Anxieties and Group Projects

Another morning rose on the island, after an eventful night. Not that they’d gone anywhere physically, not really. But the smoke of Genet’s candle had taken them to a birthday party on another season’s set in their sleep, almost like Doris in The Warlock of Oz. As Richard and his girlfriend Aubrey woke up together, the blonde in his arms, they both were thinking more or less the same thing:

“That was real, wasn't it?”

“It had to have been.” She agreed. “It was too strange for either of us to have come up with on our own.”

“One of the other men there, Caleb, wrote to me before as part of Genet’s mail night. It got more noticeable over the night that it was pretty much all women.”

“And most of them had Genet’s body type.” Aubrey pointed out.

He chuckled, then started trying to sit up. “Mind if I get out of bed to start getting ready?”

Aubrey nodded, wordlessly getting dressed and making her way to the bathroom to wait for him, knowing his routine. He found his way there after choosing some casual clothes for the day. Since she was present this morning he only turned on one of the three showerheads so they could talk like they used to on the weekends when he wanted to feel clean but she wanted to spend more time together. They swapped stories since there’d been so much to see at the party, her mostly concentrating on the mute catgirl he’d had a brief introduction with; his stories tended to be shorter but more varied.

As the shower ended and he turned the water off, Aubrey became quieter and it felt like the tone shifted. Not the same kind of tonal shift as when he’d seen him naked last night, however.

“You alright?” He asked.

“You know when I mentioned how almost all the women there had features like Genet… or Maeve?”

“Sure.”

“Did you ever meet a blonde there named Marissa? She looks a bit like me, but slightly older and she was…” Aubrey motioned with her hands to her chest, gesturing out a shape much larger than her head.

“I think I met her briefly.” Richard shrugged. “Andy introduced me to a lot of people.”

“Would you prefer it if I looked more like her?” She asked. The anxiety attached to the question was painted on her face.

Oh. “Aubs, I like that you look like you. I didn’t fall in love with you because of your chest, and I don’t need to try being something you’re not.”

The storm of emotions seemed to quell somewhat. She nodded and handed him the clothes he’d set on the counter earlier so he could get dressed. “Thank you, and I’m sorry for that. I love you.”

“I love you too, but you don’t need to apologize. It’d bother me if you couldn’t tell me when something was wrong.”

It didn’t take much longer for him to finish getting ready so they could head to breakfast together. The dining hall was the quietest he’d ever seen it. Luna had an empty plate on the table next to her, and they heard the occasional noise from the kitchen.

The Latina looked up at the sound of the door opening and closing and smirked. “You two had fun last night, didn’t you?”

Aubrey frowned in confusion, though after she remembered Luna’s TF everything clicked and she grew slightly smug. “Yes, we did.”

“I hope it wasn’t an issue last night.”

Luna shrugged. “I enjoyed it, and it was honestly pretty well timed. I wouldn’t cockblock you while we’re here, at least without a hell of a good reason.”

“Speaking of Hel, have you seen her yet today?” Dick asked.

“No. You haven’t either?”

“I haven’t seen her in days, not since we went to the dance hall together.”

“I would’ve thought that she would’ve at least seen you at some point if she needed permission to go off leash.”

He shook his head.

“Maeve’s not here either. She’s always here, and she’s been gone two days in a row.” Aubrey pointed out.

“I’m sure she’s fine. Still, it feels weird for it to be just us and Stella.”

“Actually-”

The door to the kitchen opened, and Genet came out with two heaping platters like the one that Stella had made for him last round, setting one down in front of each of them. No, it’s not that they’re like hers. They’re hers. The two plates were perfectly identical, and the host beamed with pride as she set them down. “I think she was about to say that Stella had an early breakfast and is off getting ready, but I’m happy to fill in for her. I took a peek before she left to see how she did it last time and did my best to mimic her."

“Thank you.” Richard said.

“Think nothing of it. My job is to take care of you all while you’re here, and I love doing it. Don’t worry too much about Maeve and your sister either, they’re all taking a slow morning to figure things out.”

He nodded, though he somehow felt less confident after her assurances. "I think she'd want me to point out that she's my stepsister."

The host shrugged before turning to Aubrey. “And good job hitting the halfway point, I don’t know if you noticed but I awarded the bonus for it while we were at the party last night.”

Aubrey Conners +3 BP (Halfway)

“So that was real then?” The blonde asked, confirming what she and her boyfriend had talked about.

“Why did you use the candle for that? Hel told me that you usually use this hallway to travel outside.” He added. It didn’t really matter, but he was curious.

“Of course it was real, Arabella’s an old friend of mine and given how much I owe her I wanted to support her for her new project’s birthday. The candle was just a little trick I know, you two were having a nice time and I thought it might be more pleasant to let the two of you light it when you were ready than for me to burst in and drag you somewhere.”

“What party?” Luna was confused.

Aubrey did her best to explain. “Genet made us go to this birthday party on another set last night for some guy. There were a few other guests from different places there. Most of the people there were women, and like half of them were naked for some reason.”

