Playa Dust in the Bedouin

I blinked in surprise at the serious tone in her simple words. My hand ran along her spine, a gentle caress of the taunt skin there.

"Do you love me?" she asked.

Hugging her to me, I placed a small kiss on those pert lips then a longer one. A much longer one. My forehead moved against hers in a nod as we both gasped for breath moments later. "Always."

"Say it," she demanded then.

"I love you." I moved to kiss her again, but her fingers appeared atop my lips stopping that kiss.

Leaning down by my ear my sister, my sweet sister began to whisper some of the most naughty and erotic things into my ear. Things she wanted me to do to her, and things she wanted to do to me. I felt myself harden back like a bar of steel at some of those wicked suggestions.

Grinning at me she sat back up, reached between us, and guided me back inside her. She was hot as a furnace and wet as a water slide.

Holding Olivia by her hips, I watched her cup her breasts, pinch the nipples taut, and then twist them hard enough to make her moan. There was an aggression to her moments now, a hot desire to reach a point of shared pleasure that we had not reached yet. Her riding me was pushing me closer and closer to my orgasm, and seeing her face as she chased her own lust was almost more than enough to push me over the edge.

"John ..." she breathed my name. A shudder of gasped breath with every letter given power. "Now ... please..."

Nothing could have stopped me then. No other thoughts intruded to make this moment any more second-by-second focused. I was gripped by that unstoppable urge even as she rocked harder and harder atop me. My hand came up to touch her but she caught it and used it as leverage to pull herself even harder down on me.

"John, now!"

Within her, I felt a tightening of muscle, a rhythmic contraction that surged down me and then relaxed. In that pause, I felt the first of my cum leave me to spray up within her. Through my mind flashed the thought "I'm cumming in my sister. In Olivia!"

That tighten grip returned, milking the length of me, and pulling every throbbing spurt out and into her.

With a cry that was half moan half scream, she locked up atop me, holding tight to my hand with a grip that hurt and drove her fingernails into my skin. Then her muscles went slack and my sister collapsed forward onto my chest.

Breathless, trying to get enough blood back into my brain to decide if we had just made a mistake, I held he as she whimpered, and tried to catch her own breath. Her legs twitched and trembled every few moments. Finally catching my breath, I nuzzled her hair out of the way and placed a small kiss by her ear.

"I love you." I kissed her neck again. "I always will."

Then I proceeded to whisper to her all the naughty things that I enjoy, and the ones that I wanted to do to her. Soon she was trembling with lust and giggling at a few of them. I shifted her till she was laying beside me.

We both fell silent as we heard someone enter the tent. Male voices, soft laughs, a mumbled suggestion I didn't catch but that made my sister silently giggle into her pillow.

At my puzzled look, Olivia leaned in by my ear. "Jim and Tim."

A few moments later there was a low moan, and then a deeper masculine groan of pleasure from the other side of the tent. A hard smacking of skin on skin and more moaning soon followed.

Laying there - holding my sister as she tried to not die from suppressed giggles -- listening to two men have sex, a novelty for myself I must say, I gave myself time to worry a bit about the fact I had cum inside of Olivia without any protection. I didn't regret it, but at the same time, I was a hint concerned about the possibilities. By the time that the grunting masculine moans and breathy whimpers came to an end, I had worried myself into a spiral of thoughts. Beside me, I could tell that Olivia was starting to fall asleep.

My head turned at new voices.

"Are you sure everyone else is still at the bonfire?" asked a woman's voice.

A male voice answered. "Positive."

Looking down, I saw that Olivia was now wide awake again and had her hand over her mouth. At my raised eyebrow she moved to whisper in my ear.

"Linda and Bill."

From across our tent came a woman's high laughter and the sound of rustling cloth. Then a giggle and male laughter joined hers.

"Oh, yes there is my favorite sex toy. You ready for mommy to make it feel all better?"

Bill answered his wife in a husky tone. "Yes, Mommy, your daddy is all hard and ready for you."

Olivia gave a small snort behind her hand, then hid her whole head in pillows and shook the bed with her suppressed laughter.

As our tent held its collective breath in amusement, the quiet married couple we had shared a tent with for the week began to have the loudest and most vocal sex I'd ever heard. Linda's pleasure screams had to be heard half across the playa. I don't know how Tim managed to not comment. Jim may have had him gagged with a sheet to keep him quiet. I almost had to do that with Olivia a few times.

