“Okay, you’re not allowed to sleep past the twelve hour mark.” I barely caught up with the meaning of Cunt’s words before the cocoon of warm, soft blankets was ripped from me. I let out a whine and curled my knees into my chest. It was probably the third time I’d woken up, but I was being given no choice this time. I groaned and whined as the chilly air of the room hit me. “Up up up!”

“Nooooooo!” I twisted and grabbed for the blankets, kicking my legs out. Cunt tossed the blankets over the back of the couch I had evidently slept on. She was smiling, at least. Relief swept over me before I managed to recall how forceful I’d been last night. I whined louder and tried to hide myself under a couch cushion, but Cunt sat on the seat before I could.

“I made you breakfast, but it got cold.” Cunt chuckled. “I didn’t want you sleeping through the afternoon, and you’re a heavy sleeper.” She placed a hand on my shoulder. I was still wearing my mesh top and skirt from last night, though it was significantly more disheveled after a night of sleep. I groaned and sat up, blinking the sleep from my eyes.

Cunt’s apartment was a large studio. I was laying on one half of a corner couch wrapped around a wooden table. On the opposite wall to me was Cunt’s bed, a queen-sized mattress with white sheets situated beneath a window. One wall was taken up by counters, a refrigerator, an oven, and a dishwasher. A modest collection of weights and an unrolled yoga pad filled the rest of the apartment. None of the colors of anything quite matched with anything else, and the walls were sparse in a way that gave me the impression Cunt spent little time here.

Cunt was wearing a pair of torn jeans and a tight-fitting tank top. Compared to her vest and shirt combo last night, her tank top made her breasts look huge, rivalling Brandy at a glance. I didn’t want to stare, but my sleep-addled brain didn’t realize that until after a few moments had passed. She noticed, but she didn’t bring attention to it as she sat next to me.

“Chorizo and eggs are reheated and ready when you want them. I don’t have clothes your size, but you can take a shower at the very least.” I groaned internally. I really didn’t want to start the day. Not today. There was too much to do today.

I didn’t even know where my sister was.

“You should call your sister before any of that, though. If she doesn’t answer or turn up by tonight, we can call in a missing person’s report” I winced harder as she spoke. I hadn’t even thought of the possibility of her going missing yet. I suddenly felt dizzy and nauseous.

“I don’t want to consider her not turning up right now. Please.” I felt pathetic and childish even saying it. My sister might be missing and I was trying to hide from the waking world instead of making it better. Feeling pathetic didn’t make me want to hide less. “One thing at a time?”

“Call first. We can go from there.” Cunt wasn’t going to budge. She was right, but it cut that I needed to be told. Shame turned to anger at Cunt’s intrusiveness, her presumption to order me around, but I took a deep breath and suppressed it. Cunt was right. Delaying for any reason would be irresponsible, and left to my own devices I’d find every excuse to delay. I unplugged my phone, which Cunt had apparently been charging overnight, and flipped to Robin’s name in my contacts list. Anxiety filled my chest and nearly paralyzed my fingers, but I managed to press the call button.

The phone rang three times, each successive ring more demoralizing than the last, before the familiar background hum of Robin’s phone microphone came through. “Hi Oriole!” Amelia’s voice rang through the mic, high-energy and childlike. I tensed. “Robin will be riiight with you, but I didn’t want you to go to voicemail.” I looked to Cunt, exaggerating a look of worry on my face, and pointing to the phone.

Cunt made a gesture of pressing buttons on my phone that I didn’t quite understand, before mouthing the word ‘speaker’ to me. I nodded, and quickly set the phone to speaker, holding it away from me as I spoke. “I, uh… Is she okay? Wh…” I had no idea what to say, I hadn’t expected such a normal greeting from Amelia.

“She’s okay.” I didn’t believe her, but I stifled a retort. “I want to apologize for last night, if that’s alright with you.” Amelia’s voice rang again. She didn’t have a hint of concern in her voice, but nothing in her tone indicated duplicity. I stayed silent, stunned, unsure of where this was going. “I was in a headspace when I spoke to you, both times. It wasn’t appropriate for me to treat you like I did.”

“You’ll need to forgive me for not thinking you’re the most genuine.” My voice didn’t tremble as I spoke, to my surprise. I was angry, upset, stunned. I had been in Amelia’s body, I had felt her violate my sister, her words were so completely incongruous with what I’d felt. There was malice inside her, she had continued after I had my sister safeword. At least, I think I did it. “I would like to speak to my sister.”

