Good News and Bad News

Penny stepped through the door, one hand covering her breasts and the other between her legs. It felt as if time had slowed down as the conversation in the restaurant died and eyes turned towards her. A blush extended from her face all the way down to her chest, and she found herself at a loss for words. She had thought that at some point she’d get used to it, but now that she was being seen by people she knew, it was as if she was first experiencing public nudity all over again.

At least it’s a small event, Penny thought to herself as she glanced nervously around the restaurant. Atlas had apparently rented the place out for the evening, and the small room only had one table set up, with booths along the wall. Attendance was quite limited, with Ironwood and his assistant Winter Schnee, the rest of the victorious Team PCMN, and Atlas’s second-best in the tournament, Team FNKI, scattered around the room. On the other hand, there was one person that Penny didn’t recognize, with a professional-looking camera hanging around his neck. She suspected that wasn’t going to end well, but had no time to linger on it before her train of thought was interrupted.

The stillness of the room was broken by Ciel, who squeezed by Penny in order to give Ironwood a salute and the statement, “Students Soleil and Polendina reporting, sir.”

Being directly addressed **** Ironwood to decide how he was going to deal with being in a social situation with two naked students, and he apparently settled on ‘ignore it and hope it goes away’. After a moment of hesitation, he responded to Ciel. “On time as usual, Ms. Soleil. Congratulations are in order for bringing Atlas Academy victory in this year’s Vytal Festival Tournament. You all must be very proud, especially for defeating Ms. Nikos, talented duelist that she is,” he toasted with a raised glass, a motion imitated by the others.

Penny blushed even more heavily at the amount of attention, but even with her limited social skills she knew she was expected to say something. “Oh, well, thank you all-” Penny noticed that the photographer had his camera trained on her-“I’m really happy to have proven myself, and, um, winning was, uh, sen-sational!” Her last comment was accompanied by a small hand gesture, followed by a squeak as Penny realized she had uncovered herself for her peers and a camera, and rushed to cover herself again.

Ironwood nodded while not quite looking at her. “Well, as is tradition, let’s get a photo of our victorious team for display in the main hall,” he said while gesturing towards a spot of blank wall.

Penny eyes grew wide. “Wait, wh-” She was cut off by Ciel’s grip on her arm, as she led the android forward. Her other two teammates came up to congratulate her while they walked, and while Penny could hear herself exchanging pleasantries, her mind was on one thing: a photo of her naked was going to be on prominent display at Atlas Academy forever. Despite her hesitation, Penny allowed herself to be moved into position, with Ciel on her left, and the other two flanking the naked pair. Penny felt her embarrassment growing as the photographer lined up his camera, and the feeling of Ciel’s hand on her arm disappeared. Penny glanced over to see Ciel standing at attention, posing for the camera with her hands folded behind her back and chest out without regard for her bare breasts or damp thighs. Penny lacked whatever combination of courage, discipline, and enjoyment allowed Ciel to do so, and thus her pose in the photo was an embarrassed hunch, one hand squeezed between her legs in an effort to conceal her arousal, and her other arm pressed against her chest, attempting to conceal her breasts but mostly making them appear larger. Her blushing and uneasy grin and Ciel’s neutral gaze contrasted with two cheerful smiles in the photo, further calling attention to how half of the team was naked and the other half fully clothed.

Penny breathed a sigh of relief as the taking of the photo seemed to signal everyone to break up into groups and chat before dinner. She was hopeful that she could sneak into the back for a moment and get some clothing, even if it was only an apron, but before she could reach the kitchen door she was interrupted by the sudden appearance of Neon Katt.

“Oh wow, I love your new look!” the rainbow party girl said earnestly, “Like, I get that you being naked was an accident, but Ciel too? Sounds like a trend. You should probably wear your boots and gloves like Ciel is though, to, you know, balance your color palette.”

“It’s not a trend, I would much rather have my clothes back. Do you happen to have any clothing with you?” Penny asked hopefully.

Neon shook her head. “Girl, you just gotta own it. The whole world’s seen you naked already, so just show your authentic self! I mean, you’re on like every site on the CCT, you know, showing off. I watched a couple of the clips on the way over, seeing you do that stuff was even cooler than Ironwood’s swanky private jet! I’m tempted to try it myself, looks super hot.”

Penny started to protest before realizing what Neon had said. “I wasn’t aware Ironwood had a jet.”

Neon waved her hand dismissively. “Well, you know, jet, flyer, personal airship, whatever. He didn’t want to deal with the lines, so he just flew us all down here, except you two ‘cause Ciel said you guys were going to stay a minute and then take the public route.” She continued in a hushed tone, “Between you and me, I don’t think Ironwood expected you to beat Pyrrha. I mean, there aren’t even any balloons. Super lame, I beat he rented the place out last minute.”

“But Ciel didn’t mention that, and said we didn’t even have time to pick up spare clothes from the locker room. I wonder if she was trying to give Ironwood some time to set up. But not a lot of time, because she’s Ciel,” Penny thought out loud.

“Oh, she’s totally getting off on it,” Neon responded. “100% that girl was looking for any excuse to get her clothes off. Speaking off, do you think it’d look better if I had nothing under my skirt, or no bottoms at all?”

“Do you really think so? She’s seemed very aloof the whole time,” said Penny.

Neon laughed. “Girl, if that girl was any wetter she’d drown. She is definitely into it, and by the sounds of things, she’s into you being naked too. And you’re totally right, going commando in the skirt would look way better than just running around naked. Not that there’s anything wrong with your new style.”

Penny frowned. “That does make sense, that she hasn’t actually gotten off, unlike m-uh, err,” she trailed off, hoping that the earth would just swallow her up already.

“Oh get it girl! I knew the video looked real. Like I said, just own it, embrace what you’re into. You know, since Ciel is the one who’s into all of this and she hasn’t hit her beat, I bet she’s super high-strung right now. We could totally prank her back. It’d be super fun!” Neon said conspiratorially.

Penny hesitated. It was sounding like Ciel was behind at least some of what had happened, but was a prank really the right idea? And what exactly did Neon have in mind anyways?