enyo ignored Bellona's silent pleading, and the shifts in her eyes trying to drag her back to a neutral position, as she begun trying to negotiate with the suspect on immoral grounds. "Hehehe, about that name..."

Sandy was relieved Ares' intel had been spot on. The bait wasn't just taken, it was vigorously leapt at leaving this crazy woman unguarded to the extreme! Leverage had been acquired! Sandy underestimated the power this ace up her sleeve possessed but it was blatantly immense with at least Enyo and that was important. Sandy had a gut feeling Enyo mattered more in the context of naturalising herself into the harem than Bellona did. Bellona may have been more level headed but it didn't matter if she didn't have the final say! The woman worth cosying up to was an easy target and Sandy couldn't ask for a better situation to be in than this! Sandy knew who to direct her efforts towards and knew that they would be rewarded if she played her cards correctly! "Ares mentioned wanting to use it for the harem, to have it be a shared second name for everyone..." Now was the chance to be a bit aggressive and set up a position from which she could fight back so Sandy wasted no time in going for the throat! "... I was a bit hesitant, though. I don't really want to to force my name onto a family that I'm not really a part of and, even then, it might seem like I'm throwing my weight around so... If you're not happy with it then I can just keep it to myself..."

Sandy tried to use facial expressions to her advantage, to appear woeful and helpless as though she were actually lamenting her inability to share the name, but soon after realised she was a complete dunce. She still had her fellahin garb on! Perhaps Enyo was great at deduction via looking into the other person's eyes but the more likely scenario here was that all of Sandy's cleverly construed reactions up until now had been pointless! She'd basically done the equivalent of making funny faces at the person in the mirror! It was shameful realising it but thankfully nobody else knew that. It would be like getting caught arguing in hindsight in the shower... Anyway, while her 'me and my name are a package deal' blackmail was allowed to simmer she decided to reciprocate Enyo's gesture of removing her headgear by doing the same. For some reason, this action drew apt attention from Enyo specifically. Bellona was also 'interested', she felt betrayed by the 'babe' hiding underneath the clothes and understood her faction wasn't gaining any new members today, but her interest was drastically different to the 'I'm going to pounce on you if your hot' way Enyo was implying via her body language.

Enyo was still processing the exceptional Redhome name she wanted to gobble up and make hers but she was also currently leaning towards Sandy like a tiger ready to pounce and it was a pretty threatening stance.... Or it would be if she wasn't gulping and rubbing her hands together in a way that was more jarring than imposing. Any pretense of viciousness was immediately lost and replaced with the usual sort of perversion Sandy had come to expect. In a weird kind of way it was almost a buzzkill because Sandy was invested in a spar with Enyo. She'd always been that type of person, quick to spar with others and test her mettle, Sandy just hadn't been that way much around Ares towards the end of their Xasca partnership because there was too much going on. Not even just between them but the leaving the clan issue, the stepper issue, and the Riddlemyd / Torchbearer issues had kept them both very busy. She found sparring fun, and Ares was a valuable partner who could hold his own and push her to her limits and beyond, plus she had new toys to fight with and test now, but perhaps this 'Enyo' was also worthy of standing in the ring with her... Though it was hard to believe it based on her demeanour and rabid propensity to make every situation somehow devolve into X-rated territory. Enyo was definitely strong, the flashes of a robust and stoic woman here and there clued Sandy in to the depths of greatness Enyo had in her reserves, but boy did she have a very different personality outside of that.

Sandy finished removing her headgear and was somewhat embarrassed by all the stares. The way Enyo licked her lips sent a shiver through her spine as her body heated up for some inexplicable reason. Checking inwardly revealed an anomaly that shouldn't have been there; a trace of foreign magic! This damn woman was trying to make her horny! Sandy couldn't help but wonder what on earth Ares was doing falling for a freak like this! She trusted his judgement, and Bellona seemed normal, almost too normal in comparison to her sister, but what was up with Enyo!? This was a real life sex pest! Sandy was flattered her beauty was being acknowledged by someone who was unquestionably better looking than her, she wasn't ashamed to admit that Enyo was quite literally divine, but there was a line that had been crossed a few miles back and being immeasurably attractive didn't give her a free pass to act like this!

