The timer beeps. It's officially her third day.
She closes her coloring book and puts her colored pencils away.
She orders some Aphrodia juice and slurps it through a straw.
... mmmmm. Alright, time to take on the day.
She takes her five minutes and really thinks hard about it while she eats her waffle.
When the last of her berries is gone, she puts down her knife and fork and gathers herself.
"... no," she says. "Because, and sorry if this is blunt, I'm not attracted to you, Sunshine. Lazrian is my type but I'm afraid I'd spend all my time on them; I don't want to treat you as just an acessory to getting to have sex with them."
Audrey steps out and goes back to her rooms.
Well, that was interesting. She can't believe she turned down her first threesome. When is another opportunity like that going to happen?
... well, she could always make it happen...
She goes and sits on a beanbag she conjures and sips at some juice.
... It wouldn't force something on her. She can always say no. She'd like it, just like she's liked everything the Bowers has given her so far. It wouldn't embarrass her, just like it hasn't had her happen on someone else while nude here in the hotel.
... but it might give her her little kink.
"It's not arbitrary that it's at the cutoff for adulthood, adulthood is a complex concept and it matters, right - but it's at the center of some fuzzy distribution, and could and has been drawn lower at some times. So let's set aside for the moment the category of "always children", say twelve and below, and look at the "sometimes children" in the six years between. Why can't you fuck a fourteen year old?"
"I want... to make a pillow fort with someone and then have sex in it. To color with someone. To drink aphrodia juiceboxes during aftercare and turn it into middlecare. For someone to brush my hair again. To cuddle someone as the little spoon. To... be in a smaller body..."
She stumbles.
"Alright.
So, my dad was kind of an asshole. Controlling, violent. Strict and demanding. Always wanted my time. So I built a fortress of my studies and I didn't come out. Learned to be controlling like him just to survive. And... I'm terrified of being like him, and at the same time I love it and it gets me off. So, like... I've got issues."
"Tell me about it.
Anyway, I've been given an assignment to explore more options. To let down my guard a little. And they assigned me an escort for it but - I needed somebody I could trust. So I called you. And then I waffled like the - positive self-talk." She takes a breath. "Like the troubled young woman I am."
"It helps for everyone to know each other beforehand. If hypothetically I wanted to have a threesome with you I'd probably bring on one of the Bower escorts that I know, like Cheri or Ansuz, because they're experienced, used to being shared, and would make for a good first threesome for you."
"Alright." Hannah takes a few strides over to the console, punches in her order. Comes back with two chilled bottles of root beer and a bottle opener. She sits down next to Audrey, pops off the top of a bottle for her, and passes it over. Then she undoes her own bottle and takes a swig.
She shimmies her shoulders a bit, getting comfy, and lays her head atop Audrey's shoulder.
"This is nice," she says.
"Feeling a bit lazy, are we? I suppose I can indulge you."
She rolls over atop Audrey, straddling her with her long brown hair hanging down into her face. Hannah's pussy presses in firmly against Audrey's cock.
Hannah's hand falls to Audrey's shaft, and starts to stroke it softly.
"Everything you wanted?~" She teases.
Hannah pets Audrey's new pussy, stroking her as she kisses her. Her fingers slide in a V just to either side of Audrey's clit, teasing but not quite touching the oversensitive nub.
"Enjoying the attention, huh? I saw you looking at Kumi earlier; don't lie to me, you like others' eyes on you while you're enjoying yourself." She grins and kisses Audrey's cheek.
Kumi slides in to Audrey's side and wraps her tails firmly around her waist. One of her tails slips in next to Hannah's teasing hand and adds little flicking touches directly on Audrey's clitoris.
"I think you're right, Hannah. We've found ourselves a regular ex-hi-bitionist. I wonder how much convincing it'd take to get you up on a stage. Probably not much.~" She giggles and kisses Audrey's other cheek.
