Annette shares a meal and an invitation with a friend.

"... And sho she tol me ta shtudyet," Annette spoke around a tart to the woman seated across from her at the mess hall. She gulped down what was in her mouth, then thought about how far to take the story. "So, um... Ingrid and I studied it a little bit... Needless to say, I worked up a sweat and an appetite! These treats you baked are like divine manna, Mercie!"

Her friend, Mercedes von Martritz, simply smiled and shook her head. Nothing her old mage academy friend did, from telling an incredible story to talking around a mouthful of baked goodies, seemed to upset her. "Now, now, Annie. You know it's my pleasure to bake for you any time. I do appreciate the praise, though. Even if it is slightly sacrilegious."

Mercedes and Annette made an odd pair at the dinner table: if Annette was everyone's little sister, Mercedes was everyone's big sister. More than a few years older than Annie, she was likely one of the oldest students at the Academy. She had a mature but harmless look about her, with wavy, light blonde hair in a long braid, tied by a ribbon and hung over her shoulder. She was known around the monastery for helping others out, taking things easy, and having a religious background. She was also known for being a bit of a klutz, but, somehow, "Mercie" and her friend "Annie" often managed to cover each other's weaknesses.

"Aaah, I'm always just so amazed by you, Mercie... You're an amazing baker, the best friend ever... And you don't get shaken by anything, ever! I was sure that story was going to get a rise out of you."

"Oh, that's understandable, but you know how I am. I've heard some crazy stories, too, as a matter of fact! Like this one about the ghost that roams the chapel after dusk..."

Annette interrupted her quickly. "Wait a moment. Mercie, you do realize I'm not telling you a story, right? This actually happened to me, just today."

Mercedes giggled again, before seeing that her friend was starting to look irritated. She gasped, wringing her hands. "Oh! Oh. I must have misunderstood... Maybe I wasn't paying attention? You said there was a magic music box that made you want to dance-"

"Not 'want to dance.'" Annette corrected her. "Were you really listening, Mercie? I said it makes you have to dance!"

"... I'm almost certain you said 'want to dance,'" Mercedes defended herself, putting one of her dainty hands to her cheek. "But, okay, Annie. I was wondering why you hadn't opened unwrapped that package... It isn't something you made for dinner, is it? Is that the magic box right th-"

Annette leaned across the table and clapped a hand over her friend's lips, shushing her. She leaned back and tried to shrink down to make herself less conspicuous. "S-sorry, that's my mistake. I forgot it's supposed to be a secret kept in the Blue Lions... Anyway, it's best if we don't talk about it here."

"... We already talked about it quite a lot," Mercedes pointed out, poking at her food. "I have to say, you seem quite excited about it, Annie. Is the music really amazing? Do you think I'd enjoy it?"

"I know you would, Mercie. It's so amazing... Oooh, I almost want to play it for you right here! B-but I think that'd be a bad idea." Annie sat quietly for a moment, eating another tart and looking pensive. "Mmm... What to do, what to do..." She nearly choked on her tart as she suddenly bolted upright. Ignoring Mercedes fretting over her, Annette quickly cleared her throat. "That's it! Mercedes, how about we have a little late night slumber party, like we used to back at the School of Sorcery? We can catch up, and gossip, and I can show you how the magic works!"

"Eh? A party?" Mercedes clapped her hands together in delight. "That sounds wonderful! Although... I just baked sweets. Maybe we should save the rest for the party... Also, Annie, I'm sure you know there's a curfew for good students?" She asked the question, but she was still smiling.

Annette giggled with a big grin. "We'll have the most quiet and discrete tea-slash-dance party of all time, Mercie." The younger woman carefully wrapped back up the sweets Mercie had prepared, taking them in a bundle without asking. "It's invitation only, so don't let anyone know! Bring your dancing shoes. Oh, and your best sexy underwear!" she added in a whisper. "See you tonight!"

Mercedes waved goodbye as her friend left in a hurry, then sipped her tea thoughtfully at the table alone. "Oh, that Annie... Always so funny." She looked where her bundle of baked goods had been a moment ago... then peered over the table to the opposite bench, seeing a glimpse of the bundle Annette had brought with her. "Oh, my. I guess I'll have to return this to Annie at the party..."

