Minding Her Manor
Chapter 1
by GigglingGoblin
Tags:
#cw:noncon
#cw:sexual_assault
#bimbowned
#dom:female
#f/f
#ghosts
#humiliation
#plantgirl
#pov:bottom
#sub:female
#begging
#bimbo
#bimbofication
#bondage
#brainwashing_helmet
#clothing
#D/s
#dollification
#dom:doll
#fantasy
#forced_fem
#friends_to_lovers
#ghost_story
#growth
#horror
#hypnotic_visor
#lactation
#multiple_partners
#plants
#pov:top
#romance
#teasing
#transgender_characters
Lorelei's Note: This series is set in the Glowpebble Path setting, and may get a bit dark, but not grimdark. Remember that cnc and hypnosis should always be practiced safely and ethically in the real world. All characters in this story are over 18.
“Hey! Hey, cutie! Wait up!”
Button nearly jumped right out of her tights as the sweet, feminine voice echoed from behind her. She turned to see a terrifyingly familiar face racing from the woods.
She stopped in her tracks and stared, eyes widening.
The figure’s long ruffled blue skirt fluttered behind her in the wind and rain, and their long auburn hair, done back in a thick, luscious braid, was close to losing its hair tie. They were slender and curvy, pale shirt pulled in tight by their belt as if to show off their slender waist, their ample chest. Their emerald eyes sparkled with temptation, with an invitation to surrender.
And they were running straight at her, picking their way between thistles and glowpebbles.
Button took a half-step back. Her heart was racing with panic. Oh, fuck. Oh, fuck.
Laleli had gotten even hotter while she’d been away.
“Laleli!” she managed, just before her childhood best friend scooped her up in her arms and squeezed her tight. “You’re back!”
Her cheeks burned as she felt Laleli’s warm body pressing against her. That was a very thin shirt. Button was wearing a hooded coat of furs—Lapis had made it for her last Solstice—but she could still feel the… softness of Laleli’s form.
“Course I am!” Laleli released her with a grin and looked her up and down. “Didn’t you all get my letter?”
“I—yes. Yes, we did.” Button found herself smiling. She couldn’t help herself. “It’s great to see you.”
“Where’s the others?” Laleli spun and hooked her arm in Button’s, leading the way up the hill. “Are they there already?”
“There’s no way Minni’s early to anything.” Button giggled, trying to resist the urge to press up against Laleli. “But there’s no way Lapis is late.”
The rain started to fall heavier, drumming against the surrounding hills, rattling the leaves and branches of the woods at their back.
“Gosh, it’s coming down hard, huh?” Laleli pressed in tighter. “You gotta warm me up. I am not dressed for this.”
“What, um…” Button stared at the ground ahead of them, now trying very hard not to squirm. “What happened to that awful hat you had?”
“Awful?” Laleli’s voice rang with half-joking outrage. “You vicious mink! That hat was rakish, and you all knew it!”
A smile lurked at the corner of Button’s mouth.
“A dire scorpion ate it.” Laleli kicked a glowpebble off of the path. “Bardic training is wretched.
“Oh.” Button blinked. “And you want to relax from all that by… spending the night in the Glimmering Manor.”
“Sure! Sounds like fun!” Laleli giggled, shooting her a sly grin that dripped with conspiracy. “Don’t tell me you’re scared.”
“I am not.” Button drew herself up straight and took a deep breath. “There’s… no such thing as the Baroness, after all.”
“Oh, so Lapis has gotten to you.” Laleli’s grin widened. “And she made you that gorgeous jacket, unless-I-am-to-be-much-gruesomely-mistaken.”
Button rolled her eyes. “So?”
“Oh, nothing.” Laleli leaned in close, and Button stopped breathing for a moment. “But if you want my help getting that cobblehead’s attention, you just-let-me-know.” She booped Button on the nose, then released her and skipped ahead towards the manor looming over them. “What’s the point of becoming a bard if I can’t play matchmaker?”
Button stared after Laleli and swallowed. She looked up at the manor—an edifice of pale gray brick, covered with lichen as if rimed in frost. The old outer wall, once as tall as an ogress, now crumbled so low you could hop over it. The metal gate had long since been stolen and no doubt melted for scrap, leaving only the remnants of rusty hinges to mark their passing.
