Chapter Two - Tremendous Brunettes

May 10 ^th, 2021

Anyone who tells you Hawaii isn't amazing is full of shit.

Flying there before the full COVID restrictions were off, that was surreal. We didn't have many choices of planes, and there wasn't almost anyone on the plane itself. That was the most weird of weird moments in a year full of them. Looking down the line of empty seats, wondering why this giant metal container was travelling across the ocean for all of fifteen of us, and yet, everyone we saw along the way, they were so thankful for us. They were glad people were on the plane, and that there were some crack of normalcy.

The ship was starting to right itself, but it wasn't there yet.

We landed in Honolulu, but never exited the airport, because Lyssa made it clear to me that we needed to get to see Leia as quickly as we could, because she didn't want me to get slipped off into the tourist traps, or to wander around the beaches, not until I'd done what I was expected to do.

The second flight was basically just a tiny flight that only lasted an hour or so, getting us to the smaller island of Kauai, where we landed at Lihue airport and rented a car to drive twenty minutes west over to a house in Kōloa, and Menolly insisted she drive so I could ogle the scenery.

I'd never been to Hawaii before, and I'd never seen anything so insanely green in all my life. We were a long ways away from the touristy shit of Maui and Honolulu and were on one of the islands that didn't get anywhere near as much traffic as the others, despite it being utterly beautiful, and where they shot parts of Jurassic Park. I mean, goddamn, we drove through a tree tunnel to get to the little residential neighborhood we were going to.

Kōloa wasn't really much of anything - a tiny stop along the way with a population of around two thousand, many of whom worked at the resorts down at Poipu and Kaneaukai. The nearest Safeway, Costco and Home Depot were all the way over on the edge of Lihue.

It was raining when we arrived in Kōloa, and not the sort of gentle, timid California rains I'd gotten accustomed to - it was utterly pouring, like the ocean was trying to get dumped on top of us. Lyssa had even driven fairly slowly for the last few minutes, because she had to have the windshield wipers on full blast. The rain had come out of nowhere, too, without much warning, but as soon as Lyssa turned off the car, it started to ease up.

"I'm nervous," I told her. "Is it okay to be nervous?"

"Darling, of course it is," she giggled. "Leia's a stunner. If you weren't nervous, I'd be more worried."

As we got out of the car, the front door to the modest size house opened and out stepped one of the most gorgeous women I've ever set eyes on. She wasn't all that tall - maybe five and a half feet? - but she was athletic and lithe. She had lightly tanned skin and big, bushy brown-black hair with a pink streak that she'd clearly not tied up when she got up this morning. She was wearing a bikini top over modest-sized breasts and a big billowy cotton skirt that hung down to nearly her ankles. She had a belly-button piercing with a bangle of the Star Wars Rebel Alliance logo hanging from it.

"This guy's our Han Solo?" Leia asked Lyssa with a laugh. "Isn't he a little short to be a miracle worker?"

"Trust me, Ripley, Ben Bauer's just the kind of guy we've been looking for all our lives," Lyssa said as she went to give her friend a bit hug. "He may not look like much, but he's got it where it counts." That sent the island girl off into a giggle fit before Lyssa slapped her shoulder scoldingly. "Not like that! Well, I mean, yes, like that, but you knew what I meant."

"At this point, Menolly, I think I'll take any dick I can get," she said. "Why don't you both come inside, and I can pour you some drinks? I'm sure you're glad to be off the damn airplanes. That's the one bad thing about living out here - you're forever and a day away from everything and everyone."

"Thanks. And you can call me Lyssa," she said to her friend. "I trust Ben with my life, so knowing my real name's not a biggie."

"Well then, I guess if he's good enough for your trust, he's good enough for mine," she said to me. "Leia Tanaka, aka Ripley Boomer, at your service, Mister Bauer."

"Fucks' sake, please, call me Ben," I said with a laugh. "I feel old enough as it is."

The inside of her place was a veritable geek den, with loads of anime wallscrolls on the walls for a bunch of series, some I recognized and some I didn't, as well as loads of Star Wars figures in their original packaging in cubbyholes lining one of the walls. Leia stepped into her little kitchen alcove and started pouring an iced tea for Lyssa. "So, Ben, how did you and Lyssa meet?"

"Merlin set it up," I said with a grin, which almost made her drop the pitcher, something that caught me off guard, I must admit.

"That's not funny," she said, narrowing her eyes. "You've never met Merlin."

"And you have?" I asked her, tilting my head to one side.