Mercedes had finished dinner and her evening prayers, toting Annette's package along with her all along. People were so used to seeing her carry parcels, either goodies she made for someone or chores that had been foisted on her good nature, that no one questioned the shabby-looking rag-wrapped box sitting beside her as she kneeled at the altar.

While crouched there, Mercedes had to stifle a snort at a ridiculous thought. "What if I played that funny music Annie had talked about, right here in the chapel? I should have gotten Annie to show me how to do it... No, I suppose that would be going a bit too far for a prank. Although, Annie said she ended up making Ingrid dance in the library... That would have been quite a sight to see," she thought to herself.

"... Ah, Goddess, I beg your forgiveness for troubling you with my silly thoughts. My friends are just too funny, though..."

The thought of a secret party with her best friend put Mercedes in such a nice mood, she almost forgot she was supposed to be sneaking around. The ordinarily good-mannered student felt five years younger, listening for footsteps in the hall and, confirming silence, just barely peeking her blonde head out of the door. Her wavy hair hung long without any braid, and her mature body was covered in a long, chaste white nightgown with puffy sleeves. Her feet, however, were bare, and she tiptoed into the hall with the Boom Box bundled up in her arms.

She was treating this as a furtive spy mission for fun, but, truth be told, there wasn't much to be scared of. There was an occasional patrol to make sure young men and women weren't doing anything funny after hours, but this was an Academy, not a prison. There wasn't a regular stationed guard, and the only real danger was being spotted by a fellow student in her nightclothes. Furthermore, Annette's room was on the first floor, just like her own. She needed only cross a staircase to find herself at her target destination.

Mercedes smiled, taking her time and pondering how to best make an entrance. "Ooh, wouldn't it be fun if I got the party started early? Annie would never expect me to play the music before I come in..."

As she undid the knot on the bundle, Mercedes found herself thinking for the first time about what, exactly, she was holding. Annette had spoken so cheerfully about it, she hadn't given it much thought. The idea of a box that played music was nothing strange, of course: Mercedes had seen a wind-up music box or two in her time as a young noble, far in the past, although Annette had implied the music she'd be hearing was a far cry from the twinkling piano noise those had produced. "How exciting... But, I wonder, how do I start it? Oh, I can't take my time standing here and figuring it out..."

The student frowned. She started by twisting the knob all the way to the side, hoping it would tick back like the winding key she expected, but there was no luck. Thinking again, she realized the buttons at the top had an appearance almost like keys on a piano. Maybe if she pressed one in, another would pop out. Or, maybe she'd understood, and she had to play the keys to make the music?

She pressed in the button with the triangle, and a strange noise she'd never heard before began blaring from the round protrusions in the box, loud enough to shake its frame and tousle the blonde locks of the woman holding it.

Predictably, her blown hair wasn't the only part of Mercedes that was beginning to shake. With the impossible music blasting in her face, powerfully enough to make her stunned eyes water, Mercedes immediately began dipping her body and "backing dat azz up" as the song was repeatedly demanding. Before she knew it, the young woman had stomped all the way back to the window behind her, bouncing her butt in her white gown. She ended up clutching the box precariously between her elbows, allowing her to plant both hands on her knees. Her usual nightgown grew considerably less conservative as she held it taut to her knees, forcing it to pull taut against the curve of her hips. The idea of anyone patrolling the grounds seeing her was horrifying, but not as scary as the fellow students who would no doubt peek out of their rooms to investigate at any second. Driven to a rare panic, the twerking beauty managed to get her hands free and began fumbling her fingers across the surface of the box. There weren't many buttons to hit, but somehow, her clumsy fingers were missing every one of them (in sharp contrast to her hips, which were skillfully hitting every beat).

Before Mercedes could react, the door in front of her had flown open and a pair of arms had roughly pulled her in. Her friend had seized the box from her. Feeling like she was in a dream as her legs continued to move her bottom on their own, Mercedes saw her Annette in a shorter powder blue gown with white trim, moving her own hips with a look of urgency on her face. She cranked the volume down, but not all the way down, and wiped a bead of sweat off her head while still bouncing with the rhythm. "Whoo! Mercie, you scared me half to ****!"

