2.19 – Wakeup

Natalie woke up with a soft, warm body tucked into hers. Compared to the idle chaos—even at the dead of night—of forty women packed into a cramped barracks, it was an immediately noticeable improvement. She sighed in satisfaction, snuggling in closer. The alarm Sammy set hadn’t gone off, which meant they had a few moments, maybe more, to bask.

One jump-skip later, apparently having fallen back asleep, a blaring noise woke Natalie. Unlike the vibrating glyph, Sammy had the more typical version, and the jarring noise was as terrible as she remembered. She groaned even as her bed-partner slapped down on the cursed object, cutting the noise off.

Sammy let out a long, displeased noise, which accurately reflected how Natalie felt, too. Sammy snuggled in closer, doubly reinforcing the point: both of them really didn’t want to get out of bed.

Unfortunately, classes started soon, and she didn’t have a change of clothes with her. She checked the clock.

Natalie groaned again. Proper timing hadn’t been on her mind, last night, and apparently, neither had it been on Sammy’s. She’d set her alarm for a time convenient to her, not Natalie, who had to run back to the barracks to get dressed, rather than having everything ready to go in her room.

“I’ve gotta get going,” Natalie reluctantly said, extricating herself. Sammy whined at the sudden lack of heat. She propped up on one hand to watch Natalie as she went about the room, collecting the clothes she’d tossed off during last night’s … activities.

“My eyes are up here,” Natalie said pointedly.

“I’m well aware.” The focus of Sammy’s attention didn’t shift, though her lips did curl.

Natalie snorted. “Wanna shower?”

Sammy rolled over and stretched. “Nah. It’s cramped in there. You’ll hog the water.” She collapsed back into her bed then turned, quirking an eyebrow at Natalie. “And I have a feeling you’d make us late to class.”

Natalie couldn’t defend herself from that accusation, not with confidence, so she laughed and left for Sammy’s bathroom. A brisk clean-up later, she exited, still damp. It’d been a rush shower. Beyond not wanting to take up too much time for Sammy’s own morning routine, she had to make it to the barracks to get her uniform. It’d be a close call.

“Talk again, soon?” Natalie asked.

“Do you mean talk, or talk?”

“Either?”

Sammy seemed happy with that response. Maybe they’d both known what they wanted, setting off to the party last night, but Sammy didn’t want to be treated just as Natalie’s ‘potential lay’. “You’re just trying to mooch off my room.”

“It’s a big plus,” Natalie agreed with a grin.

“Unfortunately, it’s not something you can get away with, too much. Once or twice, here and there. Tenet won’t let you.”

“And what, they’re watching?” Natalie had paused at the doorway, hand on the doorknob.

“They are, actually. Those shitty barracks are one of the early motivators. Dunno how they keep tabs, but they do. This’ll probably be one of your freebies.”

“And how many do I get?”

“No clue.”

Natalie considered that. “I’ll keep it in mind.”

“But we can still talk,” Sammy said, winking. “Just, can’t stay the night each time.”

“Works with me.” Though it had been nice having someone warm to wake up next to, and the lack of bustle in the barracks.

She waited another second to see if the conversation would continue, but Sammy rolled out of bed, heading for the shower. She waved Natalie goodbye, who returned it, then slipped out.

***

She made it to morning practice on time, though only by a few minutes. Jordan had already left. Had she waited? Natalie realized she hadn’t explicitly told her that she might not make it back in time to walk together. She had told her that Sammy had invited her to the party, though, and so Jordan had probably pieced things together.

Was that a problem? Her and Sammy?

What was Natalie talking about? Obviously not. Why would it be a problem? Beyond her and Jordan not being in a relationship—the confusing ‘class stuff’ and resulting physical intimacy wasn’t a ‘relationship’, however hot and heavy things got—Jordan had been the one encouraging her to find other partners. So even if she and Jordan had been in a relationship, then clearly she would be fine with it.

Not that they were in one. Natalie didn’t even know where this train of thought was coming from. Or going. Why did thinking about Jordan in regards to this topic always leave her in such disarray?

Just the weirdness of it all. That was it.

She’d gotten another boost in her secondary resource ‘lust’ from her activities with Sammy, which meant she’d earned twice as much as normal—both Sammy and Jordan. The ultimate goal would be to have as many girls as possible she was consistently earning points from. Which was weird, putting it like that. Turning relationships into a sort of game, something to be ‘progressed’ through. But, Natalie could separate the strangeness out.

Scheduling could get a bit weird, though. Impossible to manage efficiently. The harvest skill reset once a day. A little below that, actually, though the exact timing she didn’t know. So assuming she had multiple ongoing partners, having fun with each of them once a day would be ridiculous.

Jordan, she suspected, would be the only one ready to help her out consistently.

Which was, uh, good.

Not that Natalie was excited she had routine make-out—now groping, soon to be more—plans with her best friend. A purely, one-hundred percent platonic relationship. Well. Maybe not platonic, now, by the definition of the word. But … just friends. Who made out and groped, sometimes. Er, every day.

It was just the proper way to be handling things. Again, Natalie was playing from behind, and needed as many opportunities to be advancing her class as she could get her hands on.

Plus, even if under inappropriate circumstances, she’d never turn down a chance to hang out with Jordan. While hooking up in bathroom stalls wasn’t exactly a hobby she’d thought the two of them would pick up, she’d enjoy any time spent with Jordan.

She pointedly pushed the messy thoughts away, walking through the polished halls of the training facility, headed for more lessons guided by Tess.

Remembering that, she slowed, then almost stopped entirely, blushing. She was going to face Tess after … the event in the bathroom? Using an illusion of her to get herself off? She’d almost forgotten about that, somehow.

Well. It was just imagination with a few extra steps. It still had her cheeks burning, but it wasn’t like the event had been morally wrong. Maybe a bit questionable, but definitely not horrible.

And between worrying over that and the possibility she’d been caught … well, the second concerned her much more. But as she’d figured then, there wasn’t much she could do about it. If she had been, then the perpetrator would reveal themselves soon enough. Or if they didn’t, then she guessed the matter was settled. No point in stressing.

So, magic lessons. More bashing her head into a wall. At least it’d take her mind off things.