I can't help but tap impatiently at my desk throughout the lectures as my mind could not be further away. Laura seems particularly motivated for once at least, which I find myself taking credit for as if I haven't just manipulated her into giving me a convenient place to sleep away from my converted roommate. The old, scrappy heroine I once was would have never stooped low enough to use her best friend in this manner, but when the heroes on high are so steeped in sin I can't help but wonder if Murmur's depths aren't a sanctuary of sorts. It's... liberating, not having to pretend to be so perfect all the time, gods know I was never very good at that to begin with. 

And so I'll use her, because needs must. I'll make sure to give her the date she's always dreamt of and more, perhaps we can get me out of her system for good. Or maybe I'll be getting right into her system, let's see how it goes. 

"Joy, I'm nervous." Laura confesses to me sweetly as we turn our backs to that mind numbing lecture and I reach over to grab her hand, squeezing it lightly. I ease off when the other gives me a strange look and realise I'm not as light in my grip as I think, well used to clutching Murmur with everything I have as she injects me with her midnight curse, sharp teeth that hit me like shot of adrenaline. I'm still embarrassed to show the marks so openly, but only half as much as it excites me now. So desperate I am, to prove I'm not the dorkish junior hero I've been cast as. 

The vigilante Firefly has rough hands I'd love to call her out on if only to see my best friend squirm in excuse, tell me about the extra credit woodworking classes she's been taking on or something just as conveniently mundane. A part of me wants to just tell her now that we both serve the same mistress, whether she knows it or not, but I know that I really just want somebody to be jealous of how close I am to Murmur. She's taking pawns now, but I'm still the one in her bed... the one who gets to sink into her touch as fangs sink into my skin and move in moreish monologue. 

All good apples go rotten in time, Joy, it's simply the way of things. 

I bite my lip and shrug off the sensation of yearning, knowing that it's unlike me to feel such things. Especially for women, 'lesbianism' is still so new to me and while I initially felt disturbed by Hive's hand in it... I can hardly remain upset when my hero's arms hold me into sleep each night. When my villain's eyes correct my doubts in a flash and make me hers all over again, every sleep and wake. "Don't be nervous, Laura. It's just me, we've had sleepovers before haven't we?"

"S-sleepover? Ah... ahahaha, you're not fucking with me are you?" Laura makes a cute show of pinching her arm and I smile a little at the implications. It's like I'm seeing a whole different side to her now, is this how she'd act around a girlfriend if she ever thought to move on and bag one? I doubt I've helped her along there, but the part of her locked away in my garden should be perfectly complicit in all of this right?

"Mhm, I want to see your place. I bet it's a mess, isn't it? I know a first date is usually like a restaurant or a movie, maybe we can do that first I guess, to kill time. But y'know, isn't that the sort of stuff you do to break the ice with a relative stranger? Get to know each other and be comfortable in one another's presence before even thinking of taking the risk to invite them into your life proper? We're besties, aren't we? We know each other plenty already, at least our regular old selves. I'm more interested in finding out more about the Laura I haven't met yet." I bring her clasped hand up to my face and gently kiss it, wondering at what point exactly I became such a smooth operator. I've a good mentor, what can I say?

"Joy..." Rather predictably, Laura is weak at the knees already, likely filling her tummy with butterflies while playing back my words and the kiss used to punctuate them. Laura's so simple when it comes to matters of the heart, she's so easy that it's hard to feel bad for playing her like this. If I keep telling myself it's a gift, an act of kindness, then I can let myself share in this excitement she exudes with each and every heavy step. "I'm not tall, dark nor handsome... but I'll show you whatever you want to see, okay?" I'm surprised by her earnestness even if she's only reciprocating my own, as ironic as that may be. We step into the dying day and realise we were still holding hands as we walked, both of us giggling and letting go before Laura takes both of mine in hers again. "All of me, I mean. I... I've wanted to tell you for a long time, I'm really--"