Despite it being early afternoon, the rainstorm had darkened the sky to a steady twilight. Glowpebbles all around lit the way, though, and up in the shadows atop the hill, the Glimmering Manor beyond seemed to shine with a light all its own.
Button stuck her hands in her coat pockets and hurried after, slowly so as to keep her own short skirt from fluttering behind her.
~ ~ ~ ~
“Oh my gosh,” Minni bubbled, “I can’t believe I’m early to something for once, and Button’s the one that’s late!” She grinned at the girl sitting next to her. “Maybe she really is scared of the stories!”
“Button’s scared of eye contact,” Olivine murmured with a smirk. She reached over and stroked Minni’s flowing red hair, so much longer than her own simple crew cut. Minni sighed and leaned into the touch. “Though I’m guessing she ran into Laleli. Laleli would slow anyone down.”
“Gosh,” Minni whispered, “we’re gonna see her again! All grown up and grown past us!”
“She’s not even a real bard yet.” Olivine sniffed disdainfully. “You’re a year older than her.”
“I am?”
“The whole reason she’s coming back is for her twentieth, remember?”
“Oh, right!” Minni giggled sheepishly. “I guess I was so excited to see her, I forgot her birthday. I didn’t get her anything.” She glanced around the room, pouting. “Maybe I could find her something here?”
They sat in the alcove of what once had been a beautifully-furnished bow window in the Baroness’s old sitting room. Lapis had swept it clean and put in several pillows and blankets before leaving to ‘sweep the area’.
The sitting room, situated directly to the left from the foyer, was in a dire state. The chandelier was still hanging from the ceiling, but any candles it had once held had long-since been eaten by vermin or lost to time. The carpeting was dusty and stained, despite Lapis’s best efforts, and the furniture had been stolen years ago. But the two bow windows remained, and the glass had somehow remained intact.
They heard a muffled, “Oof!” and several embarrassingly censored swears from upstairs.
“Someone should really, like, go help her.” Minni blinked big eyes up towards the chimney.
“Oh, definitely. She almost managed an actual profanity that time.” Olivine tickled under Minni’s chin, making her giggle helplessly. “But I don’t think you want to leave me unattended, do you~?”
“Oh! Um…” Minni squirmed as she felt Olivine’s other hand slipping down to cup her slight ass.
“Plus, you don’t want to ruin that gorgeous makeup, do you, slut?” Olivine purred in her ear.
“O-Oh…” Minni shivered, as much at the word as at the hand tracing up and down to the small of her back, stroking delicately through her crop top. “N-No, duh.” She fluttered her thick painted lashes, managing a giggle. “I mean, like, just these took me all morning!”
“Of course not!” Olivine laughed. “And you’re such a pretty girl for me now, aren’t you?” She pulled back, and her dark lips were inches from Minni’s. “All made up like my… little… bimbo.”
Minni positively moaned as Olivine’s hand slid under her boyshorts, so rough and rugged from that time in the fields…
“Such a silly girl,” Olivine teased, “thinking I’d allow her to spoil her pretty painted face. This body is mine, slut.”
“Yours,” Minni cried softly, wriggling with need.
“That’s right.” Olivine laughed. “And I intend to take…” Her hand started to slide around Minni’s ass toward the front. Minni’s heartbeat quickened. “... full advantage of it. Would you like that, slut? Would you like—”
“I can hear you both, you turds.”
They both jumped. Lapis’s voice had come echoing down from the chimney. Olivine looked at the fireplace, then smiled.
“How’s the chimney sweeping going, Lappy, honey?” she called sweetly.
“How’s the firewood gathering going, Olivia, sweetie?”
Olivine’s smile soured. She scowled at the chimney. “It’s Olivine.”
“I like Olivia,” Minni said happily, leaning back against the wall. “It sounds like the name you’d give a princess!”
Olivine hated her given name. Lapis hated her nickname. Only each one was allowed to use the other, and Minni was pretty sure that was just because they both loved fighting too much to put a stop to it.
Minni also knew, from the evil look Olivine gave her, that calling Olivia a ‘princess name’ was going to get her viciously punished later. She looked forward to it.
tap-tap-tap
Again, Olivine jumped. She spun as Minni looked out the window.
