Exploring The Tower (L,M)

Around Seven thirty, Luna woke in the empty bed of the Pomegranate Cottage. The crystal lights in the walls gleamed, acting like a dozen soft night lights. The crystals were embedded into the brown and gray walls to make it look like gemstones in the dirt. She’d been too distracted last night to pay attention, but it was pretty.

Last night was rough. Her biggest problem yesterday was supposed to be whether she had Chinese or Mexican during Richard’s meeting. But then Genet had come, and she took her to the stage. She’d seen dozens of men and women stand up and be struck down, twisted into props to make a point.

Minutes later she’d been told by whoever Genet really was that she’d be expected to date her best friend. That wasn’t one of the bad parts. They used to joke that if they were both single when they were thirty, they’d get married to save money on taxes.

The bad part started again when the transformations started. Over the years she’d tied a lot of her life to Dick. They’d gone to law school and studied for the bar together. They’d started their firm together, and when she’d started to see it flounder they launched his campaign together. When Felicia had invited him into the tabletop group, he had made sure the invitation extended to her.

She’d tied her career and her social life to Richard, and she didn’t regret it. But she hadn’t planned to tie her sex life to him, especially not as literally as Genet had done last night. But she’d felt it start, a stirring like someone had turned up the thermostat.

It had gotten disastrously worse when Genet moved on to the others. When Felicia had become a distracted moaning mess, it shouldn’t have affected her. She’d never been interested in Felicia, and even with her new gifts Felicia still wasn’t her type. But Felicia’s moans had affected Richard, and so he passed it on to her. Despite her best efforts she couldn’t stop herself from moaning once with Felicia, couldn’t stop herself from growing wet as Felicia grew out. She just hoped that Felicia had been too distracted to notice, and that the others were too distracted by someone growing to notice her own moan.

Things climaxed when Genet reached Richard’s therapist, Dr.Petrov. Seeing the woman caress her own hips and ass, she wished it was her hands touching the therapist’s skirt. She didn’t know how much of it was her and how much was Richard as the heat between her legs blossomed. When Genet had finally let them go, she tried to check with Richard and Maeve was there, suggesting that they explore the island together. While her mind was drifting to other things she wanted to explore, she agreed that Dr.Petrov was right and so they agreed to meet the next morning.

She just wished that she had time to take care of herself. She hadn’t been able to do anything last night because Aubrey had been with her last night. So she was still pent up. And she couldn’t take care of it now that Aubrey was gone, because she honored her commitments. She wasn’t the kind of person that would just do what she wanted and let other people adjust their lives around her.

So she got ready for the day. She got in the bathtub after she found the coldest temperature she could tolerate. She preferred a shower, but all she and Aubrey had been given was a bathtub. But she still used it to calm down and get dressed for the day, picking out a lavender dress with a little bow on it from her closet. There was a desk with a key on it that she was curious about, but she was on the verge of running late after how long she spent in the bath and couldn’t afford to investigate. Instead, she did a quick spray of her perfume on her way out the door.

She saw Dr.Petrov at the dining hall, who was looking over a paper map of the island she’d gotten somewhere. She rushed in and apologized: “Hey, I’m sorry for being late.”

Dr.Petrov blinked at her and checked the time on her phone. “Luna, you’re four minutes early.”

“Still, I’m sorry for making you wait. Where did you want to start?”

Dr.Petrov turned the map sideways. Rather than zooming in on the local area like the map on their phones, the paper map displayed a full view. The island was a bloated crescent shape. At the northernmost edge was a sandy area, reasonably labeled the beach. After that, there was a forested area with a path cutting through it to the beach. The forested area was labeled “Meadows of Dreams”. In the far south of the map was a mountain taking up a quarter of the island, with the temple they’d been warned about at its peak.

In the middle of the island was the plaza, with the auditorium immediately next to it. The auditorium was called on the map “Auditorium and Lower Complex”, which seemed to imply that there was more in there below. The last offshoot from the plaza “Ata’s Market”, depicted as a castle on the map, was where Dr.Petrov was pointing her finger.

“I think we should start here. We have 6 bonus points between us, and it’d be helpful for everyone else if we were able to tell them what we have available.”

“Sure, that’s a good idea. Do you mind if we check out what’s below the auditorium afterwards, Doctor?”

“As long as I can make a request.”