With a firm hand, I push the girl against the campus building wall and shut her up with another sudden kiss, she's clearly lost her mind if she's about to confess that to me right here and now, I'd rather she not tell me at all but I have a sneaking suspicion that her place will be particularly unsubtle about her nightly outings. I'm half expecting to find knives and a damaged outfit of hers simply strewn across her bedroom floor.  "Handsome? You just denied it, but like... do you even see yourself? You're like the poster girl for chapstick lesbians, it's honestly kind of my type or ah..." With an impish grin I don't think I've ever worn before, I tousle the blonde's hair with my fingers and pull out the lipstick I've been borrowing, smearing raven black under her eyes. Laura is transfixed as I undo the top few buttons of her plaid shirt in languid act, my hips keeping hers pinned against the hard brick. "Now you look the part of a girl I'd fall for, hehe." 

I pull my arms back and assess the damage from such a potent psychic attack, surprised at how natural that felt and how cathartic it was to act without inhibition holding me back. The girl who I've only ever known to be playful and teasing, or charmingly violent, finds herself completely speechless for once. Taking a moment to compose herself, Laura pushes away from the wall and fidgets with her fingers down by her waist. A few moments later, as I've already begun to walk away and the flustered thing scrambles to catch up, Laura tries her best to wear her usual bravado. "Christ, Joy, I never knew you were so assertive! We're not even dating yet, right?"

Not even dating yet? My heart sinks a little and I remember just how much I'm leading her on, enjoying it even. Still, there's no need to discount the idea altogether, perhaps I can convince Miss Murmur to add a new bedfellow to her den. Do I even like Laura in that way, though? I never once thought of her like that before my awakening as a lesbian slut, but I suppose therein lies the answer. I've begun to look at most women in this way, like I've a need to catch up on lost time. Her lips do taste nice and her plain affection is endearing her to me when it would have only caused discomfort in the past. I know that Murmur would be okay with me dating other women, I'm sure she'd even be encouraging. Perhaps with my orchard, I could even use these new desires of me in a more productive way... 

From scrappy hero accepting school visits to pay tuition, to sapphic seductress serving her midnight mistress... the thought seems less and less absurd with every step I take into the dark. I'm turned on by the idea of seeing how much I can change, but I need to remember that these indulgences and fantasies are only second to our true goals in taking down Nova and saving this damned city. I mean, at least I think that's what Murmur wants? Every time she explains her grand ambitions to me, I begin to space out and forget that I even asked. It's for my own good that I don't know too much.

"Oh? Hahaha, you've got me all wrong, Laura." I hook my arm around hers as we walk, something we've done before on trips to the mall or some such outing, but now it feels somehow different. "I'm actually a submissive. I-I mean, a bottom? Uh, I'm still learning all the terminology, lived a pretty bland life up until recently! Well, besides all the... uh, blind dates?" I got distracted and almost let slip my identity, though I think Murmur has used that post-hypnotic trigger stuff of hers to stop me from actually speaking the words aloud anyway. 

Laura quirks a brow and regains her composure, remembering that I'm still the same Joy she's known all this time. Well, mostly the same. "Definitely coming back to the first thing you just said but I gotta ask, all those dates you were telling me about, those poor boys' hearts I thought you kept breaking... what's going on there? Were you seeing girls? You said one gave you these, yeah? They look recent..." The blonde traces a fingertip over the sore spot on my neck and I wince, tilting away and looking down with a rapidly reddening face. "If you've already got a girlfriend, I'd wanna know why you're being so sweet on me right now. For her sake too, unless I'm like... a sudden rebound..."

The girl's sharper than she lets on sometimes, I suppose that even a cutthroat vigilante like Firefly needs good intuition to keep herself from being caught or worse. As much as I want to be honest, I need to be careful here, if Laura's place is off the menu I'll have no choice but to stay somewhere I can't rightly afford with my lousy budget. Maybe Murmur would lend me one of her trinkets to pawn. "Well it's... sort of an open relationship? Maybe those dates never worked out because I'm not willing to be tied down to one person, haha..." Tied down by one person, perhaps, as she decorates my chest with droplets of hot wax. As mentioned before, the past week has been intense. 