Hannah's rubbing fingers produce a thankful sigh, while Kumi's added tail-flicks pry a moan from Audrey's lips. She flushes terribly red at the pair's teasing words, but snuggles in closer to Kumi anyway.
"Alright, you got me, I like being watched. But you're not, ah, getting me up on a, mmm, stage, anytime soon."
"What happened is I got a brilliant idea in the middle of sex and just went and tried it. Some amount of that is necessary for good sex, but I should have been more cautious around you, Audrey, since it was your first time and all. If I'd just asked none of this would have happened."
Kumi, meanwhile, comes up behind Audrey and lets her knotted cock fall against her ass. Her left hand rests in the curve just above Audrey's hip; her right grabs a fistful of Audrey's pink hair. She presses her lips against Audrey's nape in a firm kiss.
"Still good?" She whispers.
Audrey just tries to hang on through the incredible sensations of being double fucked. The hands all over her, the cocks inside her - it's amazing she hasn't come again.
Oh wait, she's cumming again.
She doesn't manage more than a particularly lusty moan and a hard clench around the cocks inside her.
Audrey picks up her box of pencil crayons and opens it, exposing the worn-down tips of her current set. She lays it out flat between the two of them. Her hands tremble a little.
She takes a deep breath. "Okay, so. Firstly, you want to select a color palette that complements your subject. I like working with warm colors, so I'm going to do this witch in pink and gold and brown..."
"Hurting about it doesn't help anything. You still deserve pets and comfort even though you messed up, and neither of us are really taking this personally. Sure, I'm annoyed, Hannah is annoyed, but this kind of thing happens, especially with inexperienced people like yourself. It's just cost of doing business, honestly."
A section of wall recedes backwards, leaving behind a two-burner stove/oven combination, some counter space and a minifridge. There's a utensil drawer above the minifridge, a large overhead cupboard and a microwave set in next to it. A loaf of bread and a package of bagels are sitting on the counter, along with a toaster and a knife block full of knives.
There's a two-liter of 1% milk and a bottle of vanilla creamer and two glass bottles of root beer and a five-pack of apple juice cartons and a half-dozen eggs and a block of mild cheddar and small bottles of ketchup and mustard and relish. There's a freezer section in the bottom, crammed full with bags of perogies and dumplings and a six-pack of beef and bean burritos and a half-dozen fat weiners and a matching six-pack of hot dog buns.
When she looks, it's full of water.
Alright then. She gets out the small bag of perogies and the kitchen scissors and snips off a corner and dumps the perogies into the water. Then she turns on the stove fan and lights it. A gasflame whumphs to life, and she leaves the pot heating. (Whoops, wrong order, but oh well. So the perogies will be a little soggy.)
She hums to herself softly, and goes to throw out the perogie bag only to realize it vanished as soon as she set it down empty.
She's still not really used to that.
What to go with her perogies...
How about french toast? Does she have syrup?
Real maple syrup too, none of that fake stuff. Nice.
She pulls the milk and eggs out of the fridge along with the syrup, then gets down a small plate, a large plate, and two cups. Pouring some syrup into the cup, she sticks it in the microwave; then she opens the egg carton and cracks an egg onto the smaller plate.
What to do with the eggshell -
Put the slice on the plate and dip another slice and put it in the pan, grind the coffee, put the filter in place to pump hot water through it, put the glass of milk under the coffee spout, start the machine, flip the toast...
She hums a little while she works, enjoying the slight rush to get everything done at once.
Get the syrup from the microwave, flop the second slice of French toast from the pan to the plate, get the coffee (slurp it a little to keep it from being overfull, mmm), pour the syrup over the French toast, get out a slotted spoon, spoon out the done perogies from the boiling water onto the plate with the French toast and turn off the heat, plate in one hand coffee in the other turn -
She puts down her plate and cup and goes back for a fork and her root beer. Setting them at her place too, she sits down in the chair and starts her meal, stabbing a pierogi with her fork and popping it into her mouth.
