It was almost sunset when Ignis finally released Jane Doe from his embrace.
After meeting up, the two of them had no intention of playing with the others at all. Instead, they quietly slipped away from the crowd, found a rather secluded reef area, and hid themselves there.
As the saying goes, a brief separation is sweeter than a honeymoon. And for these two who had just established an intimate relationship, this was the period of greatest sweetness. During the days they were forced apart, the Salamander suffered greatly—and how could Jane Doe have felt any less? Carrying the fiercest affection for one another, the pair entered the hidden spot, dry tinder meeting raging flame, passion colliding like wind and dew.
The result was that the entire afternoon, they continuously poured their love onto each other. After wave after wave of assaults like raging storms and wildfire sweeping across plains, there followed sweet whispers and joyful laughter.
Then they plunged into the next round of fervent affection.
Embraces, kisses—they used every ounce of strength and every means to feel each other's heartbeat, bodies interlocked, souls united.
If not for the sinking sun and the gentle singing of the evening breeze, someone would probably have come looking for them soon. Even then, the two of them still had no desire to part.
"Ah, it feels like my skin got sunburned." Jane Doe twisted her neck slightly. "Help me check. Is it bad? I should've prepared some sunscreen earlier."
The skin on her back was faintly red—hard to tell whether it was sunburn or the flush caused by excitement.
"It is a little red, but nothing serious." Ignis examined it. "If it were real sunburn, you'd already be complaining about the pain."
"But if we're coming out to play again tomorrow, we should still prepare sunscreen. The places I can't reach myself—I'll leave those to you." The mouse Thiren lady turned around, her unrestrained chest swaying slightly.
Her skin was delicate. Living long in darkness and shadow gave her complexion a faintly sickly pallor. But once coated with oil…
Ignis imagined Jane Doe's skin gleaming, carrying a faint moist sheen…
It was exciting.
"What? Already fantasizing about me putting on oil? Didn't get enough today?" She let out a soft laugh, tracing circles with her palm over a black carapace neural interface point on the Salamander's chest. That area was dense with nerves and extremely sensitive to touch.
"But it seems you don't really need that stuff. You're already dark enough."
The Salamander's skin tone was both Vulkan's gift and Nocturne's gift. It allowed him to resist various forms of radiation—even Ether radiation inside Hollows, where he was far more durable than most.
"Why are you staring so intently? Haven't had enough?" Jane Doe felt like she was about to be burned by those ember-like eyes and had to turn away. "Your stamina is abundant, but I need to rest for a bit."
"To be honest, I still feel like I'm dreaming." Ignis hugged her again. Despite being tall among women, she felt like a small doll in his arms.
"Mm, at least you've learned not to use so much force." His embrace was loose. He was afraid of hurting Jane Doe and only gently wrapped his arms around her. This caution had taken many reminders from Jane Doe to achieve—this big guy was always overly tense, forgetting how much strength he had, nearly hurting her several times. Now, he was finally learning to bridge the massive physical gap between them.
Feeling Jane Doe lean into him on her own, the Salamander slowly tightened his arms. Warm skin touched warm skin, and the flames of their souls intertwined.
The sun was sinking into the sea, warm orange-red light painting the sky and earth.
"This scenery is really beautiful." Jane Doe whispered.
"Yeah. If you want, we can stay here and watch it." Ignis whispered near her ear.
"That won't do." Her tone rose at the end—this crafty lady clearly had a new idea.
She slipped out of the Salamander's embrace with a quick crouch, facing the sunlight and stretching her body wide. Her alluring figure was outlined in backlight, making it hard to look away.
"We need to go back." She turned her head.
"Can you smell it? They've started lighting the fire."
Only then did Ignis notice the aroma of roasting meat already spreading through the air. Yes, it was time to return to the group—otherwise who knew what kind of stories they'd fabricate about him.
Jane Doe bent down to search for her swimsuit in the sand. To be honest, she hadn't worn it for very long. Picking up the top, she showed a teasing smile and walked up to Ignis.
"I can't tie this. Help me."
She lifted her hair, revealing her slender neck.
Ignis, of course, had no idea how this thing was supposed to be worn. Several thin strings left this master blacksmith flustered. It took quite a while before he figured out how to tie it properly.
Thick fingers pinched thin straps. Even though a Space Marine's muscle control was excellent, the difficulty still existed. Jane Doe lowered her voice and laughed, her whole body trembling slightly.
Ignis awkwardly tied the neck strap into a bow—this was the only knot he knew.
"That's enough."
"This isn't funny at all." Ignis used the same method to tie the back straps. "The bottom doesn't need my help too, right?"
"That one's also tie-style. You were pretty happy pulling it off earlier, weren't you?" Jane Doe handed him the bottom piece as well.
The giant sighed in resignation and, after another bout of fumbling, completed the task.
"Let's go." The Salamander extended his hand to her.
"Going back just like that?" Jane Doe looked at him slyly again. "Did we forget something?"
"Huh?" The Salamander's extended hand stiffened. He clearly didn't understand.