"Is she a goth?" Laura gives a surprisingly relaxed smile, as though she had already figured it out. Does that mean she's fine with this, really? "Not sure if you're aware, Joy, but your recent 180 in fashion has not gone unnoticed on campus. To be honest, you're kind of a hot topic... ah, funny choice of words ahahaha... I mean to say, like, you're kind of popular right now. At least to talk about, has anyone come up to you or anything?"

"Well uhm, I have had a few... a group of younger girls asked to exchange numbers and I had no idea what for. Guys on my course have been giving me more attention, a girl who never spoke to me before now even asked where I buy my clothes from."  I try my best to hide the sheepish grin on my face as I recall the interaction, I couldn't tell her where to clothes are from when I've mostly been borrowing from Murmur last second. Around her, I'm always running late. 

"Ah, you're finally cool like me. This girl you're seeing must be rubbing off on you heavy, I won't pretend I'm not jealous. Still... I thought you were pretty cool before, too. You won't change too much, right Joy?" Laura squeezes my hand and I begin to wonder if she's really okay with all of this, or if she is simply convincing herself that she is. Right now, I'm not sure I can answer her question earnestly and I've lied to her enough for one day. 

"So uh, dinner? I can't afford anything too fancy but uh, I'm not convinced you can cook for me at your place." 

Laura pouts and hangs her head, eventually admitting that I'm right and starting to suggest more places to eat than I can remember all at once. In the end I tell her to surprise me.

"Oh, sonuva..." Another jam, these guns are more fickle than Rosary's date. One of New Cassiepeia's big four drops the heavy pistol onto floor of her penthouse suite and cracks open a can of beer with a sigh of frustration. Across from her sits an ice sculpture of her current fling, made by the young thing's own ice powers before she had to leave due to an emergency. Rosary snorts as she reaches for another handgun from her wall of weaponry and trains it on the icy bitch's head. "These rookies need to learn when to turn their damn phones off and live in the moment, crime never sleeps but we sure as shit need to." 

Bang!

The ice bursts into pieces and yet, the woman's catharsis never seems to arrive at the station. Deciding to substitute it with a gulp she near chokes on, the woman slams down her beer and clutches her head. They'd already been drinking at the extortionate restaurant she took her junior to as a means of dazzling her, but drinking this swill right out of the can will always be much more enjoyable than the pretentious vinegar wine served to them during dinner. Even so, Rosary drank her fair share while ignoring the tab, now she finds herself barely able to hold her arm steady as she shoots.

"The soundproofing in here is very impressive, to say nothing of this view." Rosary whips around to shoot at the source of the familiar voice but finds herself too dizzy from the sudden motion, losing her balance and only just managing to remain upright. "Careful, sister, they say that one bad fall at your age is all it takes."

"Ugh... I'm only 38, you bitch. Now you're gonna tell me what the hell you're doing in my apartment or I'll make ya into modern art, crook viscera." Wild Rosary crouches down amongst shards of melting ice and rolls behind white leather couch, gripping her handgun tight as she listens for footsteps. 

"Oh me oh my, you're so paranoid you'd shoot at old friends come to pay visit? I see you're still in the business of asking questions later, hm?" New Cassiepeia's most illusive villain steps into the light cast down from glass roof, Rosary exiting her cover in a quick spin and squeezing the trigger tight with pinpoint accuracy even in her drunkenness. "Ah, fuck!" Another jam, this is unprecedented. "Wait... Misty?"

"And the shoe finally drops, I hope you don't mind but I helped myself to some of your personal effects as you can see. It's a... bad habit." Miss Murmur gestures to her state of dress, having donned one of Rosary's spare and made sure to inject some fine wordplay to lighten the tone of this dour talk. 

Rosary wants to rush for another gun but knows better than to turn her back on Murmur, heroes who cross the crook's path tend to forget the encounter altogether. It has happened to the twisted sister once before already. "There's nothing valuable enough here to warrant the visit, darling, so I'll assume you're here for me? How... peculiar. Nicole is furious with you, though I can't imagine there'd be much left of me to find if I had put that bullet in your chest just now." The woman steps back, slowly edging away from Murmur and towards her weaponry. 

