The four students come back into their dorms some hours ter, ughing and talking, Liv at their head. Even Maeve’s been swept up in the fun of blowing things up over the course of the whole exercise, and she’s in the middle of describing a particurly pretty shot when Liv stops in the middle of the room and gestures to the dorm room. “Ta da!” She grins, her gesture encompassing the pillow pit that’s been newly filled with pillows, the newly-filled pantries, and the shelves of games and books that have been added around the sides of the room. “Ishaza’s had the staff turn the whole pce over while you were out. No more sleeping on sandbags!” She beckons to the students. “Alright, everyone gather round, I’ve got a couple st things to say.”
The students flop into the pillow pit, tired but happy, and listen for what Liv has to say.
Liv’s gaze sweeps the group. “So, first thing’s from Ishaza. Now that you’re confirmed as third years and demonstrated you can control your fire on the range, you’re now considered responsible for any fire damage you cause. Be careful with your fmes and use the extinguishing technique fast if you mess up. That goes for helping your fellow students too, don’t just stand by idly while someone else torches the pce.”
A chorus of groans goes up from the students, and Liv spreads her hands and nods. “Yeah, yeah, I know, it sucks, but the Courtesan’s Guild isn’t made of money and some of the stuff we hand out to you, particurly the rare books, is expensive to repce. If you need to burn something to get the stress out, the disk thrower will stay set up on the range for the next year and you all know how to activate the circle on it now, so just grab a partner to pull discs for you and bst away. No range practice at night though, we get compints from the nobility when we do big fire bsts over the city at night: it scares the punters.”
Ember ughs, and nods. “Alright, alright, I’ll stick to more subtle ways of stress relief at night.” She looks over at Camellia, a wicked smile on her lips.
Camellia waggles her eyebrows back at Ember, then turns her attention back to Liv. “You said there were a couple things?”
Liv nods. “Yeah. Next thing — you’ve got the rest of the day off. Pantry’s fully stocked, make yourself whatever for supper. Games and books in the side bookcases. Have fun, rex, unwind. Ishaza likes to act like she doesn’t know you all are boning, but to be honest it’s not a big deal at all, so don’t hesitate to spend the time in the best ways, you know?” She waggles her eyebrows.
The students blush, and Camellia groans. “Liv, you don’t have to make everything about sex, you know.”
Liv shrugs. “Just a suggestion. It’s your time, spend it how you like. Sometimes games are genuinely better than sex. Rarely, but it’s been known to happen. Anyway, st thing —” Liv reaches into her pocket and pulls out four small pel pins, each one a brilliant silver and enamel fme. “These pel pins mark you as third-years. Wear ‘em when you’ve got clothes on, they’ll keep the staff from confusing those of you with more subtle transformations with unkindled sophomores. Ishaza would want me to do more ceremony over the presentation but I think you’ve all had enough of that for today already.” She extends her hand. “One for each of you.”
Ember reaches out and takes a pin, and Camellia, Fianna and Maeve take their own as well. Fianna pins hers on next to her silver owl and beams proudly as if she’d won the county fair; Maeve and Camellia follow suit, though a little more solemnly. Ember is the st to affix hers to her clothes, and shares a small smile with Liv.
Liv reaches out and musses up Ember’s hair. “Gotten so far already,” she says with a smile. “Looking forward to the day you make Courtesan.” She looks over at Camellia. “And the same goes for you and the day you make Guild Healer.”
Camellia blushes a little and ducks her head, but smiles. “Thanks, Liv.”
Liv looks around at the other girls. “Now then, nobody likes their teacher hanging around when they’re in the middle of something fun, makes ‘em feel guilty for no good reason, so I’m going to head off and see you for now. Who knows if Ishaza will pull me for another lesson or not, I’ve got a clinic to run, so if I don’t see you again soon ciao. But I’ll be back, if only to see you four graduate to fourth year, and after that, full Courtesan. That goes for you and Maeve too, Fianna; I might not have mentored you two but I can definitely see your potential from today. Have a great one.” And with a zy wave of her hand, Liv departs, not waiting for anyone to respond to her.
