Vol.4 Ch.20 – Moderately Educational

Chapter 20: Moderately Educational

Abigail was slowly winding down her performance. She always started out with the powerful ballads and uplifting songs and then gradually faded into quieter numbers. She'd always done it this way when performing in dark pubs and small venues and performing at the base wasn't any different. She usually performed in the evening so it was always nice to wind down when people slowly started to leave for bed.

Sometimes Awakeners would show up to dance to her music with one or two of their Shard Bearers, making dates out of her performances, though Abigail had never seen Elaine doing that. She liked it when people did that, liked that they enjoyed her music enough to bring their dates to see her performances, but she would still feel weird about it if Elaine were to do it. She wasn't jealous of her teammates, exactly, but seeing them sharing a bond with Elaine that she never would was still something she knew would irk her. It was her stupid instincts craving connection even while the rest of her was pushing everyone away.

But this time there weren't any Awakeners around, no couples cuddled up close. And she could guess why. Her song selection tonight had been very whiny. She never really started these performances with set song lists. She always adapted to the mood, both her own and that of her crowd. When people wanted to dance she'd give them something to dance and when they were just cuddling she would give them the right ambiance for that. But tonight she kind of... hadn't.

She'd been so deep in her own head – so far up her own ass, if she was honest – that she'd simply inflicted her moping on her audience. And while there had been a few willing to listen, a lot of them hadn't. But one of the people in attendance was Rachel. And as she wrapped things up with a melancholy version of I See Fire she saw Rachel getting ready to come talk to her.

**

Alexis had only lost her virginity a short while ago and so her list of awkward sexual encounters was fairly short as these things went. However, she was pretty sure that even if the list were to expand by an order of magnitude, right now would still rank near the top.

She was sitting on the bed of her girlfriend's boyfriend, clad only in underwear, her bowels cleaned out, waiting for him to teach her how best to play with her ass.

The situation was almost ridiculous enough to rob it of its awkwardness through sheer absurdity but not quite.

Alexis was not into boys, even if she made an exception for the very male thing her very female girlfriend had between her legs. She was not interested in Cassie sexually, even if she had to admit that seeing him all dolled up in a babydoll nightie she could totally understand what Elaine saw in him. But still here she was, having asked him to teach her about anal.

Part of it had been because she was worried about seeming too dismissive of him and part of it had been because Cassie had walked in on her and Elaine the first time Elaine had played with her butt, however tentatively. But, if she was honest, it had mostly been because she was sure he would be the best at explaining this. He didn't really make a secret of his specific interests and he seemed like the kind of person who put inordinate amounts of time and effort into the things he cared about. The absolutely meticulous way he looked was proof of that.

And while innocent little Alexis was a bit embarrassed to think in such crass terms, the fact that Cassie had put that much time and effort into learning how best to receive anal sex was both inspiring and a little intriguing to her.

Sex, to Alexis, had always been something that other people had. Even after she'd lost her virginity what Elaine and her had gotten up to had been fairly tame. Elaine had been very gentle and respectful with her, letting her take the lead. Even a threesome with Ophelia had been relatively tame, as tame as such things could be at least.

But the last time Elaine and her had been together had been different. For the first time Elaine had treated her not like a porcelain doll but like one of her lovers, had taken the lead with her. And it had driven Alexis wild. It had been amazing and exciting and mortifying even before they'd gotten caught by Cassie. Not getting to take the lead had been amazing, her girlfriend driving her to greater heights of pleasure than she could have reached by doing things at her own pace, but Elaine just going for a place she'd never even considered in a sexual way had been... thrilling. And she wanted more of it. And of course, because Elaine was anything but... small... she'd told Alexis to prepare for it if she wanted it. And so that's what she was here for.

“So,” she said, her voice barely quavering, “how do we start?”

**

“That was a great performance,” Rachel told Abigail.

The compliment made Abigail's heart beat faster. She wasn't too used to receiving compliments. The odd bit of applause, of course, but it was rare for people to just approach her after a performance. Maybe she just didn't seem very approachable or maybe they didn't care as much about the person performing as they did about the performance itself. Most of the time it suited Abigail just fine but somehow Rachel's compliment had gotten to her.

She wasn't used to reacting to people like that. Her heart beating faster, her forearms erupting into goosebumps, a slight warmth on her cheeks. Yes, Rachel was a very, very, very attractive woman but Abigail wasn't in the business of finding anyone, boy or girl, that attractive.