"I'll have to apologise for the defective guns, I know you receive your weapons from Hive's operations and so I've had her tamper with them just a little. I thought it'd be funny... turns out it was a real lifesaver! Though I've heard this costume is made with bulletproof weave ahaha." The petty thief steps closer, knowing well that a drunken, pissed of Rosary still has a chance of making self destructive choices despite fearing the consequence from her golden master. "As for Nic, I'm flattered she still cares enough to get mad at me."

"Hive? Shit, you mean... they're..."

"Very loyal, I never did think she was a very good fit for the Nova agency and let's be honest, you all felt the same. Under my dark wings she's ah, much better motivated. Your agency's new little pet project made a nice gift too, I'm flattered really, didn't think we had that sort of relationship anymore." Murmur reaches into the habit and Rosary quickly backs up to the wall, holding her arm up in threat. 

"I've already sent for back up, you realise?" The high ranking hero threatens with some fear in her voice, Murmur glad that her reputation even shakes the top four. So much so that they had to hastily form a plan to be rid of her. Or to be more precise, to cage her for Nova's comfort and convenience. "I never liked you, Misty. Your creepy dead eyes, the way you tried your hardest not to talk to any of us. There's just... nothing super about you, but the woman won't let you go. Maybe killing you now would do us all a fucking favour." Wild Rosary grabs a shotgun from the wall with a slug that's sure to tear through that resistant weave. 

When she returns her gaze to Murmur's dark circles, she finds them greeting her from behind tinted orange lenses. While the crook has not moved a step closer, she now sports a thick black mask that certainly makes her look the part of villain rather than simply a severely displaced goth. "Your signal is as jammed as that shotgun, Rose." The masked villain drops a cannister and the second it makes contact with the ground, a fine pink mist begins to fill the apartment so rapidly you could blink and miss it. 

"What..."

"The first hero I ever played around with or... I suppose the second... was nice enough to lend me the formula for the gas she's well known for. One of yours, or she was, I don't think any agency is gonna hire a hero behind bars. Ah, bank robbing in the city protected by Nova isn't the smartest play I'll concede. Reunited mother and daughter, so I'm sure they're both grateful." The gas that contains a weaker mix of Florasma's concoction works its way into Rosary's lungs as the hero finds that yes, the shotgun is indeed jammed. Murmur hadn't intended the sabotage to benefit her quite so directly, else it'd mean she was planning this from the very start... 

"Ugh... is this... how you got me last time?" Rosary drops the heavy firearm and tries her best to stay standing, watching through glowering eyes as Miss Murmur approaches confidently and pushes the woman down by her shoulders onto her knees. A gloved hand grabs Rosary's chin and pulls the sagging hero's gaze up to hers. 

"No, this was more for old time's sake now that I've decided to get my act together and step out of the shadows. More theatrical and villainous than how I've avoided you three in the past. Not going to use your powers, Rose? Why make this easy for me?" Murmur smirks and squeezes the woman's cheeks between her fingers, watching the famous hero slowly succumb to pacifying gas. 

"You know why... but... then, how did you do it? Even Disco and Nic..." The woman would likely flop over by now if Murmur's leather grip did not keep her held up, her entire body feeling so heavy and warm. If only the deceased ice sculpture could reform and come give her a hug.

Murmur pushes Rosary's face away and releases her, watching the woman collapse onto her side as takes deep, traitorous breaths of the addictive gas. "Do you remember the last night any of you saw Misty? Our place was a mess, right? It was nice, only my second time meeting Mint in the flesh as she's usually such a basement dweller."

Rosary smiles, a giddy trance starting to take over as she melts into a puddle on the floor. "We drank a lot, it was fun... but you were gone the... next day?"

