Ask Emma Anything

ASK ME ANYTHING

That’s the title of the poster on Emma’s door, advertising her latest little scheme. You didn’t know what to expect when you paid the cover fee, but the concept seemed interesting enough that you were willing to pay the price for admission.

As you step into the room, you’re greeted by the smell of heavy incense. Emma, dressed in a loose fitting toga, gives you a smile and passes you a cup of something dark red and definitely alcoholic.

“Hold on to that,” she says, “and take a seat here. We’re still waiting on our other questioner for the day.”

“Who’s that?” you ask, but Emma only shakes her head, holding a finger up to her lips.

You take a seat as Emma indicated, holding onto the cup. After putting on some music, she takes a seat next to you. The sound of harps and lyres begins to play, casting a melancholic feel over the room. It’s those darned tetrachords and the Dorian mode. Sounds like Ancient Greek is the theme for the day.

You get the answer to your question soon enough. There’s a knocking at the door, and when Emma opens it up, Valentine slips into the room. She’s dressed in dark colors, black eye shadow and lipstick completing the goth look. She readily accepts the cup of red wine that Emma offers, and then takes a seat next to you. You swear that you catch Val eyeing up Emma in that moment, but then again, it’s not like she’s never done the same to you.

“I was told that one of my ancestors, dozens of generations back, was an Oracle at Delphi,” Emma says. “You may ask me any question, and I will answer with the truth. But only if the spirits tell it to me. I can’t do much if they’re silent. Now give me a second. The spirits are coming.”

Emma takes a seat before the two of you and closes her eyes, the incense in the room seeming to suddenly swirl around here supernaturally. You and Val share a glance, and then she shrugs, taking a drink. You can’t help but shrug back. You weren’t sure what to expect, but this seems about as weird as everything else that’s been happening today.

“How many times has Alex studied psychology this semester?” Val asks.

“{PsychStudyCount},” Emma says, without a moment’s hesitation.

“Is she right?” Val says, turning to you.

“Uh… yeah,” you say, taking a moment to mentally think back through the past few weeks.

“You doubt me?” Emma laughs, still keeping her eyes closed. “He’s studied for his calculus class {CalcStudyCount} times, chemistry {ChemStudyCount} times, writing seminar {SemStudyCount} times, and economics {MicroStudyCount} times.”

“She’s right!” you say, awestruck.

“She’s a stalker is what she is,” Val scoffs.

“No, the spirits just deigned to tell me,” Emma says. “Ask me another question.”

You take a sip of red wine and immediately feel the flush of heat rise through your system. Are you about to pop a boner? Emma is hot, and Val is smoking hot, but surely this isn’t the time…

“How desired am I by girls on this campus?” you ask.

“{Desire},” Emma says.

You and Val glance at each other again.

“Is that out of 10?” she asks.

“No,” Emma says. “There’s no limit to the number.”

“So what does {Desire} mean?” you ask.

“The spirits tell me that for every 5 points you accumulate, another girl will be interested in sleeping with you on Burn Night,” Emma replies.

Val takes a drink from her glass of wine too, color rising to her cheeks.

“Hey, that seems like a useful thing to know,” Val says. “Do me next! How desired am I?”

You notice her staring very intensely at Emma as she says so.

“15,” comes the answer.

Val nods and smirks.

“Got you beat,” she says, ribbing you.

“That’s just ‘cause you’re a girl,” you say. “You have it easy.”

“Is that true? Do I have it easier because I’m a girl?” Val asks.

“Yes. But not by much,” Emma replies.

“And am I just as attractive to girls?” Val asks.

Emma scrunches up her face.

“The spirits aren’t giving me an answer to that,” she says.

You notice the way that Val’s face falls as she hears the answer. You pull out your phone and give her a nudge, getting her to check the text that you’ve just sent her.

Need a wing?

Val raises an eyebrow and then nods. You grin, knowing exactly what you need to ask next.

“Would you sleep with Valentine?” you ask.

“Alex!” Val says, giving you a harsh glare. “You can’t be so direct…”

“Yes,” Emma says, and then she slumps down. The incense abruptly burns out in that moment, the lights in the room flickering.

Val rushes over to Emma, and you’re there a second later, supporting her. Emma coughs, her eyes fluttering open.

“Are you okay?” Val asks, and Emma coughs, nodding.

“This always happens whenever I finish a session,” she says. “What… what happened?”

“You don’t remember?” you ask, getting concerned.

“No,” she says.

“You and Val… the two of you were about to get it on,” you say.

“Really?” Emma says, sounding surprised, while Val’s grip on Emma suddenly tightens. Then, the older girl smiles, sharing a mysterious look with Val. “How interesting.”

Maybe it’s the incense, or maybe it’s the aphrodisiacal red wine, but before you can react, the two girls are suddenly all over each other, making out, leaving you as a bystander.

“Erm…” you say, not sure how things progressed quite so quickly.

{if Valentine > 50} “You’re planning to stay and watch?” Emma asks, glancing at you.

“It would be kinda kinky,” Val says, winking at you.

“Well, if you two girls don’t mind…” you say.

“So long as you stick to watching, I don’t see why this should be a problem,” Emma says, and that seals the deal.

{else} “I owe you one,” Val says, “but you should probably get going now.”

“Oh… oh yes,” you say, beating a hasty retreat.

As the door shuts behind you, and you finally breathe some fresh, non-incensed air in your lungs, you wonder how much of that was a hallucination, and how much of it was real. {endif}

Emma +20
Valentine +20