Laleli—gorgeous, three-years-gone Laleli—and cute little Button stood there in the rain, huddled together like chicks in the nest. They both looked deeply unamused. Laleli’s auburn braid was visibly drenched, and Button’s long black hair was dripping-wet. It was cute to see Button trying to look angry when she got to stand that close to Laleli.
Laleli gestured towards the door and mimed opening it.
“Ooh, how long were you two standing there?” Minni called.
Button’s red cheeks were answer enough.
~ ~ ~ ~
“Gosh, it’s so amazing to have the whole, like, all of us back together!” Minni bounced in Laleli’s lap, which she had slid into the second Laleli had sat down. Not that Laleli minded—Minni was a bombshell. “After all this time!”
“It’s only been a few years.” Olivine reached over and ruffled Minni’s hair, making the other girl squirm a little.
Laleli sighed. “Are you two going to be like this all day?”
Olivine smirked. “Oh, don’t tell me we have two Lapises now.”
“I’m not sure the village could survive two Lapises looking after it.” Laleli’s nose wrinkled. “I think that’s how you get the sort of village that bans dancing and women bicycling.”
“None of you are remotely funny.” Lapis was crouched by the fire, slowly coaxing it to life. “For pity’s sake, this wood is soaked. Button, couldn’t you have found some wood that wasn’t part of a beaver’s dam?”
“It’s raining outside,” Button protested. She was sitting in the over alcove, leaned over so she could see the others. “That stuff was as dry as I could find.”
“I didn’t see you offering, Miss Apprentice Ranger,” Laleli chirped. She giggled as Lapis turned her trademark rolled eyes of disdain on her.
Lapis gestured to Minni and Olivine. “Someone had to stay here and keep these two from misbehaving.”
Laleli beamed innocently. “Why didn’t you ask Olivine to get it before it started raining?”
Lapis glared. Laleli tried desperately to hold her laughter in.
Lapis was extremely pretty. Her copper-brown hair was stained verdigris green, and her practical trousers and deerhide jerkin had the pleasing side effect of showing off her shapely, toned legs and willowy, graceful form. She was the shortest in the group, at least a head shorter than Laleli.
The trouble was, while her face was set in an almost perpetual scowl, Laleli had to be totally honest: Lapis had the kind of face that wore anger adorably. This was much to Lapis’s eternal consternation.
The silly little garrison cap and wide round spectacles. Those did not help.
Laleli sighed and hopped to her feet, sending Minni careening wildly into Olivine’s arms. “Fine, fine. I’ll take over firestarting duties.”
“Absolutely not.” Lapis pushed her glasses back up her nose. “Thank you, but I have this handled. If you want to help, perhaps you could be a dear and go look through the house for things to burn.”
“Sure thing!” Laleli patted Lapis on the shoulder. “Happy to help.”
“Hey, Laleli.”
Laleli paused, about to turn away.
Lapis looked up at her, sparing a faint smile. “It’s good to have you back.”
“I’ll go look, too!” Button piped up, rising to her feet. “I mean, two eyes are—are better than one, right?”
Laleli shrugged. “Hey, I wouldn’t mind the company.”
“Hm.” Lapis struck her flint several times with a grimace. “If you want more eyes, you should split up. Stands to reason.”
For some reason, Button seemed to deflate a little bit at this. “Oh, yeah. That. That makes sense.”
Laleli glanced over. Olivine and Minni were giggling for some reason. She smiled and clapped Button on the cheek. “Don’t worry, Button. I’ll take the inner rooms, you take the outer rooms. We’ll meet at the cellar entrance?”
“Yeah. Sure.” Button nodded quickly. “See you in a minute!”
They left the sitting room behind. Laleli almost felt a little bad leaving Lapis stuck with those two.
~ ~ ~ ~
Button picked her way through what she guessed had once been a laundry room of some kind. It was surprisingly clean, all things considered. She’d been hoping some musty old cloth might remain for kindling, but no such luck—just a few old basins and closets.
She’d opened two of the closets and was about to check the third when there came a loud slam from right behind her. She jumped and shrieked, spinning around.
The door had blown open, and the cold wind and rain were blowing right in her face.
