Ch 3.1: ❤ Honor

“I can’t believe I’m actually doing this…”

“You promised!”

“You know I was joking, right? I wasn’t serious!”

Listening to Tira and Flora argue over it wasn’t doing anything to calm Elaina’s nerves. The raging storm wasn’t exactly helping either, thunder roaring overhead, rain crashing onto the roof of the outdoor workshop’s wooden roof while her two upperclassman had a near shouting match, each trying to make their voice heard over the rumbling in the sky. What exactly did I do to get wrapped up in this again?

“I know you were joking,” Flora said, “but then you said you’d do it for real! Before and after we saw the giant platypi!”

“There’s no way ‘platypi’ is the the plural! I’ve accepted everything else, but you’re making that up!”

“I think I read it in a book?” Flora said with a shrug, her hand sliding up to her jacket buttons, tugging at her lapel. “So, are we going to do this?”

It was the moment of truth. For all her playful protestations, Elaina could tell it was a genuine question this time, that if Tira said no Flora would drop the subject. Up until now Tira herself had complained, groaned, griped, but she’d never said she wouldn’t do it, and this was her last chance.

She sighed, shaking her head and starting to unbutton her uniform. “If I don’t honor my promises, then I don’t have any honor at all.”

“Yay!” Flora said said, jumping into the air and clapping. Elaina thought she saw both a hint of both a smile and blush growing on Tira’s face. “Gods, it’s so fun, you’re both gonna love it!”

Even taking a pause to celebrate, once Flora started undressing she was soon far ahead of Tira, having her entire jacket off before the latter even had the buttons on hers completely undone.

“Why are you so fast at this?” Elaina said, starting do undo her own uniform.

“Lots of practice!” Flora already had her shoes off, skirt undone and set on the workbench next to her jacket. “You learn to be quick when you’re doing stuff like this!”

“Couldn’t you just, you know, sing your song and twirl your clothes away?” Tira asked.

“Of course not! That’s for stripping, not streaking. Speed is the name of the game here!” Just a quick pull on her tie and a lift of her shirt and Flora was done, completely bare while her two compatriots just had their jackets off. No bra, no underwear to speak of at all, just her, running in place as both Elaina and Tira stared. “Come on, hop to it! You can stare all you want later.”

“I am not staring,” Tira said, turning around and slipping her boot off. Elaina could see it though, both the embarrassment and the lust in the woman’s eyes.

Elaina also did finally remember how she got roped into this. After all, was she really going to sit it out while two of her best friends ran across the castle grounds naked? Of course not, and that’s why she was now standing in the middle of the workshop in the middle of a thunderstorm in just her underwear.

And of course Flora was staring at her now. Tira was moving slower, had her back turned besides, so that obviously left Elaina as the object of attention. Somehow it never got any easier, having eyes on her as she got dressed, certainly not eyes as hungry as Flora’s were right now. She did wish there were hungrier eyes there, Carly’s eyes, but that wasn’t meant to be. Tira had made it very clear that anyone coming along had to participate, not just watch, which was both fair and something Carly wasn’t willing to agree too. Maybe next time.

“Are you excited?” Flora asked, leaning towards Elaina as she unclipped her bra. “Have you ever done it before?”

Excited? Elaina wasn’t quite sure which version Flora meant, but she certainly felt one form of the feeling. “N— no. Not exactly…”

“Oh? And what does that mean,” Flora said, stepping closer, eyes tracing over Elaina’s chest as she shrugged her bra off, covering her chest with her arms.

“In— in my underwear, not naked.”

“You’re gonna love it then! Gods, running naked is the best feeling. And rain both makes for good cover and feels great as well!”

Elaina bit her lip, nodding. She knew she was going to like it, was already liking just standing out there in only her panties, pulling them down as she crossed her legs to hide herself while Flora watched, feeling the slipperiness of her thighs rubbing against each other as she tried to hide her wetness.

