Chapter 20 : Early Afternoon

Kianna’s eyes went wide as she realized what she felt was Anton’s fingers holding her ear in place.

“W-wait!” she whimpered as she confirmed she couldn’t simply flick her ear out of his grasp “I-i-its!”

“Ssh...” hushed Anton as he put his hand on her shoulder and gave her a gentle squeeze “It’s okay, Kianna. I’m not going to hurt you...”

The dark elf whimpered though her nose as she clamped her eyes shut.

“Just relax Kianna...” breathed Anton as he gave her ear a tiny tug “I promise you’re going to be okay”

Kianna whimpered again and swallowing the lump in her throat she gently nodded her head.

“Good girl!” whispered Anton as he gave her shoulder another squeeze “Such a very good girl!”

Keeping her eyes shut tightly, Kianna began to breathe slowly through her nose in an effort to calm herself down.

Anton’s grip was firm but gentle as he held onto the tip of Kianna’s ear and kept her in place whilst at the same time making every effort not to pinch her. Staying relaxed himself, he waited for her to calm down enough to go still, before raising his other hand and slowly running his fingertip down along the helix, or top edge, of her long and sensitive ear.

Kianna groaned softly in her throat and began to quiver from the sensation. Every instinct in her being was screaming at her to pull away and escape but her logical mind squashed these feelings and forced them back down as she became determined to trust her Master.

Though he could only see a portion of Kianna’s face from his vantage behind her, Anton still watched her intently and smiled as he recognized the resolve take shape in her determined expression. Moving slowly and deliberately, he ran his fingertip back up along the edge of her ear before going back down again. He did this several times over the course of the next few minutes and each time he could feel her tremble less and less.

Superficially, the outer ears of the elves were very similar in design to a humans, with the major differences being their elongated shape, their heightened sensitivity to touch and the fact that unlike in humans, the intrinsic and extrinsic musculature along their base was fully functional and allowed their ears to move. Unbeknownst to most elves, these same muscles that gave them the ability to move their ears were also responsible for supplying the dreaded hypersensitivity to the skin that surrounded them.

Beyond these key features though, there was very little difference between the ears of an elf and those of a human. Like humans, the elves ears were made of a pliable elastic-like cartilage that gave them their shape, and was covered in a thin layer of skin. This cartilaginous frame had an overall shape that was similar to humans in that it had a lobe at the base, though in elves this lube was more rounded and not as bulbous as it was in humans, a pointed tragus that protected the opening to the ear canal, a thin helix that ran along the top edge of the ear and gave it a rim-like overhang as well as it’s sharp point and an elongated, bowl-like concha that worked to collect sound waves and funnel them down into the inner ear.

Anton paid close attention to each of the nervous murmurs that Kianna made as he both examined and “played” with the different parts of her ear. He would move on to a new target only after she seemed to get accustomed to his touch in that area and began to go quiet.

From tugging on her lobe, to rolling his fingertip in her concha, to pressing down on her tragus, to moving her whole ear up and down on it’s axis and to even folding it in over on itself. He worked gently but thoroughly to at least partially desensitize her ear to his touch.

The poor dark elf did her best to remain as stoic as she could, but her discomfort was more than obvious. And several times it became clear that she was fighting the urge to pull away from his grip. At these times Anton would stop what he was doing and speak soft encouragements to her as she whimpered in response and made the effort to calm herself down.

Once Anton was satisfied with the progress he had made and was able to run his fingertips across the majority of Kianna’s ear without triggering any response from her, he let her go completely and chuckled as she immediately began to twitch her newly freed ear wildly up and down.

“You are so mean!” whined Kianna in embarrassment as she hid her face with her hands and flattened both of her ears down submissively behind her head “That was really, really intense!”

“I know, and I’m sorry...” said Anton as he wrapped his arms around her and gave her a comforting squeeze “But we’re almost done, just one more to go...”

Kianna stiffened in his arms before hunching in on herself and groaning in misery. Although she was clearly unhappy, she offered no resistance as Anton gently twisted her head to the side and began the same process with her other ear.

This instance went by much quicker as Kianna was already familiar with what was going to be done to her and knew that Anton wasn’t going to cause her any pain either deliberately or accidentally. And as such she wasn’t nearly as nervous this time around.

When he was finished, Anton released his hold and chuckled again as she immediately twitched her ear wildly before flattening it down along side her other one.

