Ch 2.77: ❤ Rules

Carline was supposed to be paying attention to Flora, supposed to be trying to find Tira as they pushed through the crowd. Could you really expect her to though? The most insane thing she’d ever seen, ever even heard of, was happening a few dozen feet away on that stage, right before her very eyes.

“Stone! Parchment! Shears! STRIP!”

“Stone wins,” Shein announced, offering a congratulatory gesture to Elaina. “Your shoes, I presume?”

That was what, three items left for each of them now, by Carline’s count? Her eyes were glued to the stage as Prisma slipped off her shoes, placing them on front of the stage near her hair ribbon. Neither were really showing more than they had been when the took the stage, but the tension in the room was palpable. Everyone knew where this was going, where one of them would end up, and Carline could feel the lust pouring from everyone in the room.

“Can’t find her anywhere,” Flora said, stopping as they reached a point in the crowd too dense to push through, craning her head up to look through the rest of the room.

“Stone! Parchment! Shears! STRIP!”

The crowd groaned, both participants having thrown shears. “Tie, go again!” Shein shouted out almost instantly.

“Stone! Parchment! Shears! STRIP!”

The uproar as Prisma threw shears again and Elaina through stone was maybe the loudest thing Carline had heard in her life. There was a look of disbelief on Prisma’s face as Shein announced the winner and directed Prisma back towards the front of the stage. No, I can’t watch this, Carline decided, no matter how much I want to.

That’s what she thought at first, anyway. But as soon as she turned her eyes towards Flora she felt something familiar pulling her gaze back to the stage. It was the feeling she’d felt from Elaina many times over by now, the rush of lust and excitement as the girl would strip her clothes off, as people were watching her in some state of undress. But it wasn’t from Elaina this time, it was from Prisma. Her blood was growing warmer, her breathing growing heavier, her head rattled by the situation she was in while her anxious heart beat faster and stronger. There was now mistaking it, Prisma was turned on by this, the same way Elaina would be.

Maybe it shouldn’t have made a difference to Carline, but it did. With that knowledge, she could look on at the display on stage, at Prisma unzipping the back of her dress, sliding it off her shoulders and revealing the black bra underneath, her cleavage and stomach, matching panties, and all the while her growingly excited body. Carline had always knew Prisma was pretty, but things were changing as she stepped out of her dress and placed it by her other discarded clothes. Seeing the woman revel in showing off herself, despite the growing embarrassment, was enough to make even one of the most beautiful people Carline had even seen somehow look even more attractive.

“Nice fiance you got there,” Carline heard a voice say, followed by a chorus of laughter. It was barely audible amongst the cheering, but Carline was still able to find the source of the voice, Ivis, and the laughter, Nyla and Daly.

“Shut up,” Waine said, a disgruntled look on his face that Carline knew all too well. “That’s all you’re going to see; she won’t lose any more.”

“Stone! Parchment! Shears! STRIP!” Carline’s head whipped back to the stage as the crowd shouted again. That could be it, right? If Elaina won with shears then Prisma would have to strip twice, losing immediately. That sure seemed to be Elaina’s thought process at least, and something Prisma expected in turn, throwing out her own stone in response. They were even again.

“Now that’s what we’ve been waiting for,” Waine’s voice said, his sneer piercing through the crowd. It drew Carline’s attention once more, her horror and disgust as she was him reaching into his pocket and pulling out a crystal portrait, pointing it right at Elaina as she walked up to the center of the stage and prepared to shrug off her own dress.

Carline barely had time to think of how terrible a person Waine really was, barely had time to think of what she could do to stop it before she felt it. It was a feeling she hadn’t felt from another human since the attack on the school, one she’d hoped to never feel again, the cracking of bone. Waine shouted out, probably as confused as Carline was, both of them feeling the pain course through his body before seeing what the cause was.

Waine’s crystal portrait fell to the ground, a large boot stepping on it, the boot belonging to the same gigantic man who had grabbed and snapped Waine’s wrist. “People who break the rules aren’t welcome here,” the man said in a deep, smooth voice that somehow cut through the crowd, “and we’re always watching.” He bent over and picked the crystal portrait up off the floor with his free hand, then started yanking Waine away by his broken wrist as the boy screamed out in pain while his friends and Carline watching on in shock, completely missing the events going on up on stage.

“What’s the baby screaming about?” Tira’s voice said.

“Tira!” Carline and Flora both said, both having apparently been distracted by the situation with Waine.

“That’s my name,” Tira said, slotting into their group. “Would’ve found you sooner, but I was looking for a ball of frizz in the crowd, not Miss Perfect-hair here.”

“No idea what you’re talking about,” Flora said with a smirk, turning back to the stage. “But tell me, what the fuck did Elaina get herself into?”

Carline turned too, just in time to see Elaina stepping out of her dress and kicking it forward. She’s so brave.

“She didn’t get into anything, but she’s getting out of her clothes, one of the things she does best,” Tira said with a chuckle. “I feel bad for the Fireguard girl though, actually. There’s no way she’s getting off on this the way Elaina does.”

“You’d be surprised,” Carline said, ignoring the looks of confusion from her friends and watching along as both competitors turned back to each other.

“Well, guess we kick back and enjoy the show,” Tira said.

Carline couldn’t agree more.