"Oh, you." Jane pretended to be angry. "You spent the whole afternoon being eager for intimacy. Shouldn't we at least swim in the sea a bit? Otherwise, it'll be hard to come up with excuses when we get back."
With that, she pulled him into the seawater.
After a full day of summer sun, the water near the shore was pleasantly warm. Jane Doe walked to a depth where she could float, then dove in. After a short swim underwater, she resurfaced, brushed back her dripping hair, waved at the Salamander, and swam toward deeper water.
Ignis could only follow her, still worried about her stamina. Before he realized it, they had gone so far that even this giant could only keep his head above water.
Jane Doe turned gracefully in the water and swam toward him. Ignis opened his arms to catch her, but she dove again and reappeared behind him, pressing against his back.
"You should wash too. Even though you don't really sweat, I'll help you clean up." She grabbed the Salamander's shoulders with both hands and spoke near his ear, her warm breath making it itch slightly.
He originally wanted to explain that Space Marine modifications altered sweat glands to secrete a cleanser-like fluid, but the words were cut short.
Jane Doe pressed her full armored chest against his solid back muscles and slowly rubbed against him.
"Don't move. It'll be over soon." She continued whispering softly near his ear.
From his back to his arms, then hooking around his neck to reach his chest, Jane Doe used her built-in sponge brush to clean the giant's body, whispering continuously into his ear.
If circumstances had allowed it, Ignis would have only wanted to pull her into his arms and go another round.
By the time the two finally finished fooling around and returned to the camp, the sun had completely set.
On this private beach now stood a literal sandcastle—a real castle. Koleda was laughing loudly atop walls five to six meters tall, having Gotthardt take photos for her. Grace sat on the sand with a stack of white paper on her legs, writing furiously. From the scattered sheets around her, the content included structural stress analysis of the sandcastle and concepts for humanoid mechanical arms.
Wise's movie-watching group had also come out. Although Anby still had her arm in a cast, she had changed into a racing-style one-piece swimsuit. Nekomata followed beside her, the petite cat girl wearing a children's swimsuit similar to Koleda's, decorated with lots of frills at the chest. Nekomata took grilled skewers from Rina and fed them to Anby, who bit down hard without mercy.
Then got burned.
Nekomata hurriedly grabbed a drink for her—this silly cat had forgotten to test the temperature first.
The one in charge of grilling was Von Lycaon. This Wolf Thiren, fresh from the lip-reading class, had run into traffic. By the time he arrived, it was already dinner time. He hadn't even had time to change clothes and stood at the grill in full formal attire.
The two finished their drinks in no time.
"It's a shame I couldn't come out to play. The sun was just too strong." Ben wore floral shorts and no shirt. Even with the sun gone, this fluffy bear Thiren still felt hot, fanning himself constantly with his huge hands.
"I guess this counts as vacation too."
"If Grace's R&D budget were lower, Koleda filled out reimbursement forms properly, and you kept workers' timesheets organized, I wouldn't need to work overtime so often." The big bear sighed. Being a construction accountant was no easy job—office work was busy, and sometimes he even had to go on-site to help with manual labor.
"Uh… I'll try to do better." Anton rarely shrank his neck like this. It seemed paperwork wasn't his strong suit.
Ignis had plenty to say about this. Back when he was a safety officer, the office had 22 boxes recording all safety measures during construction. As progress advanced, those became 22 crates, then 22 cabinets. During checkpoint inspections, they'd be reported upward for review. Of course, before review came the most hellish task—checking data completeness.
Almost nothing was ever fully complete. Days were spent patrolling, attending meetings, conducting training. Nights spent on paperwork inevitably missed items. Over years, before inspections, frantic data patching became routine.
Even now, recalling those days gave the Salamander nightmares. Several all-nighters in a row just to complete documentation. Ignis considered himself diligent, but omissions were inevitable when work got busy.
Why not hire more people if manpower was insufficient? Ahem. You know why. Don't say everything out loud.
"Finally back. Where did you go?" Billy held skewers in both hands, eating happily.
"How is it? Good?" Ignis hadn't tasted his yet, but the aroma said enough.
"Pretty good. But honestly." Billy stuffed meat into his mouth—well, whatever passed as a mouth. "I prefer your cooking."
Ignis shrugged and started eating too. Von Lycaon truly was a perfect butler—even in grilling. The doneness was perfect: one second more would be overcooked, one less underdone. The seasoning suited most people's tastes—balanced saltiness, spices not overpowering, perfectly complementing the meat's aroma.
Ignis gave Von Lycaon a thumbs-up from afar. The fluffy butler responded with a modest nod, wiped sweat from his face, and continued focusing on the food.
He almost forgot—this wolf Thiren also suffered in summer, especially wearing formal attire.
Ignis walked over to the grill and said, "Let me take over. Don't get heatstroke in that outfit."
"Then I truly trouble you, sir." Von Lycaon didn't insist. He had investigated—this master blacksmith was also a master chef.
"No problem." Ignis took over immediately, flipping skewers. "Aren't you all here to vacation too? Ellen and Rina already helped all afternoon. Now it's your turn to relax."
Moonlight rose, night wind turned cool. The vacation was only just beginning.
===BREAK===
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