"Describe him to me," she said as she handed the glass of iced tea to Lyssa. "Drink?"

"If you've got like a can of Coke, that's fine," I told her. "As for Merlin, he looked more Middle Eastern than I expected him to, I guess. Loads of tattoos all over his body. Big bushy silver and black beard. Balding on top, but had it pulled back into a ponytail. All his fingers were covered in rings."

She handed me the can of Coke, while staring into my eyes for a long moment. "You really did meet him."

"Really did, yep."

"And it sounds like he still hasn't aged a day."

"Oh?" Lyssa asked her.

"He looked like that fifteen years ago, when he saved me and my parents from a shipwreck," she said, her voice growing a little quiet, her face taking on a distant look. "We were out sailing when a rogue wave capsized our boat, and it knocked both of my parents unconscious. I was only a little girl, and we would've drowned, except Merlin was out riding around on a speedboat. He said we were crazy to be out sailing during one of his weather experiments, but he couldn't let us drown in good conscience, so he hauled us back to harbor and paramedics came and tended to my parents, but I never forgot him. When my parents came to, the harbor paramedics said our ship just drifted into harbor, and that they never saw anyone towing us, but I know what I saw. My folks still don't believe me to this day."

"Well, I do," I told her as I cracked the can of Coke open. "I saw him fall from the sky like a comet."

"How does a comet falling from the sky help anyone?"

"It doesn't," I told her before I took a sip from the can. "He didn't help me. I helped him."

"How the hell does some random haole help Merlin, God of Magic?"

"He's had an experiment go wrong, and so he crashed in a field in northern California, but there was still debris following in his path," I told her. "I got him out of the way of that, and saved his life, I guess, and so he's rewarding me with... this gift."

"Which is...?"

"Seven perfect partners," Lyssa said. "Or as close to perfect as we can get. Merlin picked me for his first. I'm picking you for his second."

"And if I don't--"

"Don't lie to me, Leia," Lyssa purred. "You've been eye fucking us both since we walked in the door. And I know how that mischievous mind of yours works. You have been asking yourself, 'Lyssa could get any cock she wanted, and she's with this guy? Must be something special!' And you're right, I can, and he is. He's smart and funny and warm-hearted and cries at any old sad bollocks on tele, but he likes what I do for a living, and didn't judge me at all about it. He's got a fully painted Sisters of Battle platoon and he's read most of the Judge Dredd stuff."

Leia smirked a little bit as she moved to sit down in a chair opposite of the couch that Lyssa and I were sat in. "Sounds like maybe too Western a geek for my Eastern geek flavor, but I'll bite. Favorite Gundam series?"

"SEED. The digital animation was great, the storyline was tight and Kira's a relatable character," I said to her, having expected some 'cred testing.'

"Least favorite Gundam series?"

"Build Fighters," I snorted. "I mean, it looks kinda cool, but it's not really a traditional Gundam story, is it? It's about kids building toys and fighting with them. It's got its fans, but it's not for me, y'know?"

"Dragonball fan? Naruto? One-Piece?"

"Always leaned more towards the sort of harder edged stuff - Dominion: Tank Police, Ghost In The Shell, Akira, Gunsmith Cats, Trigun..."

"Nothing of the softer fare?" she asked.

"Ranma 1/2 and Maison Ikkoku, but that springs from loving Urusei Yatsura, because of the Matthew Sweet video."

"Best Shinichiro Watanabe show?"

"Space Dandy... I'm kidding! I'm kidding! Carole & Tuesday was great, but I'll always have a hard love of Cowboy Bebop. Still some of the best music anywhere for anything."

"Old school videogame you love that nobody else you know does?"

"Kirby's Pinball, on the original GameBoy. Hard as a motherfucker, but still strangely compelling."

"Sega or Nintendo?"

I grinned, tilting my head. "Why choose? Both."

"Hottest Hanna-Barbera character?" she grinned at me.

"Am I in trouble if I say I always had a thing for Velma since she was the smart one?"

"She'll only break your heart, Ben," Lyssa teased. "I think she plays for the other team these days."

"Oh well, we can't win'em all," I said with a smug smirk. "Besides, she's fictional anyway."

"You okay with cosplayers?"

"Why wouldn't I be?"

"I dunno. Some dudes get tetchy about guys and girls wanting to get pictures with their girlfriend because she's got a kickass costume."

"Cosplayers work hard as hell on that shit, so I'd be proud, not tetchy," I said to her. "Although I'd have to be careful not to smack the hands of anyone who gets a little grabby, 'cause I've seen some dudes who think that cosplay is an open invitation to play grab ass, and that ain't cool."