“She’ll be around in a minute.” Amelia chirped back. “I don’t blame you for not believing me, but I really am sorry for how I treated you.”

“Don’t apologize to me.” I spoke low. I curled my legs under the couch, as if that would somehow protect me. She couldn’t see me, at least. “How did you even get her in the club? She wasn’t invited, Amelia.” I took a deep breath, trying to stay civil.

Getting angry won’t do anything to help Robin if Amelia wants to hurt her.

I winced at the thought. If Amelia wanted to hurt her, as if she hadn’t already. These were the exact sorts of reactions she was trying to cultivate. It was transparent, but effective.

“Oh, yes. I’ve already spoken to Victoria about that.” Amelia’s voice didn’t lose an ounce of cheerful energy. “Jeremy, the doorman, let her in. I thought she was invited because of that. They’re replacing him.” I sighed and closed my eyes. It was unsurprising that she’d have an alibi, or an excuse to mollify Victoria. Cunt twisted in her seat, shocked and angry. “Shame, really, but if he’s not checking the list it puts us all in danger.” I could practically see the innocent smile on Amelia’s face.

“Anyway, I’ve kept you long enough. Robin’s out of the shower.” Amelia’s voice faded as she presumably handed the phone off.

“Hey, Ori.” The sound of Robin’s voice calmed my nerves. She sounded absolutely exhausted.

“Hey…” My voice trailed. I sighed. “A... Are you okay? Are you hurt? When will you be home?” It was impossible to not cut straight to my concerns. “Do you need a ride?”

“I’m fine.” She tried to put energy into her voice, but didn’t quite manage it. “I didn’t get much sleep last night. I uhm…” She went quiet for a bit. “I’m not…” She paused again, causing a lump of anxiety and frustration into my chest. “I have a lot of things to talk to you about when I get home. I’m fine. I… ache…” she laughed, her laughter having more energy to it than her voice. I could almost see her smiling. I was relieved, but I didn’t know how to feel about that. “I had a long night, let’s say. I have a lot to think about, Ori.”

“Why were you at the club?” Cunt interjected. Robin gasped, very slightly, and her tone shifted away from the soft, intimate one she’d been using.

“I didn’t know I was on speaker.” The shift in tone had a hint of annoyance to it. I winced, feeling guilty. “I wanted to check in on you, Oriole. Once I got inside, I got… curious.” She giggled in a way that mimicked Amelia for a moment. “I realized part of the reason I didn’t want you to go was jealousy. I wanted to be there, and I wasn’t going to be, so I didn’t want you to have what I didn’t. It feels so childish to say.”

I would have been relieved, but Cunt’s face was tense, unconvinced. I was torn between my want to be assuaged, for all of my feelings to be wrong, and wanting to trust my guide’s judgment of the situation. “O-okay. This is news.” I laughed a little, but it came out forced and fake-sounding. “We can talk about it when we’re home. Do you need a ride?”

“I don’t think I’ll need a ride. Amelia will get me there.” I pursed my lips, not at all happy about her answer, or the thought of Amelia being familiar with where I lived, but my first priority was to get Robin alone. Playing along seemed like the best plan.

“Okay. When can I expect you home?” I felt like a mother needing to pull every ounce of information out of a stray child, but it was a feeling I was familiar with, with Robin. Needing to hunt down every ounce of information and nail her to whenever she’s found some new boy she was convinced will be her second husband.

“Mm, this evening, probably.” She giggled again, and then shrieked in surprise loud enough for me to instinctively put my finger over the speaker on my phone to muffle the sound. “Lia, stop!” There were sounds of loud giggles from both of them, and then a clattering of Robin’s phone falling from her hand. I sighed, annoyed, though the sounds of her laughter were more relieving than they should have been. It was hard to keep in mind that her mind might have been altered in some way. None of it felt quite real when it was altering life outside of my sex life.

The giggles died down after a few moments before Amelia’s voice rang through the phone. “Robin’s going to be busy for a bit. I’ll have her home by nine. Ciao!” The call ended, and I sighed, feeling unaccomplished. I set my phone down and shifted a little more, picking up my plate of food and picking at it. I looked to Cunt and took a deep breath.

“I’m unconvinced, but Amelia’s a catch-and-release kind of predator. She doesn’t keep people around, and I don’t actually know if I want to believe she is bad enough to twist someone so much they act like that. I don’t know what to think.” Cunt spoke plainly. “I would want to get someone to look at Robin before trusting a word she says. I can’t.” I swallowed a bit of egg-covered sausage, mulling over her words.

