Ch 1.30: ❤ Walk

Elaina was sitting on her bed, fully clothed, wondering which option to pick while she idly played with the handkerchief Tira had given her when they first me. She’d given up on option one, the only one she knew she didn’t want, as it was already well past dinner, past the cutoff for that choice, but she had to choose between the second and third fast. Curfew bell would be any minute.

“Hey, Elaina, are you alright?” Carline asked from her bed. “You look worried. Are you still shaken from the other day?” She was mostly under her sheets, reading a medical textbook by crystal light while sipping a cup of water and wearing a white nightgown that, despite its simplicity, was way too good at distracting Elaina from her current predicament. There just wasn’t any meaningful thing a nightgown could do to hide Carline’s generous chest peeking out over her covers.

“Uhm, yeah, I’m fine. I just…” She had to take care of this now too. She couldn’t just leave without saying anything, right? “Hey, Carline. You and me, what are we?”

Carline flushed, looking back down at her book. “I— uh, I mean, we’re… We’re friends, right? Roommates?”

Elaina looked down, blushing too. “Right… Well, I like you, a lot. I mean, we haven’t known each other very long, but we’ve been through a lot together already, you know?”

“Ye— yeah. I like you too. A lot.” Elaina looked back over, catching an adorably cute smile on her roommate’s face.

“So, anyway, uhm…” Elaina wished she could do anything else but start this conversation right now, but it needed to be had. “There’s this other girl, and I like her as well. I like her a lot, too.”

“Oh!” Carline looked back up, a little shocked. “That’s— that’s fine, really! There’s actually, well, I kind of like another girl as well. We’re not like, official or anything, but I think she might like me back?” Her eyes were wandering to the window, almost like she was talking to someone else. “I don’t know if she really does though. We’ve known each other forever and everything, but we’ve always just been friends. But what I mean is, I’m fine if you like another girl too. Just… just don’t forget about me?”

Elaina laughed, far harder than she meant to. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to laugh, but I couldn’t forget about you. You’re amazing.” Thank the gods. She really did like Tira, but what she had with Carline, what they could maybe have together, was important to her too. Also, what was that Carline had said about another girl? Elaina wasn’t jealous, but she was, well, intrigued.

“Well, I think you’re pretty amazing too…”

Elaina’s heart fluttered, a strange feeling. “Anyway, I was asking because, well, I’m going out tonight. I’m staying the night at someone else’s dorm.”

A medical textbook hit the floor. “Oh! That’s— I mean, that’s great! I just, uhm, didn’t realize you— didn’t realize you were there yet, you know?”

“Yeah, me neither, until earlier today…”

“Shouldn’t you get going then, though? The curfew bell’s going to ring soon. And I mean technically you’re not supposed to stay over at another student’s dorm, but I won’t say anything, of course! I just mean you don’t want to get caught by the Watch or anything, right?”

Right, that. If Elaina was going to do option three, she’d have to leave dressed in only her underwear in front of Carline. Had Tira even realized that, how absurd an idea it was? There was still no way that could happen, even if “Tira’s way,” whatever that was, sounded so… appealing.

Gods I want to.

“Well, I don’t really know when I’ll be leaving, but, uhm, it’s fine. I won’t get in trouble, don’t worry.”

“Oh, okay, I guess. I won’t press you.” Carline picked her book back up and began reading.

Elaina went back to ruminating. Option two, or option three? One easy, safe, and fun probably. One scary, terrifying, and also so fucking enticing. “Hey, Carline, are you a virgin?”

Carline choked, dropping her glass of water onto the floor. “I— What?”

Elaina’s face lit up, horrified that she’d actually said those words. They’d just come out. “I’m so sorry! You don’t have to answer that, it’s just… I am, and I’m kind of nervous.”

“Right, well, I mean—” Carline was hiding her face in her book now, giving up on any pretense that she was actually reading it. “I don’t mind sharing, I just was, well, kind of surprised. I’m not, actually, a virgin I mean, but I was scared my first time too. I’m not like, experienced by any means, but, like, I can offer some advice?”

“Yeah… I’d appreciate that.”

“So, like, I don’t know who you’re meeting or anything, and like, you don’t need to tell me, but it’s important you trust her. My first time was scary, really scary, but it was with someone I trusted, so it wasn’t that bad, really? It’s hard to explain, but I had a good time, a great time, even. So if you trust her, I think you will too.”

Elaina smiled. “Yeah, I do.”

The curfew bell rang, and Elaina remained still despite the bustle from students outside making their way into their dorms. “System,” Elaina asked, looking at the subcore that was resting on her nightstand. “Can you tell the time? Like, can you tell me when an hour has passed?” Carline gave Elaina glance, but didn’t say anything.

“Certainly. I have been tracking your bells, and they seem to correlate to the same units of time that were used in the past.”

“Cool, thanks.” Elaina didn’t have a clock, or a watch, so she had been worried about that. She’d decided though, option three it was. Tira’s way.