Ahem

Sandy tried to recall where the conversation left off, to change the subject which was currently her face, but failed completely due to the pressure mounting on her coming from a certain direction. Instead of talking about herself more she brought up Ares' gift and handed over the 667 remaining high grade stardust. She would never dream of stealing it and she'd already gotten plenty of mileage out of her own. Enyo was going to spend most, if not all, of this at Bea's adult store over the coming weeks while Bellona would... Save it? Ares actually didn't know if Bellona would spend the money on anything because there wasn't much in Sheryashka that interested her other than maybe occasionally good food or pop up auctions. If she found something vehicle related she might throw money at it but such things were usually uncommon. It was more likely Bellona would simply hold onto it like a careful investor and play the long game... Bellona was definitely better with money than Enyo was...

As for Sandy, she was questioned by Bellona regarding what she'd spent her own pocket money on to which she responded honestly. Enyo might be in La La land currently, still because of the Redhome name that was serenading her brain and wooing her into leniency towards Sandy, but the other sister was taking things seriously! No flat, no free pass! Sandy had entertained the mistaken impression at this point that Bellona was like the secret leader of the cabal, running things from behind the scenes with a measured stance while Enyo paraded herself at the forefront. This was of course wrong, and she was partially aware it wasn't true even if only because Ares had stated it was definitely Enyo in charge, but she couldn't be blamed for thinking that was how things worked around here given how the conversation had gone thus far. In order to appease the more stony-faced Bellona, and try to worm her way into the good graces of this sister too, Sandy brought out her Ares' statue and placed it on the table which drew some oohs and aahs from both the sisters. Aejaz hadn't gotten all the way through his explanation of this trip with Ares so even Bellona didn't know much about the full extent of what Ares had done and why he deserved a mini statue to be carved in his honor. The sisters could have kept up to date somewhat with his happenings, and Ares also mentioned it loosely in his letters, but they wanted the full details from the man himself, to hear it from his own lips, so they didn't dig too deep using their various connections in the Grecian lands. They knew he did many great things for the Federation but they hadn't expected a boom in popularity to the extent he was a merch superstar. Bellona was actually a little jealous of Sandy's statue and wanted one for herself as having it would be far less embarrassing than the blow up doll she received as a joke and it was something she would be able to actually display openly. She'd picked it up, with Sandy's permission, and gleefully poked the fake Ares who couldn't fight back until she was satisfied.

Things had settled somewhat now and though the weight of the Redhome name still hung in the balance the three were getting along better now as the two sisters had been placated to a degree. Sandy buying an Ares statue of her own volition, even if it was done with the foresight to sway Enyo and Bellona during this inevitable meeting, said a lot about her. Of course that wasn't why she bought it in the first place, and both the sisters picked up on this, so they were being more lax in general as they could sense which way the tide was headed in the long run. Just to make sure and fully lay the groundwork for Sandy's acceptance into the family, though, it was high time she spilled the secrets she was keeping and the history she shared with Ares! There probably wasn't anything too crazy but Enyo wanted every single one of Sandy's memories from the moment Ares arrived in her world up until the moment they went down different paths and departed from each other's presence! It wouldn't include Ares' perspective, or his general exploits across Xasca, because Sandy didn't have those but it was arguably better to receive Sandy's memories here rather than his own as they weren't biased in her favour. This was the real test, to see what they saw in each other and how it all went down, and Sandy was willing to hand over the memories without a fuss as if to prove her innocence. It would have been pretty questionable if she withheld it, opting to speak about the whole thing verbally from start to finish instead, so she proved there was nothing she wanted to keep hidden by going along Enyo's preferred method. This was rather personal, actually, because the memories could also accurately depict and recreate emotions when used by someone competition, which Enyo was as she practiced this art specifically, religiously, almost exclusively for Ares, so Sandy would be laid bare here.

Enyo placed her pointer finger on Sandy's head and shut her eyes while Bellona kept hers open just in case. Worrying about an attack by Sandy at his point was unnecessary but somebody had to be the 'bad cop' and Bellona wasn't even sure Enyo was still a cop at this point anymore anyway! She'd given up and retired! Not that Bellona was much better, she'd softened up ever since Sandy let her hold and play with the statue as much as she wanted so she was really only acting tough. Bellona was probably the person in this room that wanted to see Ares the most and no amount of plain faced acting would allow her to hide that as it was pretty obvious even at a glance. It's not that she held a greater deal of affection for Ares than the other two but that she was more prone to longing. Her semi-official trait, as per Yulo's oracle work, was 'limerence' after all. Underneath all that tomboy energy she was a massive softie. Enyo had caught her, dazed as she stared blankly out of windows, looking like an abandoned pet on numerous occasions throughout the Grecian Land holiday and it was both parts cute and pitiful.