“I don’t know either. I felt her, and she didn’t feel benign. She felt like she was enjoying hurting Robin.” Cunt squirmed guiltily as I spoke, and I bit my lip, wanting to take my words back.

“I mean, if you felt what goes on inside of me when I get in that mood, you wouldn’t trust me. I don’t play at wanting to hurt people, Oriole. I like hurting people. It’s not a good feeling, but it is what it is.” She spoke softly, vulnerable. “I can actually understand Amelia, here.”

“But what about me being inside of her? I wasn’t imagining that, I wouldn’t lie about that. I couldn’t lie about that. She lashed out at me, it was targeted.” I tried to sound forceful, confident, but I only managed to fill myself with insecurity. Of the night’s events, it felt the most surreal, the most ephemeral. The exact memories felt like remembering an incredibly stressful dream.

“I believe you.” Cunt moved closer to me and wrapped an arm around my shoulders. “I don’t know what to think about that. It might have been an attack by her. It might have been somebody else. It might have been a phenomena of having the wrong two psychics in the room at the wrong time.” She pulled me closer to her. I sighed and wrapped my arms around Cunt, nuzzling into her breasts.

They were definitely bigger.

“It might have even been you. Everybody is psychic in a small way. I doubt you’re full-blown talented, Jules would have made you her apprentice the moment she met you if she were.” Cunt squeezed me a little closer to her. “She does that every chance she gets.”

“Everybody is psychic?” I hadn’t heard that before. Cunt rolled her eyes playfully, clearly regretting bringing the subject up, but not very much.

“That’s what I’m told, at least. Humans are all tuned with one another, just not enough to matter.” She ran fingers through my hair gently, soothingly. I closed my eyes and smiled, listening to her voice. “If you have one person in a room looking at a randomly selected card from a deck, a person in the next room has a better-than-chance likelihood of guessing what card it is, but the effect is tiny. It may as well not be there.”

“Huh…” I was only mildly embarrassed at not having more to add to that conversation. I was content with letting myself sink into Cunt’s arms a little more, squeeze into her breasts, and feel the difference in firmness and size compared to last night. Her fingers twirled over my scalp encouragingly. “So, uhm…” I blushed, trying to quell my embarrassment at struggling to ask about the breasts of the woman I was nuzzling into.

“I bind my breasts when I leave the house.” Cunt cut through my tiptoeing in characteristic fashion. I blushed a little more.

“Oh…” I nuzzled a little more, self-conscious. “Like that thing trans-men do?”

“Yeah.” She twirled a lock of my hair through her fingers and shifted. I suddenly felt even more self-conscious about my fascination, my mind racing. If she was trans, I was being incredibly rude, but she should have said something. I tensed a little and began to pull away. She chuckled and pulled my head back to her breasts, more forcefully holding me against them. “I used to think I was a man, but that’s really not for me. I just don’t like the way most people look at me when I don’t bind.” I sighed into her, relieved. “I’ve considered breast reduction surgery, but then I’d miss moments like this.”

“Okay.” I laughed a little. “You had me really nervous for a few moments!” I nuzzled a little more, kissing at the fabric of her tank top. I slid my hand along her waist, tentatively curling my fingers under the hem of her shirt. She squirmed faintly, which I took as encouragement to slide my hand along her belly. Before I could feel very much of her flesh at all, she grasped my wrist and tugged it behind my back.

“I also only get touched on my own terms.” She growled in my ear, expertly twisting me around so my back was to her, pulling me into her lap. She kept firm hold of my wrist as her other hand slid under my shirt, groping at one of my breasts, rolling a nipple between two fingers. I gasped and twisted in her grip, but it was to no avail. I didn’t want out, but I wanted to feel her hold me still.

“But you get to touch whenever you want?” I panted my words, twisting in her grip a little more. She pinched my nipple in response, tugging sharply. She gave a self-satisfied chuckle before beginning to suckle on my left earlobe, sending currents of heat through my shoulders. I cried out in pleasure in response, pressing myself into her more, whimpering. I didn’t need to moan, I wasn’t a natural screamer, but I wanted to encourage her.

“Whenever, wherever, however.” She slid her lips from my ear to my neck, biting down. Her hand at my breast traveled down my body, under my skirt. I quivered and spread my legs for her as she ran fingers along my panties. “Perks of being me. You understand, Oriole.”