Of course there's a mess left in the kitchen, but the Bowers will handle that for her.
Mmm. The perogies are a little waterlogged. But the french toast is good, and the syrup is real, and the coffee is too...
It's relaxing, making food for herself again. Sure, she could just stuff herself the whole time with luxury foods, the Bowers isn't going to run out of hot meals anytime soon, but -
It makes her feel comfortable to do something that's part of her everyday routine. Grounding. Steadying.
... She wants to cook this way for Lily.
Gosh, where'd that thought come from? It's warm and soft and nice. She's blushing a little just thinking about it.
Isn't it a little early to be having domestic fantasies about this girl she only met two days ago?
... Yep, she is definitely crushing.
She distractedly finishes her french toast, turning the thoughts over in her head.
... Lily... shows signs of that too, doesn't she?
And they are, like, girlfriends, right...?
So isn't this normal?
...
She should call Lily.
For some reason it's kind of hard to pick up her phone. Tension coils in her chest at the thought of - admitting it. Saying she's sweet on Lily. Maybe even...
No, it's still way too early for the L-word, snap out of it woman -
She chews thoughtfully on the last of her perogies.
There's a little pause, and then -
"... On one hand, hearing you want to make food for me is... well, there's no point in that unless the making of it is the point, right? So you're saying that... you want to be of service to me. You value me. You want to be a part of my life. And it just... occurring to you... says that you're probably crushing on me. Am I right?"
"Being a little isn't a liscence to be immature, but I appreciate you reaching out. It's rare to get to know someone so like yourself - I feel a little like you're my sister in some ways, you know? So if you're willing to try again, I can look past what happened. Just don't do it again."
"Hi," says Pigeon. Her voice is so quiet it's a little hard to hear her, even in the half-empty café. "Audrey - sorry, I mean Aurica - has told me about meeting you, and about... how you were her first... and how you inspired her to start looking for people she had shared interests with." She squeezes Aurica's hand under the table and smiles that little half smile again. "And it's been a real blessing, having her, so... I wanted to thank you."
"It turns out there's a couple of words that can be used to describe people like us, who aren't typical littles - who like to play a bit older, be a little more aggressive, be a bit bratty. Middle - for someone who plays older than twelve but younger than eighteen - and babygirl - for ageplayers who use it as a way to dominate from the bottom with rediculous demands on their caregivers."
Audrey sighs.
This is a bad idea. She's probably going to get groped or something -
Well, hold on a second, this is the Bowers, the wards would catch that. Okay, hit on by someone obviously drunk. Or forced into a drinking contest or something, Hannah is already pushing a lot -
Fortunately she's already wearing her casual clothes, so she doesn't have to figure out what to wear, this is fine. And it'll only be for fifteen minutes and then she can leave. She can deal with - loud music, and boorish patrons, and the rest of it, for fifteen minutes. She'll be okay. Hannah will be there.
If she would just hurry up and get here.
After a few turns through the hallways, they come to a wide open arch with rose-vines clinging to it, and beyond there's a space full of tables and chairs, with at least twenty or so people scattered around the room at the bar and around the various booths. There are big televisions set up in the corners; a couple are showing sports, while another one is being used to play Super Smash Bros by a group of four girls with neon-dyed hair. Between the hubbub of people chatting and eating, the sports and Smash playing from their respective corners, and the background rock music, it's a little hard for Audrey to catch what Hannah says.
Hannah leads the way past the bar and over to a spiral staircase down onto a dancefloor and stage. There are tables set up on the dancefloor with people chatting and hanging around, and the stage is empty for the moment.
"There's music and strip acts in the evenings, but in the morning it's just extra space for the bar. The arcade's off to the side here by the stairs..."
There's two dozen or so arcade machines with attached controllers, pistols and steering wheels and dance pads. A whole bank is just various consoles on start menus. Hannah picks out a console that's not being used and boots Smash on it.