"With the wind, yes. To everyone else it was a strained yet jovial anniversary party. To me, it was a farewell fray. I hypnotised all three of you that night, I dropped the induction into casual chatter so easily with your cheeks all rosy from the drink. You, Nic and Mint all dropped for me towards the end of the party, all at the same time. It was... so cute, the three mightiest heroes all vulnerable and under my control. Still testing the limits of my ability... and my morals, I was too nervous to do much with you under trance but the post-hypnotic suggestion I left was a nicer farewell gift than any of you deserved. Cross my path again and all I'd have to do was snap my little fingers and you'd experience a convenient blackout, when you'd come to I'd be like the wind once again. It barely worked on Nic last time, though, and I know Mint has made Disco fully autonomous since so no luck there anymore."

The hero seems confused, disbelief crossing her face as though asking for a demonstration Murmur is all too willing to give. "But you, Rose. You've always been easy. Say goodnight now, it'll be a short lived sleep... I need to work through the early hours taking your mind apart more thoroughly. Benefits of being unable to sleep, I suppose." 

"Misty... ehe... uhm, you're not really--"

Snap!

"Ough... I'm so fucking full, knew I shoulda fed you my spaghetti like we're on a proper date." Laura groans and holds her stomach like it's about to burst open, leaning against me as we make our way back to her place. Will Discoman report her or worse, take matters into his own hands, if he discovers through my eyes the identity of the illegal vigilante Firefly. I'll have to be careful where I look once we're inside and if I think the girl's about to confess again, shut her up with another well timed kiss. 

"This is a proper date, Laura. I didn't take you out as an act of pity, or a favour." No, I did it for a much more self-serving reason, but I won't deny the fun I've had. Being desired by someone this strongly is rather endearing, the way Laura looks at me makes me feel special in a similar way to when Murmur praises me. "I'm not inviting myself over to watch you play video games or lift weights, though maybe the latter could keep me entertained for an hour or two..." I squeeze her bicep and bite my lip, Laura flexing for me with an easy laugh. Gosh, I really have fallen for women, it feels like a lifetime ago that I thought I ever liked men. Clearly Hivemind's manipulation just happened to help me discover something about myself I simply had yet to realise. 

"Having a cute girl watch me work out as I watch her get all hot and bothered at the sight... now you're making me dizzy, Joy, let's just stick to sex. That I can handle, seems relatively tame by comparison somehow. What has that mystery woman been doing to you?" 

"Do you really want me to answer that? Cause like... a lot." I decide to omit the fact that Laura was the one to meet Miss Murmur and fall into her clutches first, for my rapt audience I will play the humble poly lesbian to perfection, is there a single part of the old Joy left to be recognised? My name, perhaps. If Firefly catches Orchard with the dyed black hair too, even she's sure to make the connection. "Do you know what breathplay is?"

"Th-that's enough of that! Jeez, we're in public... what happened to the girl who felt too shy to even discuss her dates with me, eh?" Laura punches my arm playfully, clearly more embarrassed than she'd care to let on. 

With a shrug, I reply with honest feelings. "She grew up, I guess." Mumur made a real woman of me, I'd never admit to Laura or anybody else that until her I'd never even kissed anybody. At least of my own accord, my training with that murder of crows hardly qualifies as acceptable intimacy. Well into my college life and I'm finally an adult, now I'm seducing my best friend as convenient cover. I know she's infatuated with me and the closer we get to her bedroom, my chance to show off to somebody else everything I've learnt under my mistress' firm touch, the less guilt I feel and the more turned on I become. A part of me has known since the very start that this deception secretly excites me, I was just unable to admit it until now. 

For a while after this, the two of us walk hand in hand, completely silent. I wonder if I said something wrong but then I notice the look of contentment on my best friend's face, the way she perks up and blushes when she catches me staring. Oh, just as I'm getting more excited the nearer we draw to her place, it would seem Laura is becoming increasingly nervous. It seems so unlike her that I'd never expect such meekness, but I should probably be surprised at my own forwardness if anything. I forgot what it feels like to be shy about sex after engaging in such acts for weeks now between training with Hive and falling into Murmur's serene shadow. I even kissed Laura so publicly earlier just to shut her up... no that's not it, I simply felt my frustrations reach their peak and acted in the only way I've known how to calm them recently. I let Murmur use my body to vent and she encourages me to do the same, so I simply forgot myself with Laura and now here we are. It all worked out in the end, but I can only imagine how it would've played out if I had a straight best friend. 