“I don’t w-want to—Nnh!” I moaned as she slid fingers beneath my waistband, over my sex, feeling, exploring over me. My belly clenched and my toes curled as I ground myself into her more. It’d been so long since anybody but me had touched my pussy. Failed hookups ended at groping, at most, and all of my time with Jules was spent remotely exploring mind-play. “I don’t want to be a pillow princess, Cunt!” I managed to force the words out.

“Mm, don’t worry. I won’t let you be.” Cunt’s fingers teased over my cleft, her thumb brushing over my clit. I let out a whine and curled my toes more. Two fingers dove between my legs and thrust, curled inside me, as her thumb pressed into my clit. “You’ll be touching me on my terms.” Her thumb started rubbing in a slow circle around my clit, her thrusts became more rhythmic, firm, bouncing me on her arm as she spoke. “On. My. Whims. At. My. Command.” I screamed, using my free hand to dig into her thigh, clenched around her fingers.

Then my phone began to ring.

I turned my head to ignore it, but my better judgment took over. I couldn’t pass up a call from Robin. Nothing was more important than a call from her right now.

It was Jules.

Cunt’s fingers stopped tentatively, I could feel her watching me, judging her next action by mine. The phone rang out a second time as my mind raced. I was angry at her for last night, but was I so angry that I didn’t want to talk to her? Would she think I was angry if I didn’t answer? Was I really angry, or was I just hurt? Was it even fair of me to put her on the spot last night?

I reached for the phone with my free hand. Cunt let go of my wrist and pulled her fingers from me. My body missed her, but I grasped up my phone and pressed the answer button. “Hey!” My voice came out far more jovial than I had intended, but my mood caught up afterwards. It was so good to hear from Jules.

“Hey.” Her voice was flirty, low, and sent my heart aflutter. “How did last night go?”

“Uh. Not good. I’m at Cunt’s right now, but that’s about the only thing that went right after you left.” I blushed. “I don’t really want to talk about it. I’ve been doing nothing but talk about it since it happened. How did your thing go?” I grasped the phone with two hands and smiled. Jules’ voice was relieving to hear after everything I had been through. It was like weathering a storm to see home again.

“It went well enough. Coffee with an old friend, catching up, commiserations. Sorry I had to bow out. Sorry I bowed out when I did.” Her voice was soft. “You’re at Cunt’s place, huh? I told you you’d love her.” Jules’ voice turned low and flirty. “Have fun?”

Cunt shifted behind me and sighed, annoyed. I froze up, shoulders hunching forward defensively. I was being more than rude, I was being the world’s’ biggest jerk to her. I sighed as heavy guilt settled into my stomach. “Y-yeah. I should be going, actually. Can I call you later, Jules?” Every word had Cunt shift a little more behind me, distance growing despite me still being in her lap.

“Anytime, hun. Call me when you’re home.” Jules hung up her phone. The warm thrum of sex washed through my body again, but I had enough sense of mind to not simply lay back into Cunt. I turned a bit towards her, my cheeks red with shame.

“You should go.” She spoke firmly. Her words cut through me. I nodded, quietly.

“Sorry. I didn’t want her to think… Sorry.” My voice was hardly a whisper when I responded. I shook a little, cheeks reddening more as I leaned down for my phone charger. I reached slowly, not trusting myself to move any quicker and keep my shame from boiling over into tears. Cunt didn’t deserve that.

“No, you don’t get to do that.” Cunt spoke quickly, angrily. “I am not the one who is going to end this feeling guilty.” Her words were like bellows coaxing the fire of my shame. “I would understand going back to Jules, she’s like that. I don’t want to keep you from her if you’re going to gravitate towards her. I’ve been there. I would even understand you answering the phone, right there, and telling her you were busy.”

She shifted out from under me and stood up, pacing a little. “That was….” She spoke before she took a deep breath. I held mine. If I could I would have shrunk to the size of a mouse, or a fly, or just disappear altogether. Her words hurt with how right they were. “Go. Just fucking go.”

I tried to grab everything quicker, shaking. Robin’s car keys, my phone, charger, parka, purse. I stood, throwing on my parka before making a bee-line to the doorway. I shoulder-checked the door on the way out and ran towards the lobby, tears burning my eyes as I pushed towards the lobby.

I don’t know how long I spent sobbing in the car once I’d finally made it.