What was it about Rachel? She hated it when men approached her with obvious desire in their gaze. Not necessarily because she didn't like being desired but because the specific circumstances of men desiring her after her performances triggered some of her worst memories. But Rachel was different. Her absolutely blatant sensuality, the knowledge that this woman would absolutely jump into bed with her as she would with anyone present, somehow made it okay. Rachel's bedroom voice was fine, even appreciated, even if Abigail had no idea just how much of it was Rachel being actually interested in her and how much of it was Rachel just being generally flirty.

“Thanks,” she said, and to her surprise her voice held. “I'm glad you liked it.” She paused, then added: “Did you want to talk?”

**

Fuck, Rachel thought. She had hit Abigail with the full succubus whammy. Anyone else at the compound, with the possible exception of Stollos and Alejandro, would be on their knees barking for her if she hit them with that much of her power. In fact, she could feel some of the stragglers in the mess hall gravitating towards her, even though they'd barely been on the fringes of her display.

She quickly cast a simple working of mind magic to disperse the haze she'd put on them. They'd either rush to find their Awakeners or they'd go to their rooms to furiously rub one out. But that's not what had happened to Abigail.

She could see some signs of physical attraction on Abigail but even so the woman was still in possession of all her faculties, despite being at the epicenter of Rachel's glamour. Abigail's case was apparently worse than anything Rachel could have expected.

She hadn't actually come here intending to seduce Abigail. She had just wanted to see how deep the girl's lack of desire actually ran. And it ran deep. So deep, in fact, that Rachel wasn't sure how to fix it.

But she did know where to start. By talking.

“I did, unless you have something planned.”

“Not at all,” the singer said.

“Want to grab a drink or should we go to your room?” Rachel asked.

“I'm not really good with alcohol,” Abigail said. “My room is fine.”

Rachel nodded. She was glad Abigail hadn't asked why Rachel hadn't offered her room.

Elaine's girlfriends had all seen Rachel's room back when they'd grabbed Elaine from it after the Oath of Crystal Tears, the girls turning it into a communal effort to get their girlfriend bathed and clothed and presentable. Rachel was a petty enough person that this had been about staking a claim. She'd made Elaine's girlfriends carry their freshly and thoroughly fucked girlfriend out of her room, made them carry her (and Jeanne's) juices off her. Yes, she'd let them do it so they could all reassure themselves that Elaine had been fine but she still liked to think of it as staking a claim.

Either way, all of them had seen her room, had seen the frankly obscene selection of sex toys Rachel had decorated her room with, the ones that she barely even used, especially now that she had her new favorite chew toy Jeanne. But Abigail hadn't.

Obviously they hadn't wanted Abigail to see Elaine naked, hadn't wanted the girl to learn Elaine's little big secret, and so Abigail was the only one of their group who had never seen the inside of Rachel's room. And somehow she was certain that inviting Abigail into a room that turned out to be stuffed with sex toys wouldn't have improved the chance of having a fruitful conversation with the girl.

**

“Anal is all about preparation,” Cassie started.

“Didn't I just do that?” Alexis asked, still feeling a little squirmy from the enema. She had never felt so clean or so empty but somehow it had still felt invasive and still continued to feel invasive.

“That was the preparation for the preparation,” Cassie said. “Call it step zero.”

“Then what's step one?”

“What's the point of foreplay?” Cassie asked by way of answer.

Alexis could feel a blush coming on as she considered her answer. “To... get wet?”

“Pretty much,” Cassie said. “Except unlike a pussy the butt hole isn't self-lubricating.”

“But you still need foreplay?”

Cassie nodded. “Right. The fact that the butt doesn't get wet like a pussy doesn't mean you can skip the foreplay, it means you need it even more.”

“Why?”

“Anal hurts,” he said. “That's the cliché, isn't it?”

“Yeah,” Alexis said. She no longer believed it since Elaine's fingers hadn't hurt at all, quite the opposite, but that stereotype had to come from somewhere.

“That's because of people doing it wrong,” Cassie said. “Your butt hole is one big ring of muscle that's clenched up all the time. If you try to force something through it, it'll hurt. A lot.”

“So how do you get it to relax?” Alexis asked.

“Same way you get any muscle to relax,” Cassie said. “You massage it.”

**

Oh Abigail... Rachel thought as she stepped into the singer's room. The place was as empty and anonymous as Jeanne's, the only thing breaking up the sterility a single framed picture of Abigail with her mom.

“If you want to get out of the uniform, go ahead,” Rachel said. “I'll wait here.”

“Thanks,” the girl said, then grabbed something from her dresser and rushed into the adjoining bathroom.