"And here we are! All the shithole you envisioned and more!" Laura leads me by the hand up the steps to her place and opens the door with a firm kick once she's unlocked it. "Gets a bit stiff sometimes, you know how it is." Not exactly, but I'll take her word for it. Despite the bad omen in form of stiff door, the rest of her apartment is surprisingly well kept. 

"Wow uh, it's actually tidier than my dorm room is right now. I'm almost disappointed, Laura." It certainly smells like a guy's apartment, though, at least the few I've had the unfortunate fate of entering. Not by myself of course, but during the few attempts I made to join the first two weeks of college when seemingly everybody was having a party at their place, every day of the week. This is much easier to navigate than the hazardous apartment Murmur inhabits, it really is more of a den. She's like a dragon sleeping on her mountain of gold, but... at least she's trying to make a difference in the world. God knows she's already made huge changes to mine. If not for her influence I'd likely be scrubbing graffiti off walls right now and instead I'm... well, I have a suspicion my first night with Laura will be much more fun. I want to blow this girl's mind, a dark part of me even wanting to ruin other women for her in the sense that none she takes to bed in future could ever hold a candle. Maybe then she'd come crawling back regardless of either of our relationship statuses, begging for me to take her again and-- 

"Earth to Joy, you there?" Laura gently nudges my shoulder with a relaxed laugh, something in my daze seeming to have calmed her nerves. "Guess I'm not the only one nervous here after all, I'm gonna go take a shower before we uh, settle in. You're free to use it after." The blonde's heart is clearly racing towards a collision, Laura's hand slipping free from mine as she enters the ensuite in her bedroom and places freshly folded towel onto a heated rack by the toilet. It's an impressive apartment, especially compared to my dinky dorm. 

"Or I could join you?" I hold open the bathroom door and lean in close, pecking black mark onto her cheek. "Just kidding, I think I'll go in later, I feel like I'll be needing one after the date officially ends haha..." With a wink to set her heart aflutter, I pull away from the door and listen to the sound of Laura scrambling in haste to start the shower. I'm not sure why she felt the need to freshen up already when she smells perfectly fine, though I am used to catching whiff of her exertion after a night of punching petty criminals as Firefly. It's not... a particularly unpleasant scent, even still. 

As the shower runs like background ambience, I drop onto my best friend's bed and the reality of this situation finally dawns on me as much as it has for the blonde herself. This is Laura, my best friend in the entire world. Sure, our conversations do not usually operate entirely on an equal plane with all the necessary dishonesty but truly, I love Laura. Back when I looked the part of the preppy, unimpressive person I pretended to be for so many years, I really only had Laura to consistently hang out with me between classes or partner with me during our shared one. Making and especially maintaining friends when I dedicated half my life or more to hero work proved too difficult and yet, with Laura also living double life as vigilante hero Firefly... we never demanded each other's time during the evenings and so never had to let the other dawn and form that familiar rift. I've lost more friends than I'd care to admit, but Laura stuck to me like glue and hasn't come off since. 

And now I'm sitting on her bed, waiting for her to come out of the shower so the two of us can fuck. Even though we're both consenting adults with definite attraction to women... it seems so wrong. Like bedding a sister, or something. I collapse onto my side at the same time as the city's third most renowned hero, pulling the quilt covers up to my face and losing myself in them. Speaking of Laura's scent, this entire bed is carrying it, of course. This is where my best friend sleeps, I wonder whether she wears pyjamas or underwear, does she wear a shirt or go it topless? I'd imagine her sleeping in boxer briefs and nothing more, wondering when I started picturing such things so vividly. Curling up on the bed and pulling a pillow close, I breathe deep the faint traces of shampoo and imagine her sleeping in wet hair, letting it dry like that and then simply brushing it in the morning while waiting for her microwave breakfast to heat up. 