She waited.

“It has been an hour exactly,” the System eventually said.

“Oh, alright.” Heart pounding, Elaina got off of her bed and started removing her clothes: her jacket first, then tie, shirt, and skirt, finishing off with her boots and socks, leaving her standing in just her underwear, another set she’d made for herself back home. It was a skimpy, purple bottom, a small thin triangle in front connected to a near nonexistent back, and a matching bra, one that she’d worked hard on to make it push her breasts up into what she hoped was a pleasing shape. Guess that won’t matter for long though.

“Uhm, are you, not going after all?” Carline asked. She was looking at the cover of her closed textbook.

“Ah—, no, I am.” Elaina couldn’t help but stare at Carline. She was so cute when she was trying to hide how hard she wanted to glance over. “You can look at me, you know. Like, not just now either, but whenever you want.” Elaina went deep red as her roommate turned to her. “Uhm, by the way, how do I look?”

“Perfect.” You couldn’t even say Carline had said the word; it had just dripped out of her mouth as naturally as water from a tap.

“Great,” Elaina said, walking over to her dresser and grabbing Tira’s jacket from inside wrapping it around her arms. She left the handkerchief in the spot the jacket used to be. “Okay, I’m heading out.”

“Wait, now? Like that?” Carline said, leaning forward. “Isn’t that— didn’t you say that’s Tira’s jacket?”

“Uhm, yeah. I’m bringing it back to her, actually.”

Carline’s wide eyed stare bored into her, and Elaina felt like her whole soul was bare. “Oh. Okay. Well, be careful, and have fun. And, uhm, let me know how it goes?”

“Yeah, will do.” Elaina walked forward, pausing at the door. Could she really do this? If something went wrong, she’d be fucked, and not in the good way. She could be expelled, losing everything: Endrin, Carline, even access to the System. Tira herself, too. Tira. She did trust her, so she opened the door and walked out of the safety of her room.

School nights were “lights out” at curfew, though that just meant that students needed to be in their rooms proper, so the dorm’s common room was empty. She remembered the last time she’d been in the room like this, before her classmates knew about the photos. They’d said all sort of things, playful jeers, but the one person that yelled “Get some!” stood out in her mind. I’m finally taking that advice.

Empty or not, it was still terrifying to walk around the school in such a state of undress, and she hurried through the room and out into the halls while keeping the jacket closed around her as best she could. She almost let out a scream as she rounded the corner to the hallways and came face to face with one of the automatons.

Right, these things are here at night. She was used to them now during the day, both the ones responsible for serving food as well as the handful that she’d see performing chores on occasion throughout the school, but the army of them that roamed the halls at night was still shocking. They ignored her as she walked past them, just like before, but it still felt weird, walking through the groups of people-like things while wearing just lingerie and an oversized coat.

Fear gripped her, embarrassment gripped her, but something else gripped her as well. She was so uncontrollably horny, walking through the school like this. The previous time she had been so anxious, worried she’d get caught, and preoccupied with the portraits. There was still anxiety this time, but it was good anxiety, the giddiness you feel before something exciting.

Walking through the crowds of automatons, she couldn’t help but imagine they were actually people, her fellow students at the academy. That idea made her heart race even further, drove her mind wild with possibility. Gods, that would be so… She let go of the jacket, letting it hang open, unbuttoned as she walked. The automatons never registered her existence, single-mindedly focusing on their cleaning tasks, but she thought of them as her classmates, thought of them turning their heads in shock as she walked by them, thought of them staring at her with gaping mouths as she walked through the school in such a shameful state.

She couldn’t help it as she placed a hand on her groin, slowly rubbing herself over her panties as all those imaginary people watched. They would start taking out those crystal portraits, taking pictures of her as she struggled not to moan. Gods, she needed more though. She slipped her hand into her underwear, fingers slipping into the soft warmth of her body, alternating between pushing inside of herself and then rubbing on the outside.

She should be waiting, right? That’s what tonight was all about, after all: her and Tira. But waiting was so painful. She wouldn’t finish herself, she could save that for Tira, at least, but something had to be done, now. After all, those automatons—the students—were all there, watching her. She had to put on a show for them, right? No matter how humiliating it was.

And gods was it humiliating, even if they weren’t really there. Getting herself off as the whole school watched would be so fucking wonderful, even better if they all had pictures of it they could look at afterwards. Why am I thinking like that if I was so upset about the pictures before? It didn’t matter; that stuff was hard to think about, and doing this was so easy. Like this, even walking on that damned silk rug didn’t bother her.

She proceeded through the halls, putting a face to every automaton as she walked by them. She was getting close to cumming, too close. Eventually she came to the office, pausing at the door. I have the key. Do I open it? Knock?

The door answered for her, opening inward and revealing Tira on the opposite side, grinning as she stared down at a mortified Elaina. “Hello, darling.”