"Good man," Leia said, pointing a finger my way. "I can generally take care of myself, but I don't mind if my man wants to get a little 'Woman, mine!' if a guy or girl's being a tool."

"Women do that too?"

"Not as often as men," she told me, "but when they do, they really, really go for it, in, like, a creepy way. It's very strange. I have to hit them harder than I do the dudes. But you'd be okay with me trotting around in next to nothing at Comic Con or whatever?"

"If I'm okay with you doing OnlyFans, why wouldn't I be okay with cosplay?"

She nodded, giving me a little shrug. "You want to counter test?"

"Worst thing with the Star Wars name on it?" I asked her.

"Duh. The Holiday Special."

"Last Jedi - for or against?"

She sighed. "For, mostly. I'm a little bummed that we never really got to see Luke in his prime, but I guess thirty years and change means we're never really going to get that anyway. It was a beautiful movie, but it also feels like it sort of did Luke Skywalker dirty a bit. I'm mostly still bummed out that Carrie Fisher died before they could do what they'd intended to with Rise of Skywalker. That film's a total fucking mess. But I loved The Mandalorian, so they're capable of still doing things right."

"Tron Legacy - Badass or bad?"

"How dare you, sir! Legacy was fucking monumental, as was the original, and I won't hear a word otherwise!"

"Buckaroo Banzai?"

"Weird as all fuck, and some of the effects are very dated, but c'mon, how can you not love a film with the line 'Why is there a watermelon there?'"

"Sci-fi film you love that you think nobody but you gets."

She grinned, giving a little shrug. "I'd say Flight of the Navigator, but I think people are starting to come around to that one these days, what with it on Disney+ and Paul Ruebens doing the voice of the alien, so I think I'll say Explorers. Joe Dante, hot off Gremlins, with Ethan Hawke and River Phoenix? The end gets a little silly, but so much of that film is so well done."

"League of Legends or Dota?"

"Neither?" she said with a shrug. "If any one singular game starts consuming your life, you should take that as a sign and get out. That's why I ditched World of Warcraft after a few years, despite all the cool cosplays I could do from it."

"What's your number one dealbreaker?"

"Joe Rogan listeners," she told me with a laugh. "Once that dude came down against vaccines? Fuck him and everything he's ever said. He's practically as bad as Jordan Petersen, which I guess is my number two dealbreaker, because that fucker loves the sound of his own voice and never says anything at all. I refuse to be part of some dude cult."

I cackled, giving an appreciative nod. "I'm with you on those two, Leia. The last thing I want is someone talking bullshit nonstop without ever getting to the fucking point, especially when they're dismissive of other people's rights. Okay, I think I'm satisfied."

"Can I ask you a couple more questions, Ben?" she asked as she stood up again.

"Hit me."

"If I'm going to get into this thing with you, are you going to pay my way through med school?"

I nodded. "I can. Merlin's got a handful of funds set up for me, and if you want to, I could put you through Stanford."

"Well, now that brings me to the second thing I want to ask - I want to have some place out here to spend at least a little bit of the year. Is that cool?"

"Ben actually owns a house out on the north shore, not too far from Pierce Brosnan's estate," Lyssa said. "It's just not furnished yet."

"I do?" I asked her.

"I figured once Leia agreed, we could go celebrate and see the place together. Then she can move all her things out of this rental and into your Hawaii home, after, y'know, we've checked and made sure that you two can tango properly."

"How many more houses do I own that you haven't told me about?" I asked.

"Four? Maybe five. I'd have to look and check, really. Merlin didn't want you to ever feel like you were staying somewhere other than home, no matter where you went on the planet."

"Merlin's Gift is the thing that keeps on giving, isn't it?"

Leia moved over towards me then moved to slide down into my lap, as her hand brushed against my face. "You're cute, you're true-blue geek and you're not some useless incel moron," she purred as she moved to nibble on my ear. "C'mon, you've been eye-fucking me as much as I have you since we laid eyes on one another. I'm really soft..."

My hands slid along her back and she wasn't kidding. Her flesh was smooth and tender, and she shivered to my touch as my fingers combed along her skin the color of brown sugar before reaching to pull on the draw string of her bikini top, which she flung off almost immediately. She had tiny little chocolate covered nipples, but they were hard as steel already as I tilted my head down to press a kiss to one, suckling on it for a long moment as my tongue basted it with my spit.