I'm so infatuated by these mundane fantasies, like I've infiltrated her privacy. Her bed is just so personal, it's like I can spread my orchard's roots over it and absorb all these private moments. It's so different to Murmur's bed, because it's Laura's bed. Such obvious difference, but the vastness of it all is more than I had been anticipating. With Murmur, it barely even feels real. She's a dark angel who descended upon my life and when we share her bed, it's like I've floated, or descended, onto another plane of existence entirely. Here, on this delightfully mundane mattress that carries my best friend's scent and stories, I'm unquestionably still in the real world. I can't take it any longer... 

"Ah man, I feel so refreshed I bet I could... uh... hi." Laura exits the bathroom having dried and dressed into a spare change of clothes behind the door, I was expecting her to at least emerge in a towel I'd have no trouble convincing her to drop. Her lack of awareness here is astounding, did she think we were going to move to the couch and watch a movie as our hands slowly crept closer over an hour and a half of cheesy slashings? No, I can't wait that long. I'm desperate, I'm dying. This bed of hers is intoxicating, suffocating. What the hell is wrong with me?

"Hi..." I'm sprawled over her bed, the covers protecting my modesty but ending just shy of my breasts. Laura's eyes dart to my hastily discarded clothes strewn across the carpet, I suppose we found a mess in her place after all. Several, if you consider myself, eyes losing lustre in favour of a dull lust. My body is an open flame, skin so flush I feel I should've joined Laura in the ensuite after all. 

"Miss Williams... your roots... something's happening in the orchard, I--"

Hivemind? Of all the times to disturb me, why now? I'll need to remind the dormant dryad of its place later, for now... 

"You're... naked?" Laura drops her knee onto the bed and I gasp out, my vision blurring for just a second. But why? She was nowhere near me. The sharp sound causes the blonde to back up a little, her eyes wide and unable to look away. 

"We're not in preschool, Laura... yes, I'm naked... can... can you come join me already? I think I'm... I think I really need you to do that... uhm, for me." I'm burning up, my desire feeling so strange and unnatural. I feel the dryads moving in my garden and wonder what the hell Hive is playing at, is this all her doing? She's always enjoyed messing with my desires, after all... I thought I was in control of hers now, but maybe that was naive. 

"It's... not me. Mmmghh... you're doing something on your side, Mistress..."

Cut off again? I can't look inside right now, I don't want to be distracted from my perfect first time with Laura. Still, Mistress? Fuck, why do I like the ring of that so much? It made me sound so powerful, I can understand where Murmur gets off... 

"O-okay Joy, I didn't realise how pent up you were. I guess I blue-balled you with pasta, hahaha... fuck, still nervous but I'll be damned if I give up this chance." She's no doubt fantasised about us together like this before. On one hand the idea of stirring her fingers into action as her supposedly straight friend does make me feel a little strange, while on the other hand I could hardly blame somebody from thinking of their crush. Perhaps I've been callous denying her what she craves, maybe it's my duty as a lesbian slut to give everyone a piece of the action... it'd just be far hotter if they called me mistress while doing it, like Hive just did. When I imagine how I'd feel hearing Laura refer to me as such, well, I can certainly empathise with her fantasies now. 

"Joy, please... I... we..." Hive trails off again, but this time she returns as though reshaped by my sudden little power fantasy. It was an innocent thought, but... "We exist to serve you, Mistress."

God, that's so hot... what's taking Laura so damn long? I feel a breeze against my midriff and realise she's pulled off the covers, having initially meant to peel them back but then yanked them away all of a sudden like a girl possessed. What's gotten into her? "Laura? What's--"

"Uhm... Joy?" Laura's voice quivers as she slowly steps back, something lunging out from the base of the bed and wrapping tightly around her wrist to stop her from reaching the door. It appears to be a tendril of sorts, its smooth lather reminding me of those dirty little dryads I turned Hivemind into when my orchard flooded with Florasma's mixture. This heat I'm feeling now is very similar to the heat that mist would give when Hive sprayed it in my face so suddenly. Am... am I reproducing it mentally, somehow? I definitely didn't exceed the normal dosage for Hive this morning... 

