Silence in the Library (L,S)

Stella watched the huntress come in.

She was just around the corner, watching the doorway.

Luna had said that she was able to feel when her transformation returned, barely a minute after lunch ended. They’d snuck out of the kitchen and into the library after watching Ata run off into the distance. After that they’d spent time making sure that they both were familiar with the space, and agreed to take shifts hiding closer to the entrance while the other kept to the back.

When Stella watched Ata arrive, she and Luna had already switched shifts multiple times. It was Stella’s turn to keep watch again, and she’d had suspicions about how Luna might be spending her break after how she’d acted during the last switch. So the chef had been slinking around the front when the huntress arrived. She tucked herself into one of the many corners and crevices Ata herself had installed at Luna’s request, and so Ata walked right past her. Stella wanted to warn her friend, so she used the muffling enchantments to sneak around the sides.

They’d been using one of the history nooks as their rest area. It was on the center left side, so Stella snaked along the right wall, lining herself up with the sitting area. She pushed a mystery book out of the shelf, hoping Luna was paying attention for her eyes to catch the motion.

Nothing.

Stella looked closer, and it was exactly as she’d feared. Luna had a hand down her dress, and her eyes were closed as she leaned against the wall. The quiet girl shoved another few books over, hoping Luna would open her eyes to notice one of them hit the floor.

Still nothing.

Stella could do nothing else but watch as Ata found and strode into the history room.

***

Luna knew she needed to focus. It was the middle of a challenge. Ata could be in here at any moment, and she needed to be ready in case Stella needed her help.

But she needed a break. Between her own natural libido, the mist that she’d felt strengthening over the past few hours, and her own transformation coming back to her stronger than she’d left it, things were getting… distracting. She’d told Hazel that she could mask it, but she still needed to let loose eventually.

So she was trying to take care of it now. She didn’t hear when Stella dropped the book. She didn’t see when Stella dropped the next four. She only knew anything was wrong when it was too late.

“Really?” Ata asked as she pierced the room’s sound barrier. “I’d been hoping that the mist would affect a few of you, but I hadn’t expected something this dramatic.”

Luna opened her eyes and hid the hand she’d been using behind her back. She stared, trying to think of anything that could be done. She’s not going to just walk away, right? Then another thought hit her. She already got Stella, didn’t she? She trusted me.

Ata smiled sardonically. “I didn’t tell you to stop, did I? Tell me, what was on your mind to get you so worked up?”

“Maeve.”

The shopkeeper nodded understandingly. “I can see where you-”

“Helena. And Hazel.”

Ata looked down at her, growing slightly confused.

But Luna kept going. “Stella. Professor Henderson. The Providence Lobsters. The-”

“Stop.” Ata interrupted this time. She wasn’t sure she wanted to let the woman continue her lust driven rambling, especially after the unexpected name she’d recognized. “You’re a Lobsters fan too?”

Luna nodded hesitantly. “You could say that.”

“Then would you like me to help?”

“Help?”

Ata pulled out of her hammerspace the gloves she’d offered to use against Ava, before the athlete had revealed herself to be a spineless coward. “If I wear these, I can touch you without taking you out right away. You've been caught either way, why not enjoy yourself first?"

Luna was hesitant at first. But under the combination of the mist and Ata’s expectant gaze, she nodded and lifted up her dress.

“Good.” Ata watched for a moment, mildly curious what kind of tf could bring the woman who’d tried to unite the group this morning to this point by mid-afternoon. “You’re going to answer my questions. If you stop being helpful, I’ll move on to the others.”

She waited for Luna to nod in assent, then she put one of the tight gloves on her left hand and spread her target’s folds, working her fingers in.

“For my first question: Where did Hazel go?”

Luna moaned lightly, the edge of her mouth twisting up.

“Are you not going to answer? I saw from the loudmouth that Hazel’s not here. Where did she go?”

“You already got her.”

Ata frowned. “No, I didn’t. I would know if I did, I was looking forward to it. I was fighting her in the ballroom, the other me saw Ava’s map, then I woke up on stage. What happened between those events?”

“You…” Luna stopped for a second, trying to focus through the interrogation. “Hazel asked me to use my transformation on her. You froze, and she took your hand.”

“She’s already out? You robbed me of my chance to finish her myself?”

“Yes.”

“What does your tf even do, if you can paralyze people with it?”

“Hazel’s can receive. Mine gives me a second libido, synced to Dick’s” Luna explained.

You contaminated me with him? Ata thought, infuriated. She raised her right arm back, tempted to strike out in wrath and end this now. But she thought better of it, and tried to calm down. “I see. Where’s Felicia?”

“I don’t know.”

“Where do you think she’d go, if Ava was gone and she was by herself? You’re her friend, aren’t you?”