Luna didn’t know the older woman well enough to have expectations for what was coming. All she knew about her was what Richard had said about their sessions and the hour they had together during the opening ceremony, where they’d been sitting on opposite sides of the stage. But she nodded, inviting Dr.Petrov to speak.

“If I’m not working, can you call me Maeve?”

“Of course, I’m sorry Do- Maeve.”

The silver haired woman smiled at her. “You’ve got nothing to apologize for. I used my title when they made us do the introductions. But among friends, I like to keep those sides separate when I can. I can still be Dr.Petrov when you need me to be though, I want you to know that.

“Thank you, I’ll explain it to the rest of the gaming group later.”

“I appreciate that hun. Why don’t you get something to eat before we go.”

Luna got up to get some cereal. She was glad she’d needed to get up; leaving for the buffet table let her hide her blush. Hun. So she got her bowl of the cinnamon cereal, silent as she ate.

She finished eating and they left the dining hall together. They took the cobblestone path in between the hall and the Arrow house and saw a four story stone tower at the end of the path. It reminded her of a fairy tale, or one of the cards for Wonders in the deck Ava had made for her. There was something about it as they approached, overlooking the forested hills of the meadows of dreams, that made it seem less real than the rest of the island.

After nearly an hour’s walk, they reached the tower and pulled open a heavy wooden door. It revealed a set of spiral stone stairs that they climbed up.

And up.

And up.

It felt like more than four stories, but they got up to the top of the tower. The tower was open to a balcony that it seemed like Richard or Stella would've had trouble with if they had come with. A slim woman with light brown hair on the verge of blonde was at the top behind a booth built into the wall. At the top of the booth was a sign displaying the following:

For Clothing Options, Consult the Catalog

For Transformation Options, Give Your Name to Ata.

For Space in the Meadows or Beachfront, Speak to Genet or Ata

Maeve and Aubrey looked at Ata and her booth. The woman was less than ten feet away, but she’d given no sign that she’d noticed either of them coming up the stairs. The thin woman in white was humming to herself while staring at a wall.

“What do you think we should do?” Maeve whispered to Luna.

“You look through the catalog, I’ll ask Ata about the northern areas.”

They both approached the booth. Maeve started digging through the thick book, while Luna tried to get the woman at the counter’s attention.

“Hi, are you Ata?"

The woman at the counter turned towards her with a wide, unnatural smile. “Oh, Hi! It’s good to meet you, my name is Ata! What can I help you with?” Ata’s voice was high like Felicia’s, but with a charged energy like during one of Stella’s panic attacks.

“Could you tell me more about what would be involved with getting one of the spaces?”

“Oh, well sure miss! Any contestant can choose to buy space in either one of the groves or at our beachfront on the north side of the island. Depending on one’s budget, these spaces can range anywhere from two to four BP depending on what you would wish to put on the plot. For example, two BP can get you a building with up to four functions and all the basic enchantments.”

Luna was typing a text message to Felicia as she listened. “Can you tell me more about what those enchantments include?”

“Sure! You can get more specific enchantments at a higher cost, but the basic package allows your structure to repair itself when people aren’t paying attention to it, pulling its appearance from the buyer’s imagination when it’s first made and my favorite, the Tiny Although Radically Different In Size compound.”

“I see.” Luna didn’t say it, but she thought Ata’s favorite part kind of had a dumb name. “And what do you get for paying more?”

“There’s other stuff you can negotiate for, but mostly supportive cast members. Three BP gets you extras that you can’t really interact with, but will walk around and make the space feel more lived-in. Four BP gets you interactive characters that’ll respond to your actions. Are you interested in getting one of our space now?”

“No, but thank you for the explanation.” Luna turned to Maeve, who was flipping through the book. “Did you find anything interesting?”

“They’ve got every kind of clothing I’ve ever seen, and a lot of outfits that I’ve never heard of. Pretty much everything ranges from one BP like most of the lingerie section, to three BP for a parka I saw in the back. There’s even a deal section.” the therapist flipped to a page back near the beginning. She showed Luna a display for a bunny costume with a two for one BP offer. I’m too horny for this.

The feminist in her was disgusted by this. She’d been a civil right lawyer, for god’s sake. Richard was too good of a man to be into something like this. She never would’ve chosen to become his partner if he supported something this degrading.