Ember watches her go with a small smile on her face. Maybe once she’s allowed off the academy grounds again she can catch up with Liv and ask her some more questions in private, like how she came to meet Camellia or how she feels about her constant orgasm…
Still. She’s got the whole day off, and Camellia’s throwing her a very amorous look. She looks back at the other three students and smiles. “So,” she says. “What do you all think of Liv?”
Fianna fshes her eyebrows. “I like her a lot more than Ishaza,” she says. “She gives it to you with the bark on, doesn’t talk around things like Ishaza does. And bsting things with her was super cool.”
Maeve rubs the back of her head. “I get the sense she doesn’t take the training super seriously. While she was fun to have as a substitute, I’m gd we have Ishaza to mentor us day to day. Still, it was nice to meet your mentor, Ember, Camellia.”
Camellia smiles. “I think she takes things more seriously than you’d guess, she just doesn’t really see why she should pretend it’s not fun. She basically has two modes, lethargic and dreamy and excited and on, and it’s pretty much random which one you’ll get on a given day.”
Ember nods. “Yeah. She’s an old friend of my family and practically raised me; she’s been like this for as long as I’ve known her, though I don’t have clear memories of knowing her as a kid.”
Camellia raises her eyebrows at Ember. “So she’s like your aunt?”
Ember shrugs. “Something like that. She’s the one who encouraged me to follow my dream of becoming a woman, even when my family wasn’t on board, and she’s the reason I’m here in the Guild. From what I’ve gathered, Ishaza was her mentor a long time ago too — no clue when, but before she knew me.”
Camellia nods along. “Yeah, she was super supportive to me too. She’s great to have in your corner if you’re chasing a dream.”
“You said she was your trainer in herblore?” Fianna cuts in. Her hands fiddle with the cuffs of her dress shirt. “What was she like?”
“She was… erratic, but gifted,” Camellia says. “She was the cheapest tutor we could afford, and that was because she did lessons on a really erratic schedule — one day eight in the morning, the next eight at night, the day after at noon, pretty much just according to her whim and whenever her clinic happened to be slow. Generally she’d teach me on her up days, but sometimes she’d come by on a slow day and I’d have to prompt her a bit to teach me.”
Fianna nods along, then lets out a small disgusted noise and starts unbuttoning her blouse. “These damn cuffs and colr are irritating my welts,” she says. “Anyone mind if I take my top off?”
Ember ughs. “The exact opposite.”
Maeve cps and grins. “Take it off! Take it off!”
Fianna giggles at Maeve’s reaction, and slows down her undressing, turning it into a little bit of a show for her girlfriend — and also incidentally for Ember and Camellia across the pillow pit. Camellia bites her lip, her gaze fixed on Fianna’s top as more and more cleavage becomes visible, and a little stab of jealousy goes through Ember as Camellia looks across the circle at Fianna.
Seized by an impish impulse, Ember leans in and kisses Camellia’s shoulder while she’s looking away. One of her hands slips beneath Camellia’s wings and around her hips, and she pulls her in close.
Maeve gnces over at Ember and Camellia, and her eyebrows jump for a second - then her gaze returns to Fianna as the scarred woman finally pulls her white dress shirt off over her head, leaving herself in nothing but her skirt and bra. The marks at her colr and wrists look red and infmed, but what’s more important is that her breasts are on dispy, only her simple bra keeping them from being completely exposed.
Everyone else in the room is suddenly looking directly at Fianna’s breasts, and she looks around and meets the gaze of each of them in turn, steadily flushing a little more with each person she looks at.
Ember takes in the half-nude Fianna, and the other girls’ obvious attention, and a sharp smile comes to her face. There’s a real opportunity here if she just seizes the initiative. After all, she wants to be looked at like that, too.
Ember stretches, pulling her arms up over her head and working her hands against each other, the motion pushing out her own breasts a little. When Camellia gnces over, she starts undoing the buttons on her own dress shirt, button by button, drawing it out just like Fianna did.