“You won’t tell her what I say, right?” Luna asked.

“Of course not.” Ata assured her, plying the young woman with her words as much as her fingers. "Everything here will stay between the two of us."

“She’d look for somewhere dramatic to monologue at you in. My first thought would be your tower.”

“Good job. And the rich one, Helena? Where do you think she is?”

“I’m less sure of a place, but she’d go somewhere she didn’t think you could follow. She tends to take a lot of risks when she’s by herself.”

“That’s not especially helpful.” Ata complained. “I need a location.”

“You’d know better than me if Genet even had anywhere dangerous for Hel to throw herself into.”

“That’s…fair.” Ata admitted. She couldn’t immediately think of anywhere that fit that description either.

“Can you finish me now?” Luna begged.

“Almost. Where’s Stella?”

She’s still in? Luna was relieved. “I don’t know.” The latina lied.

Ata frowned, pulling back physically as she pressed further verbally. “How could you not know? Her clothes are right next to us.” She paused. “Why are her clothes next to us? Is she naked right now?”

Luna just smiled.

Stella Steward, +1 BP (Bottomless) (Bookworms)

Stella Steward, +1 BP (Topless) (Bookworms)

“I hate this show.” Ata muttered. She slowly kept Luna on the edge, trying to decide if anything else was worth asking. Considering how much her interogee knew about the rest of the group, she decided to experiment.

Stroking inside Luna with more deliberate thought, she said: “You could replace him.”

Luna didn’t respond with words, only moans.

“I mean it. I’ve seen it happen before. You could switch places with him, leave him in the harem and take your place at the top. I’m not sure who your mentor is, but Missy, Katrina, maybe even Jane would help you with it if you asked.”

She stopped speaking again, looking to see if Luna would do anything but moan. She began moving her fingers faster. “Think about it. They could all be yours…”

“Stella”

“Helena”

Ata blushed as she thought about the next one. “Hazel”

“Maeve”

Ata felt Luna jerk. “Maeve and the others could be yours. You think about her touching you like I am, don’t you? It could be you, her, and anyone else you wanted every night. Maybe even Moira…” She said, referencing the Lobsters captain.

Luna let go, grinding against the shopkeeper’s gloved hand. “Unnh!” She came, leaning back against the wall.

“So? What do you think?” Ata demanded a response to her proposal.

“No.”

“What do you mean, no? Why not?”

Luna just shrugged and smiled.

“Fine. I guess I shouldn’t have wasted my time trying to help.” Ata groused, before the shopkeeper took off her gloves and tapped the latina.

***

Stella watched the huntress come back.

She had no idea what they and Luna had said to each other. She knew from what she’d seen that Luna had managed to seduce their pursuer, for however long it lasted.

But whatever happened, it didn’t matter now. She had undressed earlier to take full advantage of the focus her tf had begun rewarding her with. If she made it to the end, then she could get dressed a few minutes before the challenge ended. But in the library, it didn't feel as important. Dick was away, along with anyone who might judge her. The brunette knew that she was one of the few people that Luna wasn’t interested in, and so she didn’t feel as anxiety inducing to undress in front of either.

The clarity nudity gave her now had helped her weather the building intensity of the mist. She could feel it still, but she felt like she could isolate it more easily. She could feel and describe everything else she felt more easily too.

She was curious about what Luna had said, to catch Ata’s interest.

She was confused about what made this Ata so different from the one that had upgraded her transformation.

She was beginning to grow hopeful that she could last the remaining few hours, and submit her transformation idea to the audience. It’d make things easier for everyone if she could.

But she felt like she could isolate them in her mind. When she had time, she could think through and digest those. Now, Ata was back in the library.

The bedraggled, toga-clad shopkeeper was angry. Stella had always been good at sensing anger. She’d had false positives sometimes, but it was better to be prepared for nothing than to be caught by surprise.

People acted differently when they were angry, and it made Ata’s location obvious even as the two women navigated from one silenced room to another. Their posture and gait changed. How they treated both the people and the physical space around them changed. So when Ata stomped through the library, disrespecting the shelves and furniture as she shot around looking for her, it was like she was announcing where she was the whole time. Stella could navigate around her, taking advantage of the silence to evade her as Ata searched every inch of the space, but never once saw the shy woman that she was looking for.

When Ata left in an even more frustrated huff, Stella watched and began to ease through her own feelings. She’d expected to be more stressed, but she really wasn’t. Times when she’d been worried she could’ve been caught, her tf gave her the ability to keep calm and reminded her that she’d survived someone far more dangerous. So in the last few hours of the contest, she got her clothes back on and tried to sort through everything she felt and had pushed back to the edge of her mind.