     The hum of Jules’ microphone always sang before her video feed did. She wore her signature red leather jacket, this time with a black tee underneath. Her camera was positioned so it was looking up towards her in a way that always made me feel small. It was undoubtedly intentional. The wall behind her was a dark grey with yellow stars making an arch over her. It made for an impressive if over-the-top impression when viewing her from a fixed angle. It doubtlessly looked silly in person.

“Your eyes are puffy.” Jules frowned. They were. I had taken a shower before contacting Jules, but the camera made the redness more pronounced. If I were at all adept at color balancing, or used my camera for more than talking with Jules, I would fix it. My own screen showed me in the lower left of my video-chatting feed. I had changed into a comfortable, overly large tan sweater. I wore nothing underneath. It was more comfortable, and it wasn’t like Jules hadn’t seen everything, from every angle.

There was comfort in that.

“Yeah. It’s been a bad, uh… twenty hours?” I sniffled just a little and leaned towards my laptop camera. “I was a jerk to Cunt. You called right when we were, uh, fucking.” I blushed, and the red showed fiercely on the camera feed preview.

“Oh, I’m sorry.” Jules’ voice deflated. I shook my head.

“No, no, that was fine. I just should’ve told you I was busy. I was a jerk. Cunt is pretty justifiably mad at me. I should try to find a way to make it up to her? I don’t really know what I can do. Sorry. Can we just move on? I’ll find a way to fix it”

“Okay.” She sounded more confident. I smiled. I loved the way she trusted me, the way she trusted my judgment. No second guessing, and if she did have second guesses she could probe me to find the truth. She knew I had no method of lying to her, and so I didn’t. It made my heart flutter all the more as I watched her.

“So, what did you want to talk about?” I asked, putting a little more cheer into my voice than there actually was. I wiggled a little in front of the camera in a way I knew she thought was cute.

“Well, I was thinking of making up for missing out on all the fun last night, but it doesn’t sound like fun was had.” I took a breath and tried to contain my relief. I didn’t want her to bring up the conversation we had last night. I has been fearing this was her breaking up with me, in what capacity she even could.

I still had to remind myself that we weren’t a couple.

“I could go for that.” I pushed a flirty lilt into my voice. It was a dance we played often. I shifted on my bed to a position that had my sweater cling to me a little tighter, I smiled. “I could use a little bit of a vacation from myself, if that fits in with your wants.”

“A vacation from yourself, hmmm?” Jules’ voice purred. She leaned forward in her chair, tenting her fingers in a predatory way, curling her lips into a sly smile. “Vacations are expensive, you know.” My heart caught in my chest, I shivered and bit my lower lip.

“They are, huh?” I shifted a little more, leaning forward. The lighting in my room made my attempt to show cleavage through the neck of my sweater futile, showing Jules nothing but a black void, but she smiled at the attempt. “However will I pay for it, mmm?” I swayed in front of her, tempting, rubbing my lips together. My body warmed in anticipation of Jules’ inevitable psychic assault.

“Mmm, I don’t think that’s any of your concern. I’ll negotiate that with your body.” She purred more, placed a fingernail on her desk, and tapped down. The thud felt like her finger was tapping at the back of my mind. Everything went hazy, dizzy. I moaned, lips slow and heavy. Everything felt heavy.

Everything felt good

“J-Juuules!” my voice slurred through my heavy lips. Jules giggled.

“I’m going to give you a nice, long, relaxing vacation away from you. Tug the Oriole out of her shell and just let her drift away.” She tapped her finger again, and everything got hazier. My body slumped. I moved my head to look at the screen, but even that was a struggle. I clenched my thighs and whined out. My own video feed is all that let me know my tongue was hanging out. My eyes were glowing, too, a flickering blank white coated over them.

“Mmm, but don’t complain to me when your body aches upon your return.” Her voice was at a perfect tone to make me clench harder, to make me feel hazier. I whined and murmured, but words wouldn’t come out. “Somebody has to pay for your vacation, Oriole.” She chuckled. “It’s okay. It’ll be worth it, I’m sure.” She raised her finger off of her desk one more time. I shivered and clenched in anticipation, but it didn’t drop. Her eyes danced over me, her smile not fading.

I whined, desperate for that finger to drop again, to grow hazier, to disappear, to feel more dizzy and lost and weak. “Pu… Puh…” my lips betrayed me as I pleaded, my tongue was a useless indelicate snake in my mouth. “Puuheeeee—“

I didn’t finish the half-word before everything went perfectly, serenely blank.