Her hands had already reached down to rub against my crotch through my khaki shorts, and she giggled a bit into my ear. "That's what I like to feel," she purred. "You're a big fella, ain'tcha?"

"I've got a gorgeous girl in my lap and my girlfriend egging me on," I said with a grin as I shivered, feeling her teeth grazing against the golden hoop in my ear. "Who the hell wouldn't be?"

She shoved me down onto my back on the couch, my head resting in Lyssa's lap, as she grinned at me, her fingertips stroking my cheek. "Don't look at me," Lyssa said. "Focus on the person working."

I turned down and saw that Leia had moved to get down on her knees next to the couch, and was grabbing a scrunchy from the coffee table. She twirled her long hair up and put it into a ponytail, tying it back with the scrunchy before she moved to wrap her lips around my cock, pushing her head down it quickly and eagerly.

I wasn't surprised that she was good at blowjobs, but I think I was surprised how quickly she just sort of launched into it, after all the negotiations. I reached down to brush my hand along her face, but she took my hand and put it on top of her head, as if she enjoyed the thrill of the guidance, so I thrust her face down a little harder, a little faster, and she just made it sloppier and more enthusiastic.

I didn't want to pop off in her mouth, though, so after a couple of minutes, I had to pull her head off my waist, and it was almost like trying to take a tennis ball away for a playful puppy. "I wasn't done with that yet," she grumbled up at me.

"I thought you might rather have it somewhere else," I said.

She hopped back to her feet and pulled off her long skirt and the bikini bottom beneath, revealing her pussy with a small, neatly trimmed black triangle of hair. "I can get behind that. Or on top of it. Or... how do you want me?"

I slid off the couch and pushed her down onto her knees, straddling Lyssa, making her place her hands on Lyssa's shoulders, as my blonde girlfriend giggled back at me. "What are you waiting for, Ben? Let her have it."

Who could resist a request like that?

I pushed the tip of my cock against her slit and found her wonderfully wet and warm as she moaned when I hilted myself inside of her. She moaned and leaned in, pressing her chest against Lyssa's, as she whispered into Lyssa's ear. "Thanks for bringing him to me," Leia said in between shivers and moans, kissing at Lyssa's neck. "We're gonna make so much amazing content with him."

Whereas Lyssa was a bit like a stiff shot of whiskey, Leia was much more a smooth cup of rum. Lyssa had a fun and frantic energy about her that I loved, but Leia, by contrast, wasn't hurried or quick. She enjoyed leaning back into me only for me to push her forward.

"God, this is some prime choice cock you've brought me, Lyssa," Leia purred as my balls slapped against her clit when I sunk hilt deep inside of her. I could feel her calves pressed at the outside of my thighs as I tried to pick up the pace. "Fuck yeah, do it. C'mon cowboy, harder. Fuck me harder."

My own breath was starting to shiver in and out quietly, and when she looked back over her shoulder at me, there was a certain giddiness and glee to it that made me get more into the rhythm and tempo of it, her athletic and toned ass smacking against my pelvis. My hands held onto her hips and as much as I felt like I should've been the one setting the tempo, I think I was mostly just along for the ride.

"Go on, Ben, she likes it a bit rough," Lyssa whispered to me.

I reached up and slapped my hand against her ass with a bit more force than I was comfortable with, only to be greeted by a warm howl and a squeal of delight, as a shiver ran up her spine. "That's what I'm fucking talking about! Get in there!"

My left hand reached up and slid around her neck and gave it a little squeeze, only to see her feverishly nodding her head while my other hand cracked down on her flank again, probably making my hand hurt as much as her thigh.

From there, we were off to the races. Her body thrashed back against mine, trying to increase my force, to speed up my tempo, to just juice up everything we were doing to each other, until finally, I felt her start to quake and spasm, her walls clenching hard on me and whether I wanted to or not (I did, relax), I knew I was popping off with her, as my balls drew in and I let loose inside of her.

A few minutes later, the three of us were laughing and sharing a shower, trying to cool down a little, because it was more than a little warm, but let me tell you, we should've done that over at my new house.

We made the decision to take our rental car up to our new place near Kalihiwai in Kilauea, and good fucking gods, when Merlin says he's buying you 'a few places,' he does not fuck around. The house was a ten-bedroom, two story building, with an overlook peering straight out to the ocean, with our own pool, and, I kid you not, I'm pretty sure Pierce Brosnan actually is one of my neighbors, if you can call them that, since we're essentially on separate estates. (Still not sure, though. Haven't caught a glance, and I'm too nervous to ask.)