But a less rational part of her felt drawn to it. She wanted Richard to rip off of her. She wanted to look up at Maeve in the suit and work her fingers under the velvet bottom. She wanted Maeve to kiss her neck and tease her breasts. She didn’t know which she wanted most. Her mind flicked to dirty, debaucherous visions that the gentle woman next to her didn’t deserve. She felt ashamed and **** herself to tear her eyes away from the book.

“So that’s the first two taken care of.” Luna tried to change the subject. “Ata, can we see the transformation options?” She still felt silly saying it out loud, despite everything they’d gone through in just one day.

Ata smiled her too-wide smile and pulled two pieces of papers out from under the counter. She slid one towards each of them and Luna read hers.

Each of them had two price listings. One to use the transformation yourself, a much higher price to give it to someone else. The first one she recognized as what she’d been hoping for last night as the “damage control” option. She could guess from the order where the other ones for sale came from. She was glad Aubrey hadn’t been able to get Fated Reunion, she’d probably have ended up trying to crash the dates she’d be able to get away with if she had the chance.

She and Maeve traded pages. Everything was pretty much the same save for the fact that Ready for the Cameras and Mores and Fuckways switched prices. “It looks like only you, Ava, and Felicia can afford anything here right now” Maeve said, looking over the pages they’d been given.

“Yeah, but what I can afford right now kind of feels like a waste.” She took a picture of her page to show the others. “Anything you want to do before we head out?”

“I think I’d want to save my money too.”

They both handed their papers back to Ata and she went back to staring at the wall. They went down the stairs together and out the wooden door.

On their walk back, Luna caught herself staring at Maeve’s ass again. Maeve didn’t seem to notice, but Luna still needed to be more careful. Until she could get her mind out of the gutter, she tried to walk slightly ahead.

“This has been a nice morning.’ Maeve commented. “I hardly ever get to spend time outside like this anymore.

“Yeah, the forest is really pretty.” She just needed to keep the conversation on the environment for as long as possible. And it succeeded. Over the hour it took them to get back, the conversation stayed on either the island around them or what they’d see up in the tower’s shop. She’d even managed to distract herself further by talking to Ava and Felicia about getting together later. They got back to the dining hall and Luna had barely looked at Maeve once since the first time she’d caught herself leering.

Luna’s problem started to come back again once they went inside for lunch. She couldn’t maintain the veil between them anymore as they were face to face, the only thing between them a pair of the worst grilled cheese sandwiches either of them had ever had. As they finished their sandwiches, Maeve brought up their plans for the afternoon.

“Do you still want to check out the area below the auditorium?” Maeve asked her.

The correct answer was yes. It was her idea to go down there, and the more information they learned, the better they could help everyone else. But she wasn’t in the right mindset to keep exploring with Maeve. Her mind would keep drifting to the wrong places unless she took care of it.

“I’m still feeling a bit tired from everything that happened last night. Would you mind if we did it tomorrow?”

Maeve looked at her, and Luna felt like she was being studied. She placed a hand on Luna’s wrist. Fuck me. “Is everything alright Luna? It’s alright if you need a break, but I just want to make sure nothing’s wrong.”

“Yeah, I’m just a bit tired. Mind if I go lie down?” She lied.

“Of course. You can do what you need, I think I may poke around the auditorium myself while you rest. But if anything does come up, you can always talk to me.”

No, I can’t. But she didn't say that of course. She just thanked Maeve for being understanding and left.

***

She didn’t completely lie. She did need to go lie down. She just wasn’t sleeping. She was lying down on the bed, her underwear next to her on the floor. One pillow was positioned under her hips, and both hands were under her dress. Her left hand cupped her pubic mound and pressed down while her right hand worked inside.

She closed her eyes and tried to imagine someone else down there. She saw Richard pumping into her slowly, pumping into her gently. He had asked her if they could bring their partnership in the rest of life one more step further. She asked if they could stay friends but explore things. And so he was exploring her, as gently as she needed. Her first two fingers became Richard, as he worked inside her.

As her thumb worked the edges of her clit, she imagined if she hadn’t hid what was going on from Maeve. If she’d confessed, and Maeve had understood. If Maeve had come with her to the bedroom and given her what she wanted. Her thumb became Maeve’s tongue, slowly curling around the clit as Luna whimpered.

She knew neither of them were there. She saw both of them there, with her eyes closed. As she saw them both, felt them both, she came. She felt it crest through her legs and they went numb.

***

Once the feelings in her legs came back. She looked at the time. It was still pretty early in the afternoon. It’d be alright for her to go again before dinner.