And it went on and on.

After a good long while I began to wonder if some form of Viagra might be involved. Those "seek medical help if you have an erection lasting more than four hours" commercials began to play in my mind.

When it finally ended I wanted to applaud but restrained myself somehow.

Looking down I saw that Olivia's eyes were almost closed. I placed a soft kiss on her lips, She smiled and snuggled closer to me. Covering us both with a blanket, I gave a thought to staying awake a bit longer to see if Gloria or Kat were going to wander in to have sex. But it was only a lingering idea as sleep took me far too quickly.

** ** ** ** ** ** **

( Day 7)

There was far too much noise in the tent for so early a morning was my thought on waking. Extracting my dead-numb arm from under my sleeping sister's head was an exercise in limp pasta manipulation theory. Massaging out the pins and needles, I got to my feet. Threw on a semblance of clothes and stepped out into the common area.

I saw Bill's back as he walked out the tent carrying a Rubbermaid. Looking through the opening of their enclosure I saw Linda was packing up their camp bed. Walking over, I tapped on the canvas.

"Morning."

She looked up and smiled. "Morning, John. Sleep well?"

Oh, I so wanted to say something. It took all the restrain I had to keep that naughty comment behind my teeth.

I pointed to the stack of half-filled plastic boxes. "Pretty good. Ya'll heading out?"

Linda nodded. "Yeah, Bill wants to try and get ahead of the traffic and leave early." She gave a small shrug. "We saw the tower burn and The Man burn. I don't see the need to stay and see the Temple burn. Besides ... I want a shower! And air conditioning! This has been great, but I am heat cooked and filthy."

"Excuse me, John."

I stepped out of the way for Bill as he grabbed up a second box and did a spin around to carry it out.

I gestured towards where my sister and I slept. "Let me grab my shoes, and I'll give you a hand packing out."

Bill nodded thanks as he walked past me, but Linda shook her head. "You don't have to do that, John. We packed light and besides. We're leaving you with this whole great tent to pack up without our help. I'm sorry about that, by the way."

I waved that away.

"I could manage it by myself if I had to. More hands just makes it quicker, not necessarily any easier. Let me wake up Olivia, I'm sure she will want to say goodbye, and we'll get you on your way a bit sooner."

I turned and found a very sad and disheveled looking Tim standing behind me in a terrycloth bathrobe.

"You noisy people are exaggerating my hangover." He said in a pitiful voice, while scratching at his wildly static-fluffed-out hair. "I distinctly left a never wake up call for this morning."

Bill came walking back in. "Sorry Tim. Trying to get loaded before it gets too hot and trying to get out of here before the stampede for the exits starts."

Tim nodded and walked over to the coffee pot. "You are not forgiven, Bill. You didn't make coffee." He glanced at me. "Morning, John. Sleep well?" He shot me a wink and a glance back at Linda and Bill. "Looks like someone did at least. All full of energy this morning."

I nodded and hid a smile. "Well enough. Let me help with that."

Between the two of us we got water in the coffee pot, a filter nicely filled with coffee and the drip coffee maker plugged into the Jackery generator. I checked the charge. Looked like it would need it's panels out to make the day. Another item on the to do today list.

Tim turned back to where Linda was still packing and was about to make what I'm sure was going to be a blush worthy comment, when he stopped in mid swing. "Oh, look it's a kitty cat. Good morning Henrietta Pussycat. You look lovely this morning."

Glancing up from getting two cups filled with sweetener and dry creamer, I saw that Kat was pinning back the cloth curtains of her enclosure. She gave Tim a snarky look.

"Meow meow, bad men make too much noise, meow meow," she muttered. Her eyes looked me over. "Coffee?"

I nodded, even as I filled up cups for Olivia and myself. "Done."

She gave my side a poke as I passed her with the cups. "Staying for the Temple burn?"

"Far as I know, here till tomorrow in the morning." I nodded, trying to hold still the shook cups of coffee.

"Good."

Leaving her to her coffee. I stepped inside to find a half awake and naked Olivia sitting on the side of the bed. I handed her her coffee and sat down on my trunk.

"Bill and Linda are leaving."

She nodded and took a sip.

"You okay?"

My sister gave me a look then a small reluctant nod.