She bit her lip. Thank goodness Laleli hadn’t been there to see that. Her heart was still racing.
She went to close the door, but paused, surprised. She’d assumed this door led to the grounds, but instead, it appeared to lead into a half-destroyed enclosure.
It was a greenhouse. The frame had long since shattered into pieces, and she didn’t dare step ‘inside’—even aside from the broken glass that surely lay everywhere, it was raining hard outside.
But plants grew everywhere. It was a vast greenhouse, easily twice the size of the sitting room, and Button’s best guess was that volunteer plants, wandering roots and lost seeds had managed to create their own little ecosystem, somehow withstanding the fall of the rest of the manor to decay. It was like a jungle, with vast ferns, towering flower stalks, vine plants, rosebushes, and more strange varieties than Button could even identify. Maybe even more than Lapis could identify. Sweetness filled the air of the greenhouse.
Surely Lapis must have noticed the greenhouse already when she’d patrolled the grounds. But come to think of it, Button hadn’t noticed it earlier in her firewood hunt, either.
Maybe it was in some sort of basin, or otherwise hidden. She frowned, leaning through the doorframe to peer out. The rain was coming down awfully heavy. It was hard to see too far out from the house.
As she leaned forward, she breathed in, and the waves of sweet scents washed over her. Her head actually swam. She drew back quickly, giving a little giggle.
Okay. No firewood here; that was all that mattered for now.
She had to tell the others later about this place, though.
Lapis would love it.
~ ~ ~ ~
“What’s taking them so long?” Olivine complained. “I’m cold.”
Lapis gritted her teeth. This stupid fire… “I’m so terribly sorry, my princess.”
“Watch it.”
Lapis rolled her eyes. She loved Olivine, she really, really did. She loved all the girls in their little group. But as the only one of them with any sense at all, it was her job to keep all of them out of trouble. And Olivine was trouble. She was a trouble elemental. Always had been. Lapis was the only person immune to it.
Aside from that one time under the old bridge. She shifted and brushed a lock of hair from her eyes. That time did not count.
“Maybe they got distracted,” Minni chirped. She was in Olivine’s lap, now, happily straddling the shorter girl and allowing herself to be petted like a kitten. “You know how totally sweet on Laleli our Button is. Now they’re finally reunited!”
Olivine snorted. “The day Button has the guts to make a move is the day Miss Scratch flies to the Moons.
“Ooh, well, you never know—”
“I give up.” Lapis stood up. “This fireplace is a non-starter. We’ll wait for the others to bring back proper firewood, and if they can’t find any, we should just go.”
“Aww, but Laleli wanted us to meet here!” Minni pouted. “I mean, at least then we won’t be risking the Ghost.”
“There is no ghost.” Lapis hurled the flint and steel down at the hearth in frustration. “There’s just—”
The steel struck the cobblestone, and a spark flew up and struck the wood. The fire instantly caught. She stared disbelievingly as it spread, rising to a roaring blaze of sweet, long-denied heat.
“Hey, nice work!” Minni called. “That sounds so cozy!”
Lapis blinked down at the blaze. “... yeah. Not a problem.” She turned and looked around. “I guess we go tell Button and Laleli that we don’t need the tinder anymore.”
“Ugh.” Olivine slowly ran her fingers through Minni’s hair, smiling smugly—as if Lapis didn’t know that headpetting was a kink thing for both of them. They were basically just having sex in front of her at this point. “Would that involve getting up?”
“The sun’s setting,” Minni remarked, gazing out the window. “Gosh, that’s a… pretty sunset.” Her voice dropped to a murmur. “No wonder she went crazy.”
“What was that, my dumb little pet?” Olivine purred. Confound it, she wasn’t even pretending to be subtle now.
“It’s so pretty out.” Minni’s voice sounded distant. “It’s the sort of thing that I bet could make someone go crazy, especially if, like, Ero was rising at the same time. And you know they say the Baroness went, like, totally crazy.”
She was quiet for a moment. Lapis turned to see their bimbo friend staring out the window, watching the sun go down. “Minni?”
Olivine shot Lapis a smirk and reached towards Minni’s chest, outside Lapis’s view.