With an annoyed pout on her face, Kianna turned back to him and narrowed her eyes in irritation.

“I hope you enjoyed that because I didn’t!” she declared as she folded her arms over her chest in protest “That was not a fair trade at all!”

“No, no it wasn’t, and I’m sorry about that.” sighed Anton as his face softened “But it was very important Kianna. Because it’s going to make this next part a lot easier...”

The dark elf stared at him for a moment before blinking in confusion.

“Wha, what do you mean?” she asked as her eyes became laced with a thread of nervousness “What are you talking about!? What next part!?”

“The part where I take care of you...” said Anton as he turned away from her “You’re probably going to hate this...”

Twisting at the waist, Anton reached back behind himself to his deck chair and unzipped the top compartment of the travel bag that was sitting in it.

Kianna’s eyes went wide as she watched him rummage around a bit and pull out a bag of cotton balls.

“Wait, what are you doing!?” she whimpered as she eased herself away from him.

“Kianna, I don’t want to have to put you into “golem mode” like your sister.” said Anton as he set the cotton balls down on the edge of the tub and reached back into the bag “That’s why I messed with your ears the way I did. So that you could get used to what it feels like when I touch them.”

Kianna was silent as she stared at the bag of cotton balls. After a short moment, a look of understanding took form on her face and this was quickly followed by an expression of nervous acceptance.

Anton set a small bottle of alcohol down on the edge of the tub next to the cotton balls and turned back to Kianna with the thin metal rod in his hand. As his eyes landed on the dark elf he couldn’t help but to chuckle at the sight of her.

Kianna had wrapped her arms tightly around her torso and hunkered herself down in a subconscious effort to look as small as possible. With her ears laid flat behind her head and her large eyes moist with early tears she looked for all the world like a terrified puppy that was cowering during a thunderstorm.

“Oh c’mon now Kianna! There’s no reason to look so pitiful!” exclaimed Anton as he wrapped his arms back around her and pulled in against his chest “You poor little thing! You’re acting like I’m about to stick a bunch of needles in you!”

Whimpering softly, Kianna offered no resistance as she let herself be pulled in against him.

“Just, go slow, okay!” she whined as she made an obvious effort to avoid looking at the metal rod by turning her head away from it “Please!”

“I will...” soothed Anton as he gave her another gentle squeeze “I promise...”

Shifting her to the side, Anton angled the dark elf in such a way that she ended up laying sloped with her head resting in the crook of his left arm. In this way he was able to easily reach her ear and was even able to cover her eyes by curling his hand back over them.

“Just relax...” breathed Anton as he let his aura seep into the dark elf “This will all be over before you know it ... I promise...”

Though her eyes were already hidden beneath Anton’s hand, Kianna still clamped them shut and made an effort to distance her mind from what was going on around her. But even with her mental preparation she still couldn’t help but to jerk back as she felt the rod come close to the opening of her ear.

“It’s alright Kianna...” whispered Anton as he tightened his arm around her head and actually held her still “It’s okay. I promise it’s okay...”

The dark elf whimpered softly as she hugged herself tighter and splashed at the bathwater as she nervously shifted her legs back and forth.

Doubling the power in his aura, Anton held the rod with two fingers and angled it outwards as he laid his hand on top of Kianna’s head and began to softly stroke her hair in an effort to relieve her fear. After several minutes of this he again tried to approach her ear with the rod and this time she remained still and let him begin his task.

Although he couldn’t see her eyes as they were hidden behind his hand, Anton still knew that she was constantly blinking in nervousness as he could feel her eyelashes brushing against his palm and fingers with each blink.

“Such a good girl, Kianna...” he breathed in a calming tone as he gently worked to clean her ear “My brave little dark elf ... She’s such a good, good girl...”

Making tiny, little moaning sounds with every other breath, Kianna remained still and calm as she kept her mind focused on Anton’s voice.

Once the wedge at the end of the rod was fully covered in grime, Anton flipped it around to the still clean end by twirling it between his fingers. Within less than half a minute of starting he was already finished with the rod and was able to set it down on the edge of the tub before awkwardly fishing a cotton ball out of the bag. Still only using only one hand, he then popped open the cap on the alcohol and by pressing the cotton ball against the top and flipping the bottle over he was able to soak the cotton ball.

Kianna’s ear twitched involuntarily at the sensation of the soaked cotton ball being pressed against it.