The place was mostly furnished, which was good, because I think I wouldn't have even had the slightest clue where to start with looking for how to get furniture on Hawaii. Import by ship? Cargo container? It's something we've got to figure out over the next few months for any finishing touches we want to do, but for the time being, we were just glad that there was a bed we could sleep in.

I also found that the fridge was full of drinks, fruit, food and the freezer had plenty of frozen meat in it. In the garage were a couple of Ioniq hybrids and a dune buggy, and on the windshield of one of them was a Post-It Note with the words, "Some post-ship upgrades to the gift. Enjoy! M" written on it, with the "M" being this large and lavish script so there could be absolutely no doubt about whose handwriting it was.

"Dear God, Merlin," I muttered to myself. "What you'd initially promised was more than enough. Now I think you're just showing off."

As we wandered through the house, in one of the bedrooms, sitting on one of the beds, we found a small, old stuffed toy octopus resting in the center of one with a letter underneath it, but before I could even say a word, Leia rushed forward and hopped up onto the bed, scooping up the stuffy into her arms, holding it tight, tears rolling down her cheeks. "He fucking kept it..."

"What are you talking about?" I asked her.

"When Merlin saved my parents life, I told him I didn't have anything to give him for thanks but my stuffed octopus, Ollie, and while he tried to tell me he didn't need it, I said to him that I wanted to pay the debt I had to him with the only thing I had, and I made him take it," she said, struggling to get through the words, although there was a big smile on her face. "I was only seven, but I wanted him to understand I knew what he'd done for me."

"Looks like he left you a letter," Lyssa said.

Leia nodded and opened it up, as she started reading to herself quietly. Then after half a second, she laughed and looked up at me before she ran over and clung to me, holding me tightly. "You're going to be okay, Ben," she said, kissing my neck. "We're going to get you there."

I remember tilting my head to the side, not really understanding. "What are you talking about?"

Then she showed me the letter.

Little darling Leia,

It's time I returned Ollie to you. I've kept him with me for a long time, as a reminder that sometimes I need to be less selfish, that I need to help people, that I need to reach outside my sphere of influence and do what's best for someone other than myself.

Your parents' boat being capsized, that wasn't directly my fault, but I did cause the conditions indirectly, and I've always felt like I was just righting a wrong when I saved you and your family from my mistake. A wizard is blessed with an immense amount of power, but we don't always emphasize care when we use it. I had an experiment that got out of hand, and you and your family were caught up in the wake. Saving your lives only felt like something I should do. And when you were so insistent on giving me Ollie, I made a note in my mind to make sure I eventually cleared the debt I had to you.

This is part of it.

Ben's a good guy, a hell of a guy. If he didn't do what he did and save my life, I would've been dead in a freak accident. And having watched the events from his mind and his perspective, nobody on Earth would've blamed him. It was a split-second decision, and he chose to risk his own life to save mine with his actions.

The thing is, Ben doesn't know it yet, but he's a bit of a timebomb, and I want you to help me safely disarm him. I can't 'see' the future, but I've been at this long enough to be able to predict possible outcomes, and before his life encountered mine, Ben was going to end up alone, not really through any fault of his own. He's had some bad experiences, and taken the wrong lessons from them, and I want to make sure this guy who did the right thing in the short term gets to get rewarded over the long-term. That's why I helped steer you into his path, and Lyssa's.

You're all folks in need of a family of your own.

I intend to help you all build one.

Ben's going to get sad sometimes without reason, but having you and Lyssa and all the others that are going to stumble into his life? You'll all help him get past that. My... well, my on-again, off-again partner, Morgana, she helped someone through something like this a decade or so ago, and I... uncharitably mocked her a bit at the time. Under some rather heavy self-reflection, I've realized what an ass I was being, so when this opportunity hit me, I wanted to show her that I was capable of growth.

That's this.

Anyway, feel free to show Ben this letter if you want, or don't. It won't change things. I've only set up a few of the dominoes that you are all likely to go to (I mean, Lyssa was obviously going to choose you - hell, I chose her partially because I knew she would choose you) but for the most part, I want to see how you build a new modern family.

Big love,

M

I remember looking at the end of the letter in sort of surprise, shock and awe. It was the first time that I understood that Merlin's gift was more about him than me, and about him using me as an opportunity to prove what he'd learned, but also the first time that I got a sense that the old mage might've actually been going through something of an identity crisis when he'd run into me.

I did not know exactly how prescient that sense would turn out to be...