“And you didn’t take me?” Luna said, pretending to be offended. Dick laughed, his girlfriend didn’t. The Latina tried to be serious again. “That sounds interesting. If you ever plan something like that again, I’m open to it.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.” Genet smiled before looking over to the door as if there was something there. She dusted off her hands on her apron before heading back into the kitchen.

Aubrey seemed more focused after she left, immediately turning to Luna. “Do you think you’d be able to help me today in the library?”

“Sure. I don’t have much planned. What’s up?”

“I’d prefer to wait until later before I explain, we’ll need as many people as possible and I don’t think this is the best place” The teacher cocked her head towards Genet. “Hazel and Hel would be helpful, but hopefully Felicia remembers enough of what they saw together at the temple to make up for it if we can't get them. We won’t have Stella, so Felicia and whoever else we can get will be more important than ever today.”

Sometime while she’d been talking, the door opened. The very woman they’d been talking about came in and sat down on the other side of their boyfriend just as she’d finished speaking. “What makes me the most important today?”

“I didn’t want to explain here,” Aubrey repeated. “The secret shouldn’t get out before we’re ready.”

“God, you sound like Hel. If you want my help, then tell me why.” Felicia demanded.

“Be nice.” He admonished her.

The short girl offered a quiet apology before turning back to her rival for more information.

Aubrey looked towards the kitchen trying to check that the door wasn’t about to open. Adopting a low whisper, she leaned in. “His mail a few days ago told him to look into Genet’s secret identity. While he’s busy today, we’re going to hide in the library and figure that out for him.”

“Oh, I’m in. We’ll definitely need Ava though, Genet’s married to her mentor.”

“Yeah, that’d be incredibly helpful then. Where is she?”

“Sleeping?”

“Still?” Aubrey checked the time on her phone. “It’s past seven.”

“Yeah. We've probably got at least two hours more before we’d hear anything from them.”

“Ava’s the normal one here.” Luna pointed out. “We’re on vacation, and most of us are still getting up at six or earlier. I’d be trying to sleep in like she has been if I wasn’t trying to keep up with what happened the night before.”

“I guess you’re right, sleeping too long just gets boring for me most of the time. When I fell asleep in Hel’s arms a few days ago was the only time I can remember sleeping in that late without being sick.” Aubrey conceded. “I do want to get started on my research though. Could we go to the library now and let her meet us there?”

“Works for me, I’ll just finish breakfast quickly. I’ll shoot Ava a text so she can meet us when she’s ready.” Felicia agreed.

Aubrey fell asleep being cuddled by Helena? Richard noticed. He wanted to ask about that, but felt like the conversation had moved on from it. Maybe that’s from the transformation that had won, Squishable. He considered. Last night she was following my lead even more than usual. Could it be making the rest of us want to take control? Speaking of following my lead, I should ask Hazel for help taking her dancing some time.

The three of them ate as they talked, Luna sitting with them as she sipped from a cup of coffee that the host had come out of the kitchen to offer her. Once they were finished they dropped their dirty dishes off and got ready to head out to the library.

“I’ll probably talk to you tomorrow?” Luna said. “Stella will be here soon, make sure you compliment her outfit.”

He nodded.

Aubrey gently kissed him once before heading to the door to lead the way. Not one to be outdone, Felicia sat down in his lap and planted her lips on his. He could barely breathe, caught off guard by the intensity. She finally pulled back and stood up, smirking as she strutted to the door. Luna had to hold back Aubrey, whispering something to stop the imminent fight before she and the blondes left together.

Luna Lopez, +1 BP (Host's Thanks) (Have fun at the library!)

“Hopefully that doesn’t blow up today.” He muttered to himself. He really needed to figure out what to do to stop them from escalating. I really shouldn’t have let it go last night. Maybe I can try again with the two of them together and someone else they both like, just for some support. Probably not Hel or Luna. Maybe Maeve or Hazel? They both like Ava, but I don’t know how helpful she’d be.

As he was thinking about a way to more easily set some sort of expectations, he felt a buzz coming from his pocket. It was Stella.

Hey. I’m on my way back from the tower. Would you be able to meet me on the path on my way back?

Then another text came in as he was reading the first:

You don’t have to of course. It’d just be appreciated.

Then a third:

Don’t worry about it. I was just looking forward to seeing you today, but I can be at the plaza soon.

He saw the three little dots of her typing a fourth message and typed rapidly to try interrupting her one sided spiral.

On my way :)

Genet’s phones seemed to be pre-emoji. He watched the three dots disappear, then reappear and linger for most of a minute, then drop again. He dumped his dirty dishes off and set off into a light jog, unsure what was going on in his friend’s head but recognizing that it didn’t seem to be good for her. His dogged pace helped him reach where she was quickly, the pink dot on the horizon growing as they grew closer.

She was in a pink sweater slightly lighter than the highlights in her hair, which revealed a moderate amount of cleavage. The sleeves were slightly baggy, obscuring her arms. Her pleated black skirt spun as she acknowledged his approach, dark tights over her legs bringing modesty to the outfit while still showing far more of her form than he was used to. Her nails were painted pink to match her sweater and hair, and she gave a small wave as he grew near. Offering a nervous smile, she said. “You’re here. I-I’m glad you came.”