“We’re almost done Kianna...” soothed Anton as he slowly ran the cotton ball along the length of her ear “You’re doing great ... Such a good girl...”

Being as meticulous as he could be, Anton went through three more cotton balls before he felt satisfied enough to call the task complete.

“That’s one down!” praised Anton as he lifted the now limp dark elf up and gave her a light squeeze “You doing such a great job Kianna! You’re such a good girl!”

Kianna moaned quietly but happily as she leaned back into him and nuzzled her head under his chin.

“Just one more...” said Anton as he held her for a moment “And then we’ll be done...”

Loosening his hold on her, Anton twisted to his side and quickly cleaned and prepared the rod to be used again.

Kianna had gone quiet and stayed completely compliant as Anton shifted her to his opposite side and held her in the same way as before but with his other arm.

Now using his less dominate arm, Anton was far more cautious and took nearly twice as long with his task this time around. But having experienced this already, Kianna was better able to stay relaxed and unmoving.

As she laid still and let her mind go blank, Kianna began to feel a subtle shift in how the sensations coming from her ear felt to her. Without even realizing it on a conscious level she began to register these sensations in a completely new way. And as Anton, now moving in an even more slow but no less meticulous manner, continued his soft and gentle efforts to groom her, she began to gradually crave the feel of his touch against her skin more and more.

With a feeling of relief in his chest, Anton set the rod down on the edge of the tub and began to prepare a cotton ball for the next phase of events. Finally finished with the most hazardous portion of his task, he couldn’t help but to feel a sense of elation.

“We’re already done with the worst part now Kianna!” he exclaimed softly as he smiled down at her “My little dark elf has done such a great job! She’s such a good girl!”

Aside from taking a quick breath, the dark elf remained completely still and unresponsive as she laid limp across his arm.

“Kianna?” questioned Anton as he lifted his hand away from her eyes “Are you okay!?”

Kianna kept her eyes closed for a moment before slowly opening them and staring straight ahead at nothing. Blinking slowly she took in a deep breath through her nose and let it out with a sigh as she closed her eyes again and went back to being still.

“ ... Hm.” mused Anton as he cocked an eyebrow at the clearly relaxed dark elf “ ... Okay then?”

Deciding not to question good luck, Anton covered Kianna’s eyes back up and set about completing his task. With the dark elf staying as still as she was, he was able to finish cleaning her ear rather quickly despite being forced to use his impaired arm.

Once fully done, Anton went still for a moment as he looked down at the dark elf. Taking the very tip of her ear between his fingertips, he tentatively rolled it back and forth as he felt it’s soft, sharpness.

Aside from making a small noise as he gave her ear a slight tug, Kianna didn’t seem to even register any of the attention he was currently giving to her ear.

Grinning to himself, Anton let go of her ear and moving slowly, lifted her back up to a sitting position.

Kianna made another tiny sound in protest as she blinked open her eyes but other than that she made no effort to resist. Now sitting with her back to him, she slouched forward and let her ears hang limp from the sides of her head as she otherwise went completely still.

Watching her for a moment, Anton pursed his lips in thought and turning to the side, prepared another cotton ball.

“Okay, Kianna...” he soothed as he reached down and retook hold of the tip of her ear “I’m just going to go ahead and get this last part and then we’ll be completely done...”

The dark elf stayed silent and made no move to resist as Anton lifted her ear up by the tip and held it outwards as he ran the cotton ball along the back and behind the base. When he was finished, he quickly did the same to the other side.

“ ... Alright!” said Anton as he put his hands on Kianna’s shoulders and gave her a playful squeeze “We’re done! We’re completely done! And see? That wasn’t so bad! ... Was it!?”

Kianna remained absolutely still as Anton tilted his head from one side to the other in an effort to gauge her condition.

“ ... Kianna!?” he asked as he gave her shoulders another squeeze “ ... Are you okay!?”

The dark elf was still for another moment before she gently nodded her head.

“ ... Alright then?” questioned Anton as he cocked an eyebrow at the back of her head “ ... How do your ears feel!? ... Any different?”

Kianna was still for yet another moment before she tentatively lifted her ears up from their limp state and slowly moved them back and forth.

“ ... So, how do they feel? ... Any different from before?” asked Anton as he watched her ears stop at their resting position and go still “ ... Do they feel odd? ... Or, better? ... Or?”

Kianna was quiet for another moment as she moved her ears back and forth one last time.