"My first few days were pretty tumultuous too. I didn't expect to be popular. You expect - men like Luar - to get the majority, but it turns out that the women who don't like him generally like me, and vice versa. Suddenly I was spoiled for partners who would -" He takes another sip of his coke. "... appreciate my service. At first I was just happy to have sex, but after I was no longer starving..."
"Alright. I like you. I'm intrigued by the possibilities of having a pretty boy in my service. I don't really believe you when you say that you're okay with my having a cock. I think you've noticed this - " she taps the transforming necklace around her neck " - and you think you'll be able to fuck me while I happen to have a pussy. You talk a good game but actually you're hard up for partners, so much so that you're willing to try inexperienced girls like me."
"You could try Mia if you wanted, but I think she's a bit preoccupied with Luar. I don't see anybody else I know around, but..."
She walks over to the railing and surveys the crowd.
"I'm not going to point, but that woman downstairs in the white dress shirt and the black lingerie drinking her coffee alone, in the corner opposite the games? I think she's a good bet."
She stands for a moment, fidgeting with the smooth wood of the balcony under her fingers, then walks along to the stairs down again, feeling the grain slide past. Down the spiral staircase and across the floor to the stranger, that's not so hard.
"H-hi," she asks. "Is this seat taken?"
It's a short walk over, and then Anna opens a door in the hallway to reveal a room decorated in rich red tones. There's a curtained bed, easily big enough for four people, and drifts of scarlet pillows with black roses stamped on them, and a mahogany nightstand with lube and aftercare potions already sitting on it ready to use.
Anna sashays over to the bed and flops over on her back, stretching her arms above her head as if she were making a snow angel.
A booklet the size of both of Audrey's hands together appears on the bar.
Rose Bowers Program of Events is written on the front in gold decorative font, with the Bowers' rose logo behind it. The rest of the cover is taken up by a picture of the Bower Gardens from a high terrace, hedge maze stretching off into the distance.
Dear Audrey Ingram,
Congratulations on your growing experience and confidence from your time in the Bowers. Within these pages you will find the knowledge you seek. These things are always best experienced firsthand, aren't they?
I recommend the Borderlands and Hotel Backstage walking tours, the production of Threefold at 5:00 PM, and remembering to rebook your next therapy appointment with Tasha. Do with my recommendations what you wish; I've provided you with the whole program for a reason.
Whatever you do, know that I'm proud of your progress and happy for any measure of satisfaction I've given you. It's an honor to know you, even briefly.
- Sunaira
"Oh yeah, there's always one on the inside front cover. Took me by surprise the first time I read mine too. Don't worry too much about it, she always says the same general things - it's practically a form letter, just personalized a little bit using your data. Want to see mine?"
She clears her throat and opens it to the front page.
"Dear Hannah Ashford,
You should know by now that I 'path all of these myself. You never were a very curious one, though, now were you? Still, that's neither here nor there. I recommend for you to hie thee to the nearest Gate of Night - but then, you never listened to my advice either. I'm still pleased to take your dimension-mangling money and give you free reign of my Bowers; if that's what makes you happiest then I'm not going to stop you. You may be interested to know that Scythe is performing again tonight; if you want a less serious suggestion, I suggest you take Rose to the front row of that and tease her silly about her girlfriend performing without her.
I'm glad to bring joy to your life, and remain as always,
Your Humble And Obedient Servant,
Sunaira"
Four things:
1: I have access to your basic client profile, the same one the Escorts have. That tells me you're a civil servant, lived on Arcbright, and the fact you were a virgin when you came to the Bowers. It doesn't include your logging or scheduling data.
2: I know your query to the system for a program - "I want to learn more about the history and culture of the Bowers", more or less.
3: I have access to the scheduling information for the Bowers therapists to know you haven't followed up, though I do not know how what specific issues you've been dealing with. Your therapist's session notes are sealed to me and I cannot open them without your explicit consent.