Feeling like I had lead in my stomach I had to ask. "Regrets?"

Olivia looked down into her coffee. "Confusion, uncertainty, a bit of worry ... but ... no. No regrets. I'm glad we did what we did, and I will happily do it again." She looked up at me, her eyes twinkling. "I must say you are an evil addiction for me, brother. I'm already edging for another 'fix' like last night even though I'm a bit sore." Olivia bit her bottom lip. "And I can not believe I told you all of those things."

I grinned. "Done any of them?"

She gave a small shrug and blushed. "A couple."

"Same." I leaned over and clanked our coffee cups together. "Here's to future naughtiness."

We sipped our coffee and shared grins.

It was with a few aching joints that we got to our feet and went out to help Linda and Bill - or Mommy and Daddy Fuck-Fuck as I will forever secretly call them in my mind from now on - to get packed out. There were a few teary hugs and then their SUV vanished off into the dusty playa.

The big tent looked larger and more empty with just that one enclosure taken down. I could tell from the quiet conversions over breakfast that we all could sense a change. Other this week together we had become a bit like an extended family. Now we were about to drift off as, well still friends, but not as close as we had been. I looked around at the various faces.

My eyes settled on Kat.

When exactly had I stopped thinking of her as Kathrine? When had I stopped actually calling her Nurse Gillian in my mind, for that matter? At the Temple, maybe. Earlier?

"John?"

Looking up from my empty plate, I saw that everyone was looking at me. "Yeah?"

"Are you okay?" Gloria asked. There was real concern in her eyes.

Even as I nodded, I glanced around seeing that same expression mirrored on other faces. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just lost in thought." Getting up, I put my plate in the shallow wash basin we had been using as a sink. Given we had to pack out any wash water with us, it was mostly there to gather dirty dishes into one place. "I'm going to go take a walk. Clear my head. I'll grab us some ice while I'm out."

As I headed out into Black Rock City I saw that Bill and Linda were not the only ones trying to beat the exodus traffic. In fact the choke point over by the entrance looked nearly as crowded as it had been when we arrived.

Deciding to walk out to where The Man had been to see what was left, I smiled seeing that there was still a crowd of people gather there. Many sitting on blankets, a few up and gathering moop from the surrounding playa. In the center there was a small fire burning. People were throwing bits of un-burned Man into it to keep it going. Seeing a dust covered chunk by my foot, I picked it up and did my part to keep The Man burning. I also picked out a burning stick from the fire and lit me a nice Davidoff cigar to start my morning.

Standing there smoking, I looked across the playa to the Temple. Glancing behind me, I tried my best but couldn't make out the dark canvas of my tent . It was still hidden behind too many others and a bit obscured by the rolling dust ghosts that were drifting across the desert this morning due to cars leaving. Even as I watched four big RV's began to pull out, breaking up the square formation they had been in.

Running my hand through my hair, I shook out a small dust cloud myself. I sent a puff of smoke to chase it away.

Gloria was concerned for me. So were the others. I was sad that Bill and Linda had left. Who were these people to me? Who was I to them?

Memories of the strong bonds that I had once had with the members of my unit. Even the ones I only saw in the larger formations were still a part of the whole. I could look at any one of them and think "This guy has my back no matter what." and I would have done the same for them. Yet here, after a week in this dusty hellscape, and I was feeling that same kind of feelings for this motley group.

"End of the week blues, John?"

I looked over and saw Kimberly walking up fanning her face with her hat. I smiled and gave a shrug. "Thinking deep thoughts."

She placed her hat atop her curls. "There are a great many veteran burners here this morning doing that very same thing. So many of us wish this could never end. But then The Man burns and we know it's going to end no matter what we do." She pointed to the Temple. "A few can't even stand to wait long enough to see that beautiful bit of collective art burn. Too many good times, too many wild moment they don't want to see become just memories. They leave early so that they can pretend that Burning Man never really ended this year." She bent down and picked up a small charred bit of wood. "Or - if they stay- they huddle here by The Man's ashes and keep a small fire smoldering all day."

I nodded understanding both feelings.

"And you?" I asked after a moment.

Kimberly smiled and pocketed the little bit of wood she was tumbling in her hand. She brought two ash covered finger up to her face and painted black lines under her eyes. "Me? I'm going to go get my party on before this day ends, and be drunk off my tits when the Temple burns tonight. I'm ready to howl at the moon! Nothing is over till we say it is!"