Minni jumped with a yelp. She turned and smiled, her face red. “Sorry!” she squeaked. “I just… got, like, distracted, I guess.” She hopped to her feet. “C’mon, Olivine! Let’s go find our girls before something else does~”
~ ~ ~ ~
Olivine watched Minni skipping ahead, the red-haired bimbo’s short skirt fluttering up with every bounce. She wanted to be annoyed at having to go looking for people, but she couldn’t complain with a view like that.
“Are you sure they’re up here?” she complained. “I thought they said they’d be meeting up at the cellar, or whatever.”
“Uh-huh!” Minni reached the top of the stairs and beamed down at her. “Totally! Like, they probably wanna do the cellar after doing the upstairs, right?”
Olivine shrugged. She hadn’t been paying attention, and neither had Minni. “Whatever. Let’s just track those losers down quickly so we can get back to the warm fire.”
Despite all her posturing, she was happy Laleli was back. She liked Laleli. Laleli was fun—especially to tease and torment, but also to hang out with. But she couldn’t go around acting like a big softie like the rest of them, could she? She had a mean butch reputation to uphold.
“Gosh, look at all these doors,” she heard Minni murmur, twirling about to look around the long hallway. “They could be behind any one of—”
“Hey, La-La!”” Olivine called.
Her voice echoed back to her.
Silence followed.
Minni put a finger to pouting lips, frowning with thought. “I’ll start from the front, you from the back?”
Olivine raised an eyebrow. She stepped closer and reached down to cup Minni’s ass, pulling the girl to her. “And what will happen when we meet in the middle, little bunny?”
Minni gasped, squirming in place. “O-Oh… um, gosh…”
Olivine gave her ass a squeeze, then released her and made her way to the other end of the hallway. Her lips quirked as she reached for the dusty old doorknob.
She stiffened. She heard someone from the other side of the door.
“Found them,” she called back. Minni didn’t say anything. She turned and saw that Minni was gone—already in one of the rooms.
She frowned, leaning against the door. She’d initially taken it for someone speaking, but leaning in, it sounded like…
Her frown melted into a wicked grin. It sounded like moaning.
“Oh, La-La,” she murmured, “you sly little kitten.”
As gently and quietly as she could, she turned the rusty old doorknob and slid the door open. It didn’t even creak.
To her slight surprise, this room wasn’t totally empty. It was filled with old furniture, mostly covered in sheets and probably quite moldy underneath. The white sheets billowing everywhere in the wind gave the whole room a ghostly element. Well, here was that kindling Lapis had wanted, anyways.
The moaning was coming from behind tattered old curtains. Soft, feminine gasps and cries, muffled as if made through a hand… or between someone’s legs. Olivine’s smile widened as she heard lewd wet sounds echoing through the room. Oh, she was going to enjoy this. Someone was getting fucked stupid, and that would make them easy prey for some well-deserved and no doubt begged for teasing.
She stalked towards the curtains, shivering slightly in the wind and rain blowing in. The windows weren’t shattered, she noticed with some surprise. They’d been opened.
She could just make out shapes behind the curtains now—two feminine forms, one on her knees in the dormer, one leaning against the wall, legs spread to allow the kneeling figure to lean in close.
“Enjoying yourselves?” Olivine purred, and swept the curtains aside in one swift motion.
A gust of wind and rain met her head-on, and she reeled back.
There was no one in the dormer.
She stared blankly, shading her eyes with a hand and blinking slowly. The dormer remained empty.
“What the fuck?” she muttered.
A pair of hands lunged from behind and grabbed her hips. She shrieked, as much from the cold as the fright.
“Got you, dizzy dreamer~” a familiar voice chirped in her ear.
She froze. A slow smile replaced her fright as she let herself be spun around. Laleli grinned at her. “You think you’re very cute, don’t you?”
“Oh, I’m adorable.” Laleli tossed her hair back, her shimmering burnt-bronze hair splashing Olivine with flecks of rainwater.
But Olivine felt mischief bubbling in her chest. She knew brat behavior when she saw it.
“I’ll say.” She leaned in close and slowly, daintily traced a fingertip under Laleli’s chin. “Such an adorable little thing.”
Laleli’s smile turned a bit nervous. She laughed, but her voice kept catching on the high notes. “Oh, yeah, I’m—I’m—so, uh, what brings you up here?”