4: I know that the automated recommendation system thinks Threefold at 5 PM would be lovely for you. I don't know why. The raw data going into that recommendation is not technically sealed, I can get at it if need be since I'm the final system administrator, but in practice I have much better things to spend attention on.
Oh, are you interested?~
In an average month, I'd have private in person sex with one of my lovers once, maybe twice. We'd cuddle for maybe an hour, or they'd feed me, or we'd skip stones, or otherwise do something physical but not sexual. We'd probably also have a threesome. If they were the kind of priestess who goes to play parties, we'd go to a play party together. We'd walk the gardens with me as an illusion, tell each other stories, watch movies together. I'd give them little gifts using the same system that supplies the consoles. If they wanted more sex from me, I'd inhabit a tenta-pet or remote-control a sex machine to give them what they need. Naturally I don't need reciprocation given all the other sex I'm having all the time.
It's authentic for me to give generously in my relationships; that's just what I'm like as a person, and I have so much that I can't help but share. None of this is a chore to me; I do it because I love them all and want them all to be happy.
But just between you, me, and Hannah, I maintain a special set of twenty-five extremely enhanced bodies specifically for pursuing full-time relationships with the priestesses who impress me.
"You already said that. Uh, give me a second..."
She rubs her forehead and sighs. "Knocked me right out of my zone, you two. Anyway. Mostly it's like she's a busy high-powered executive and we don't really get to spend as much time together alone as we'd like? I spend my physical hours with her each month cuddling her usually, I get enough sex from my clients and need the relaxation. She likes to teleport little cookies into my open mouth when she can't directly handfeed me, and whisper in my ear when I'm, um, enjoying alone time, and when I miss her physically I go the priestesses' cuddlepuddle party and she pets everyone and always makes sure to skritch behind my horns. Generally we save actual sex for my birthday, when I get a four hour private block with her."
"There's a particular place in the gardens that overlooks a river and has soft pillows and there's a particular other girl I like - you wouldn't know her - who comes there often too, so often what happens is she serves me food while I chat with Sunaira and relax. Usually sushi. Often it turns into a three-way date since there's usually no reason not to include her."
Her rooms are as she left them, except for the center console. Atop it sits a mandarin orange, and a plastic tray with little sections full of beads and elastic and superglue. There's a little pad of paper in the side as well.
The room seems to have decided to be full of the sound of waves on a beach for some reason.
... But then, it's the Bowers. She can be a little ridiculous.
She unspools a little of the elastic, and carefully starts threading pink beads onto it. What is this, pink topaz? Pink sapphire? It has a deep rose color that accents her hair nicely.
She intersperses it with black onyx, two beads pink one bead black, on like that around the whole length of the bracelet. It's 24 beads around her wrist, right? Well, worry about that when she's done enough groups to reach the end.
... but eventually, twenty-four beads are strung onto the piece of black elastic.
She tests it against her wrist for fit, carefully holding together the disparate ends. Yeah, twenty-four is still right.
She snips off the spool end of the elastic, and ties a reef knot between the two ends of the strung bracelet. Then she sets it down on the pad of paper.
The superglue should be mostly dry now. Just to be sure she waits a minute or so.
Then she slips on her new bracelet with a smile.
It's a shame she'll have to give it back at the end of her stay... Ah well. For now, it's beautiful and hers and so good.
She kind of wants to show it off to someone...
"Um, well... I expect that... We'll have a fun time, here together, and we'll be... intimate... and I'll learn some things about being a little from you, and you'll learn some things about being a caregiver from me, and - you know, it would be, like, good. But I don't know if it'll last. I do know I'll remember you. I, um, I already have some very nice memories about you. But making you part of my life? That's... That's a tall order."
"I don't know that. I could still... catch feelings. But it's hard to build on a... kink relationship, I guess... for me. I'm... Oh, I don't know what I'm scared of. But thinking about you being my caregiver and my girlfriend and my - you know, all those things - makes me really, really anxious. I feel... exposed."