A passing burner said "Amen, sister, Amen!"

"Make a day of it, John. Carpe fucking diem!" She gave me a wave and followed that guy back toward the shrinking city.

Looking at my stub of a cigar, I took one last too-hot puff, then walked over to the fire and tossed it in. With a grin for the insanity of this place, I went to find the ice.

** ** ** ** ** ** **

Oddly enough, here in the middle of a desert it decided to threaten rain that afternoon.

It began with a cool breeze that made everyone cheer ... except the people that had been here before and knew what that cool wind was bringing. Then the thick fluffy clouds turned dark and there was a rumble in the distance.

Standing at the side of my tent watching the storm coming at us, I gave a sigh. If it rained I would have to put the tent back up at my house and let it dry out before storing it.

Olivia placed a hand on my bare shoulder drawing my attention to her. She gave me a small smile.

"Fireworks can have you trying to hide under the bed, but thunder and lightning ... I would have thought, if anything, that would be worse." She pointed at the storm with her chin.

I shook my head, and took a deep breath of the moist breeze. "No. It's different. Fireworks pop unexpectedly. The sound far too much like gunfire. And the smell like it too. That doesn't help." Turning I pulled her to me and looked down at her pretty face. "But storms remind me of heavy artillery. The range. The heavy rumble you feel in your chest and the way it seems to surround you in sound." I nodded my chin towards the distant thunder. "That's just the artillery boys testing some of their 105s or maybe a few of the 155s out at the range. It's almost comforting. Home-like."

"Giant popping explosions are 'home-like' but a string of firecrackers and a few bottle rockets is grounds for a padded room?" Olivia leaned in and a gave me a peck on the nose. "You are weird, big brother."

I nodded at the truth of that. "True." Looking at the speed the storm was approaching I made a quick decision. "I'm going to walk over to Robert the Pirates and have one last beer. I promised him I would try and drop by before we left and with tonight being the last night and packing out tomorrow it's liable to be too hectic later."

Olivia laughed. "That's likely to be one hell of an understatement. I've been watching the gate a bit today. It looks like I takes just as long to get out of here as it did to get in. And there are still a lot of people here."

I nodded agreement, even as I grabbed my hat and walking stick. "It is what it is. We will manage. But first, beer and pirates."

"Beer and pirates!" shouted Gloria from behind us. "That sound fun, I'm in."

So it was with that two beautiful women walking next to me, I set out on a mad quest through the storm-ridden desert for dark beer and recreation. Honestly that sounds better than we walked through the dust to get our drunk on before it rained.

We heard the big speakers at the Pirate's Paradise playing "Riders on the Storm" when we were still a good hike away. By the time we got there we realized it was on repeat.

Robert the Pirate saw us walk up and grinned. "Avast ya swabs, come to drink up all my booze again have ya? Well, good day for it. Bedamned if I want to have to pack out any of these kegs still full. Guinness all around, or will the lasses be drinking something else?" He already had his taps pouring one for me when he asked.

"IPA?" asked Gloria.

He gave her a look. "I ought to spank your bottom for drinking that bitter swill." Turning around he opened a blue cooler mostly full of ice. "I don't have any on tap, but someone left me a few dozen bottles of it when they headed out last night. I've got them iced down to the point ya might not be able to taste them." He dug a half frozen bottle out of one of the many coolers behind the bar. "Good enough?"

Gloria perked up and smiled. "Excellent. That's my brand!"

Robert made tisking sound with his teeth. "Weird girl." He slid the topped off pint of dark beer across the bar to me. "John ... here you go. And what for you, miss Olivia? I have hard cider ... ."

My sister almost jumped out of her short skirt. "Yes!"

Going back into the icy cooler he pulled out of frosty bottle. Popping the top her handed it to her with a flurish, then leaned on his bar. "Same as always. Last day I've got a dozen people dropping off every type of booze there is so they don't have to carry it home across state lines. I love it but I end up with some really strange stuff in stock."

The lighting that had been distant chose that moment to pop much closer. We all flinched a little. The heavy ruble rolled across the playa.

Robert shook his first at the sky. "Thor, you asshole, knock it off!" He looked at me and shook his head. "Damn vikings."

Chuckling, I held up my glass to that.