“Maybe I’m here for you,” Olivine purred. She leaned in closer, and her fingers played along the waistband of Laleli’s skirt. “Would you like that, sweetie? To have me all to yourself?”
She relished the sensation of Laleli shivering under her touch. “Y-You’re just gonna be like this today, huh?” Laleli managed.
“Oh, did you miss it?” Olivine’s fingers tickled lightly over Laleli’s side, slow, steady strokes. “Did you miss knowing I could do this at any time?”
“I—it’s not gonna work, though,” Laleli squeaked.
“I’m not hearing a ‘no’,” Olivine cooed, and her hand slipped under Laleli’s skirt.
The bard-in-training moaned and squirmed as Olivine reached between her legs. Laleli’s legs seemed to want to buckle, so thoughtfully, Olivine decided to shove her up against the wall. Laleli let out a gasp that was almost a squeak. “We… we should probably get back.” She was looking anywhere but at Olivine, biting her lip. “I mean, I think—”
“You think?” Olivine smirked. “Oh, we can’t have that!”
Her fingers stroked delicately between Laleli’s thighs and through the sheer material of Laleli’s underwear.
“Oh, my,” she exclaimed. “What’s this? Are we already wet, sweetie?”
Laleli squirmed weakly, still trying to look away. Olivine helpfully took her chin and ‘helped’ her to meet Olivine’s gaze.
A finger slid under Laleli’s panties, and Olivine’s voice lowered to a husky growl. “Answer me, slut~”
She felt Laleli going limp.
“Y-Yes,” Laleli managed.
“And why is that?” Olivine’s smile turned pure and chaste. “Why could that be?” She stroked along Laleli’s lower lips, holding Laleli captive in her piercing gaze.
“I—I don’t—”
“Could it be,” Olivine murmured, “because you’re a slut?”
Laleli whimpered. Olivine had no pity, though. She slowly began to insert a finger…
“Yes, Miss,” Laleli moaned.
Olivine smirked. “Good girl!”
She gave Laleli a peck on the cheek and pulled back. “Now, we should get back to the others. Lapis has the fire lit.”
“O-Oh.” Oh, the look of Laleli trying not to seem disappointed was just delicious. She gave a little nod. “Right. That’s… that’s good.”
She looked around them. “What were you doing in here, anyway?”
It took a moment for Olivine to switch gears. She looked around. “Oh, I was…” She shrugged. “Following the wind, I guess.”
“Huh. Okay, cryptic.” Laleli started to pull away.
But when Olivine didn’t let go of her chin, her cheeks went bright red.
Olivine leaned in and held up her fingers, practically dripping with Laleli’s arousal, with an evil grin. “Aren’t you going to help Miss clean up?” she cooed.
Laleli whimpered.
~ ~ ~ ~
The sun had just about set when the girls were all reassembled in the sitting room. Laleli leaned against the doorframe, while Minni and Olivine cuddled in one of the bow windows. Lapis sat in the other alcove, and Button sat by the fire.
“I love your candles, Button,” Laleli remarked. She breathed in the aroma of the lit candle Button had handed her, smelling the sweet scent of… “This is honeysuckle, right?”
“Right.” Button smiled. Her face was oddly red for some reason. “I made one for each of us!”
“They do light the place up,” Lapis said with a reserved smile.
Behind them, the fireplace crackled. The scents of the five candles mingled—honeysuckle for Laleli, juniper for Lapis, honey for Minni, and Laleli wasn’t sure what Button’s and Olivine’s were yet.
“So, La-La,” Olivine said, leaning forward, “just how has it been on the road?”
Laleli chewed her lip. She wasn’t sure how to answer that.
“It’s been long,” she said at last. “And… educational.”
“Oh? Your bardic training’s been educating you?” Olivine laughed. “I never could have guessed.”
“Be nice, Olivine,” Minni scolded.
“So why here?” Lapis asked. She sat at stiff attention, back arched, the pitch black night framing her form. “Why the Glimmering?”
Laleli grinned. “Oh, come on. It’s the only interesting thing around here. Plus, it’s nice and out of the way.” She pushed off from the wall and walked over to sit next to Lapis, leaning just close enough to steal some of Lapis’s warmth. “Gives us lots of space to get up to trouble!”