“Speak for yourself,” Tira said, sliding her shirt off, revealing remarkably toned back muscles that Elaina honestly didn’t get to appreciate enough. “This is the stupidest thing I’ve ever done…”

“You’ll love it too, promise!” Then a grin grew across Flora’s face, one that would’ve actually fit better on Tira. “And if you don’t, I’ll be your toy for a whole week.”

If it weren’t for the downpour, Elaina would’ve thought time had stopped. She sure stopped moving, Flora stopped moving, and Tira Strask was as still as a statue.

“You’re on.”

Tira started making up for lost time it seemed, throwing her skirt to the side, pulling off her bra, leaning over and presenting her ass to her friends as she ripped off her underwear.

“Alright,” she said, turning around and covering herself with her hands, only the smallest hint of her thin strip of pubic hair peeking out. The girl was still blushing, clearly, but there was a look of determination on her face as well. “Lead the way, Flower Girl.”

“Alright, but try to keep up!”

Flora was off, and she was fast. Elaina and Tira both stood there for a moment before running after her, plunging themselves into the torrent of water and letting out small shrieks, instantly soaked as they chased after the sound of Flora’s laughter.

“Fuck that’s cold!” Tira said. She was faster, but that wasn’t a bad thing entirely, Elaina soon realized. Tira looked downright silly running through the field, more waddling than running honestly, hands wrapped over her body. Elaina knew she looked the same, but at least no one could see her, right? There were the mindless armor suits walking around, but Elaina knew from experience and Flora both that they didn’t care about Endrin students walking around the grounds, clothed or not.

What if the suits weren’t empty though? Elaina couldn’t help but thinks back to that humiliating evening only a few nights prior, standing on stage just as naked as she was now, a hundred pairs of eyes on her for nearly two hours straight. That was certainly more embarrassing, but there was a different thrill to this, the trill of running, the fear of getting caught. Gods, she was going to need to relieve the pressure mounting in between her legs sooner rather than later.

Flora turned around, starting to run backwards just as a flash of lightning illuminated everything in sight, causing both Elaina and Tira to yelp as Flora got to take in the view of them running in their shame.

“Faster! Don’t cover yourselves, just be free!”

“Not while you’re looking!” Tira shouted over the storm.

“If you beat me to the lake, I’ll give you another week of my being your toy!”

“Fuck!” Tira sounded exasperated as she cursed but then she started to laugh. “Damn you, Florence Stouth!” she said as she dropped her arms, sprinting to try and catch up.

That was never going to happen though. Once Tira started trying even a little bit Flora shouted, “Yippee!” and turned around again, darting through the rain at speeds Elaina never could have believed a human could run, aspected or not. Level 3 in addition to [Nature] was serving her physical abilities well, it seemed.

Still, Tira wasn’t giving up, and Elaina had to drop her own arms to keep pace. It was a short run from that point, maybe thirty seconds of full sprinting at their top speeds before the lake came into view, Flora leading the pack and diving in off a rock, Tira and Elaina coming up and jumping in just a few seconds behind her. Elaina let out a gasp as she came up, unwittingly having winded herself when she collided with the water. Gotta watch out for my own speed.

“Hey,” Tira said, treading water with her feet and folding her arms over her chest, once more reserved. “I said I’d streak here, not go swimming!”

“But what’s the point in that!” Flora said, backstroking across the water as she laughed, raindrops pitter pattering on both her body and the lake surface. “And I never said you had to either, you jumped in on your own.”

Tira sighed, shaking her head and smiling again. “Whatever. I guess you did beat me here.”

“And you had fun!”

“I did not say that!”

“Not saying you didn’t either though, are you?” Flora said as she let her body fall back into the water, giving a wink.

For a moment, Elaina felt a tiny twinge of regret. She’d had fun on the run, was still… excited wading in the water, but she couldn’t help but feel like she was a third wheel. No matter how much was being left unsaid between her two friends, there was obviously something there, something Elaina wasn’t quite sure she fit into. Then Flora turned towards her.

“Elaina, I’m horny. Wanna have sex?”