Fianna’s eyebrows jump. “Ember?” She looks over, then away, and ducks her head a little with a blush, suddenly parsing the situation as maybe a lot more than her getting rid of an annoying shirt with a side of teasing.
Ember undoes the st button of her shirt and shrugs it off, ying it out on the side of the pillow pit, and then reaches behind herself and undoes her own bra.
Camellia lets out a little squeak and looks away, but Maeve’s gaze stays steady on Ember as she pulls her bra off from the front and ys it atop her dress shirt. Good. She should be looking.
Ember looks over at Fianna and Camellia and raises an eyebrow. “What?”, she asks. “It’s just breasts. You’ve all seen mine plenty in the st few days, and in more charged situations too. Or are you all still repressing the fact that we’ve spent like thirty-two hours competitively masturbating?”
Camellia blushes deep red. “I was trying to ignore that,” she says in a voice that’s just a shade above a whimper.
Fianna runs a hand through her bck hair and ducks her head. “I, ah. Yeah. I kind of assumed that’d be a special circumstance given the situation with Kindling, and all…”
Ember shrugs and looks over at Maeve. “You don’t seem to be flinching at all, Maeve. What do you think?”
Maeve grins. “I think we’re going to see each other in a lot more embarrassing positions than this over the next two years,” she says. “And I’ve a mind to join you.” She undoes her own top, button by button, and pulls off and discards her own bra as well. Then she looks across the pillow pit at Camellia.
Ember suppresses a grin. It’s working! Next up —
“Camellia, do you want to join us, or…?” Ember gives her a teasing smile and raises an eyebrow.
Camellia looks from Maeve to Ember to Fianna, apparently unsure of where her eyes should rest, then lets out a long huff of a sigh and nods. “Alright, alright.” She undoes her own blouse, button by button, and shrugs it off her back — but keeps her bra on.
“Beautiful,” Ember praises her maybe-girlfriend, her gaze lingering appreciatively on Camellia’s breasts and generous curves. The blush on her face is really cute, and Ember can’t help but smile at her. “Honestly, it makes me want to kiss you.”
Camellia’s blush only deepens, but after a small hesitation she leans in closer against her, letting out a small soft noise of mixed stress and arousal.
Ember runs her fingers through Camellia’s hair and down her back, feeling her bra strap against her skin. Her wings are soft and comfortable too; she lets her fingers explore her new pinions, stroking back along her shoulders and back, and when her fingers come to the joints where Camellia’s wings meet her back she unexpectedly lets out a soft moan.
Ember’s eyebrows jump, and she pulls her hand back from the join of Camellia’s wings. “Sensitive in that way?” she asks.
Camellia ducks her head and nods, her blush reaching the tips of her ears now.
Ember gets a sharp smile. “Should I stop?”
Camellia pauses for fully three seconds before tentatively shaking her head.
“Good girl.” Ember smiles and settles her hand between Camellia’s wing joints again, stroking and feeling the sensitive underwing region where they meet her skin.
Camellia lets out a long sigh, and closes her eyes, leaning in close against Ember.
“Ember…” The word drifts out of Camellia’s mouth, soft and heated, and Ember smiles and dips her head to kiss Camellia’s shoulder.
“Camellia.” Ember looks across the circle of pillows at Maeve and Fianna, who are both watching raptly, leaning in with bated breath.
The moment’s right. It’s the perfect opportunity. Time to go for the kill.
“What are you waiting for?”, Ember asks Maeve and Fianna. She puts a teasing note into the words, one of her hands pying down across her body, emphasizing every one of her assets in turn — then slipping down her skirt and panties in one motion to expose her sex. “Come and join us.”
She lets her skirt fall to the bottom of the pillow pit, and spreads her legs wide, putting everything she has to give on offer.
Maeve and Fianna share a look, and then the pair of them move together, coming forward off their seats, and a thrill of victory goes through Ember. She’s won, she’s won, she’s won.
Now there's nothing left but to enjoy the fireworks.