"Annie?!" Realizing her position, Mercedes couldn't decide how to react. Her hand on her face looked like her usual, calm self, but her butt was still moving in a way she had never imagined. Against her will, her legs turned her in place as if she was choosing to show off to her friend how breezy her nightgown was when she was making it move. "What's happening to me?"

"I told you, didn't you? I bet you didn't believe me," Annette pouted, popping one of Mercedes' treats into her mouth while continuing to dance. With the sound down, all panic had left her, and she was now watching Mercedes' twerking movements with curiosity. "How about it? Isn't it fun?"

"Um, Annie, I... I've never moved this fast in my life," Mercedes admitted, frowning and failing to understand how her friend was so calm. "I've never felt anything like this in my life... Also, I've never heard anything like this in my life. Oh my! Annie, I don't understand all of these lyrics, but I have objections to dancing to a song with words like... m-motherfucker," Mercedes hissed in a whisper, before finger-drawing an air cross and muttering a quick penance.

"Like what?" Annie wasn't teasing her friend; she legitimately couldn't hear her over the music, which was no longer loud enough to project far out of the room, but still loud enough to cover Mercedes' whisper.

"Like m-motherfucker!" Mercedes repeated with a red face, clenching her fists in annoyance alongside her shaking hips. "Annie, I'm glad if you enjoy this, but... th-this kind of dancing is for someone with good stamina like you, right? If I do any more of this, I'm going to be aching tomorrow..."

"Oh, don't worry about that," Annette reassured her, waving off the concern. "If anything, Mercie, you're built much better for it than me! I have to thank you, actually. Seeing you dance, I finally put together a piece of the lyrics puzzle that's going to open so many doors to new understanding."

"O-oh? Howso?" Mercedes was surprised, but she was pleased if she'd somehow helped out her friend.

"Yeah! Looking at you do it, I finally realize that most of these lyrics are talking about the buttocks. The 'azz,' the 'pussy,' and the 'it' the song repeatedly refers to are surely referring to your rear end. Thinking about it that way, so much of it fits."

That revelation made Mercedes less pleased and more humiliated. "Why would anyone be singing about my... b-bottom, Annie? If it was a cute one like yours, I'd understand, but- eep!"

The lady let out a small yelp as her younger friend gave her a slap on her plush ass through the silk nightgown. "That's wrong, Mercie. Now that I've listened to some songs, I'm one-hundred percent certain yours is the type of body the songs are singing about. I couldn't picture it before because, um... my own butt doesn't really have the kind of 'bounce' that they seem to be talking about. I'm now positive your body is built for 'twerking,' as I think the dance is called."

"M-my body isn't built for dance of any kind!" Mercedes protested. "Please, Annie, I don't mind if you want to dance, but I'm going to be so exhausted... A-and I don't have any reason to 'back my ass up' for anyone!"

Annette considered it, a thoughtful expression clashing with her hyper body movements. "Is it, though? I think you're exhausted because you expect to be exhausted. And also, your body is so lovely for this dance! And also, I, as your friend, want you to back dat azz up! Like the song says, 'Girl, you looks good, won't you back dat azz up?'" Annette mimicked the deep male voice in a silly, singsong way.

"I don't know who would want to see my puny muscles moving," Mercedes complained, tilting her head. "Now, in contrast... Annie, you've got such a pretty, cute body, and you put in the work to keep it tight. Men would want to see you dance, not watch me trip over myself."

"Listen to you, spinning such a tall tale while moving your hips like that! Don't make me spank you again."

"P-please don't, Annie. That makes me feel so strange."

"... A-ah," Annette muttered, suddenly feeling embarrassed about it. "Okay, b-but if my body just does it, it's not my fault! You're the one shaking your butt at me... Anyway, we're going to settle this. I'm going to challenge you to a twerking contest to decide who would drive the boys craziest with their moves. If you win, you have to admit that your big, beautiful bottom is the most desirable!"

"Please, Annie..." Mercedes whimpered. "Have slumber parties always been like this? A-and also, I'm telling you! There's no way a man would want flab like mine over a nice, round bottom like yours."

"All right, it's on! And that's off! Take off that gown and we're going to start in earnest!"

"T-take off my gown?! Annie!!"

The unusual two-woman party continued into the late hours of the night, the thrumming beat that barely penetrated the walls of the room that contained it occasionally mixing with the surprised cries and shocked laughter of the women inside.