If it weren't for the fact that Bellona was a cautious individual when it came to privacy in her room Enyo would have probably walked in on Bellona cuddling the blow up Ares doll multiple times already. It was all but certain she was doing it in secret but, despite her best efforts, Enyo wasn't able to catch her in the act. It was truly a shame, Enyo wanted to relish in Bellona's silly antics and share them with Ares, because embarrassing her sister sounded fun to her, but foxy little Bellona was very alert and wouldn't let it happen. That aside, though, Bellona put the statue down when Enyo finished extracting Sandy's memories as there was something better in store for her now. She could live through real memories of real Ares and that was far more enticing than some fake statue that only told a half baked story. To make sure there were no issues, Enyo took in the memories first and, only when she was done sorting through them, she handed them over to Bellona who went next. Again, this was unnecessary caution around Sandy, and that was proven to be doubly true after the memories flooded in and they realised how serious she was about Ares, but it was always better to be safe than sorry. Though, from now, such precautions would no longer be necessary as a conclusive decision had been reached. Bellona didn't need to say anything because Enyo was already hugging Sandy and patting her head! It was both to welcome her as a scion of the 'Ares cult' she headed but also because Sandy's memories showed her own turbulent history too and there was sympathy. Enyo understood to some degree what she'd been through. Enyo didn't act tough, per se, but she took on that person her whole life too and it was a breath of fresh air when Ares taught her how to drop the act. Sandy being able to relinquish her status as a guardian, and let someone else make her feel protected for once, was undoubtedly an important moment in her life and Enyo could accurately pinpoint that as the turning point. Her affection for Ares was set in stone and became immovable that night and the words he spoke softly into her ear as she fell asleep was absolute overkill.

"Every grain of you is precious?!" Enyo almost couldn't believe what she'd seen! "Tsk, that bastard has gotten really good at flirting hasn't he? A real smooth lady killer he's become huh?! Just a few months ago his version of hitting on women was endlessly antagonising me and my beliefs in the middle of a forest! I'm not going crazy right? The constant arguments in Baja actually happened and I'm not just daydreaming them?!" Enyo thought she was going loco because the disparity between how Ares went about forming a relationship with her was drastically different to the process that Sandy went through! She had it easy! Ares wasn't as immature as he once was but, in its own way, that brought its own set of problems. New Ares had a lethal attraction he could exploit that was well spoken and romantic on a level that was rather personal. That soft and caring attitude was well crafted, Enyo couldn't deny it, but how many women was he going to win over with this devious method?! And better yet, when could she get some more of that!? It had been a while since he said anything that sweet to her and now she was fiending to pinch him until he showed similar treatment to both the sisters! None of his even touched on his other newfound power of attraction, his body!

The fine grind made more of a difference than Ares realised.

Sandy hadn't exactly sung his praises outwardly but inwardly her emotions were a mess because damn he was good looking now! He'd always been decent but his body, thanks to his adept trait, never quite matched up with his face as it lacked considerably. Now that they were closer to being aesthetically similar it did him a lot of favours and Enyo didn't know whether to drool over it or be miffed about the way he was sweettalking other women! This sneaky cretin was really making some serious moves the second he escaped the watchful eyes of the two sisters! They would have to have an intervention and discuss his 'deeds' and 'exploits' in great detail, especially how he took advantage of the poison situation and placed his lips all over Sandy! That was so absurd it was almost impressive! Enyo didn't know whether to respect the temerity Ares showed or berate him for it! It was the kind of thing she would do. Ares, when he returned, was going to have a lot to answer for. Sandy was not some exploitative wench, she was more like an exploited innocent little girl who'd been lulled into falling head over heels by some evil handsome daredevil! Both Enyo and Bellona almost couldn't believe their eyes as Ares had been pretty aggressive here and that rather unlike him. If anything, they felty sorry for Sandy who couldn't have possibly stood a chance. Her lack of interaction with men had proved fatal and Arse dealt a swift and lethal death blow while acting like a harmless puppy. He was a wolf, through and through, and had already, LITERALLY, sunken his teeth into her. What could the Legion sisters do at this point other than sigh and welcome Sandy into the family. Somebody needed to take care of this naive maiden and it wasn't going to ever be Ares. He was planning on 'fattening her up' with food, lowering her guard, and then hunting this careless rhino to turn it into his trophy. Not to worry, though, Sandy's new sisters would protect her from the evil man and treat her well!