“We aren’t here to get up to trouble,” Lapis said primly. “I am here to welcome my friend back home.”
“Oh, come on, Lapis.” Minni got to her feet and bounced over to take Lapis’s hands in hers. “It won’t kill you to live a little!” She giggled as a thought seemed to strike her. “In fact, living is, like, the opposite of getting killed, if you think about it!”
Lapis rolled her eyes and pulled away.
“Well, anyways.” Laleli leaned down to rest her chin on Lapis’s shoulder, the smaller woman stiffening at the contact. “I have a game you, my sweet Lapis, are just going to love.”
“Is it backgammon?”
“No.”
“Is it bridge?”
“Ew, no.” Laleli beamed, springing to her feet and pulling out an old wooden box. “It’s ghost speaking!”
Lapis stared at the dark box, eyes narrowed. “How is that a game I would love?”
Oh, Laleli was so glad she’d asked. She leaned in close, smirking. “Because it’s not trade-a-whisper,” she said sweetly, just quiet enough that Olivine wouldn’t hear. “I heard you had some fun last summer under the bridge?”
Lapis’s cheeks reddened. “Ghost speaking it is.”
~ ~ ~ ~
The world had gone dark. Rain hammered against the crumbling roof of the manner, creating an eerie chorus of tiny drumbeats as Laleli got the veil set up—no easy task, as Minni seemed determined to pipe up with unhelpful suggestions and Olivine to give snide commentary. Lapis gazed out the window, watching as the darkness spread.
“It’s a black rainfall,” she remarked.
Most of the girls didn’t notice her, but Button looked up. “Really?” Nerves crawled along the borders of her voice.
Lapis shrugged, nodding towards the window. Outside, the glowpebbles were slowly being swallowed up in the mud, and the moons were already totally blocked behind the dense cloud cover. The Glowpebble Path was going dark. “Nothing to worry about, Button. It’s only a bad storm.”
“Yeah, but…” Button glanced back at Laleli and the others, and her voice dropped to a whisper. “Doesn’t that seem like a bad sign?”
Lapis couldn’t hold in a groan. “For the last time, Button, there is no haunting in the Glimmering Manor. And even if there was—”
“All ready!” Laleli called.
Lapis and Button turned to see that Laleli had finished putting together the veil.
Ghost speaking was a parlor game, a silly superstition turned into a silly exercise in chicanery using cheap artifacts from the Lost Days. Laleli had procured the veil, a large unwieldy-looking headset crafted long ago, by trading away a bushel of corn and a handjob to a pretty goblin peddler three years ago. Lapis couldn’t believe she still had it.
Though it appeared to have a glass visor, the veil’s visor was not made of glass at all. It was crafted from ancient material, too dark to see through.
Ancient material itself was said to have been forged of dragon’s blood in long-forgotten techniques. It could be transparent and solid as glass or springy and dense as leather, and its essence was anathema to the magic of druidcraft. No one had ever succeeded in reforging any, but its relics were everywhere. The veils were totally useless for anything practical, but stories of mystical communions had given them value to peddlers as curiosities and trinkets.
It was just superstition, though. Not everything from the Lost Days could be corrupted. People just wanted it to be. It made a better story. Lapis knew the veil itself was totally harmless.
There was one component of this game she did not approve of, however.
“So, who’s going to go first?” Minni asked, as Laleli retrieved four glowpebbles from her satchel. She knelt on her ankles with her hands on her knees, excitedly bobbing backward and forward. “Is that thing cold? I bet it is.”
“Oh, I’m sure we’ll think of ways to warm you up,” Olivine teased. “Not that it’s possible for the cold to slow down that brain of yours any more.
Minni blushed. “H-Hey!”
Lapis rolled her eyes. Aside from the recklessness of using glowpebbles for such a trivial game, wearing a piece of headgear that rendered you blind and just about totally deaf often led to exactly the sort of… shenanigans she was trying to avoid them getting caught up in tonight.
And there was only one way she could think of, little as she liked it, to be sure she could keep that to a minimum.
Suppressing a deep reluctance, Lapis cleared her throat.
“I’ll go first.”
TO BE CONTINUED...
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