"What is it, bestie?" I say in a lilting, innocent voice, forgetting or ignoring that I've latched onto her wrist with something long and awfully strong. Something bronze and heady oozes onto my best friend's arm and she shudders, looking utterly lost. 

"My... my bed... it's..." What's all this fuss, now? Taking a look down, I finally realise what had her so panicked in the first place. It seems that when I got carried away in Laura's bed waiting for her to finish that long, tedious shower of hers... I must have inadvertently spread my roots all over. They're usually stuck underground so I never get such a good look at them, the way they are now seems different anyhow. Her entire bed is like a web of my making, with me in the centre like the predatory spider. With tendril curled tight around Laura's wrist, does that make her the fly? I... I'll be careful not to tear her wings off, but I can't promise I won't play with my food. 

"Nice and warm for you? C'mon Laura... you've wanted this for so long, join me and... ahaha, I'll give you the night of your life." I send my roots to latch onto her ankle, one wrapping around her thigh before finally I clasp around her neck like a collar and leash in one. I never knew I could use these so effectively above ground, they've never been so well manifested before. I pull Laura closer and watch as she collapses onto the edge of the bed, her expression completely unreadable nonsense. 

"Joy... are you... a v-villain?"

Better that than a monster, I suppose. I've never tried pulling anybody into my orchard via any other method besides latching onto their ankles in a sneak attack. I wonder if I could...

My roots raise up into the air from the intricate nest I've formed from my back, like wings that cradle us both in this moment of coupling. They're more like vines now, opening up at the end to calm Laura down with a fine mist I'm all too familiar with. Not only did I recreate it in the garden, I can transfer that mental creation into reality through the roots of my internal orchard. I watch with a disconnected, calculating expression as Laura succumbs to calm and then, to lust. My coldness is only contrasted by the intense heat on my face, it's more that I'm concentrating too much to act on my own lust until Laura is ready to accept all of me. And I, all of her... 

She's nice and limp in my arms now. Not my human arms, but the tendrils that keep her held steady and safe as they guide her onto me so gently. Laura collapses onto my body with a heaving pant, straddling my waist as her face crashes into my chest and nearly burns it. "Told you I'd be on bottom~" This time I use my regular arms, wrapping them around her head and holding her close to my chest while I forgo the usual methods I developed in my juvenile rookie hero phase... no, experimentation is needed, that's the only way we found out how to keep Hive and communicate after all, as well as how to retreat into the garden during interrogation. 

My vines lift high up into the air again and begin to poke and prod at Laura, who rides out Florasma's sweet scent that I suppose is mine now. After all, the villain it once belonged to is behind bars, so why shouldn't I claim ownership? But... I'm not a villain, am I? Oh who cares about that right now? The overwhelmed blonde atop me squirms as her pointless clothing is torn apart with ease, my roots marking her skin with sucking kisses like the lovebites Murmur would give me, only with much better coverage. Laura gasps and moans and I feel so happy for her, she sounds like she's having a great time. 

Instead of simply securing my roots around the ankles and dragging my subject kicking and screaming into the orchard, why not have it surround them instead? Let them become one with the ripe fruit I harbour, hm~? Wasting no time at all, I watch with sweet satisfaction as the roots open up into many small tendrils that dance in the stuffy air of the room in sync with one another. I want so badly to be in sync with Laura now, so I'll pull her into my rhythm and those mundane fantasies, her scent, our friendship... it'll all be laid bare, shared between a single conscious. Oh no, am I absorbing Hivemind's ability now too? Is that the secret of my garden, then? Those dryads knew all along and yet they never elected to share until I made them! And I did, quite literally make them. 

Tiny tendrils stroke up and down Laura's writhing, naked body like the touch of a feather. If she's ticklish, she's too preoccupied to show it. I push the small roots into her ears carefully, letting some latch around her wrists and ankles, one worm it's way into her mouth as another claims her down below. Perfect coverage, the first time... needs to be perfect. 

And for the first time ever... rather than bringing somebody into my orchard, inelegantly ripping their conscious through my roots into a mundane mental waiting room... I bring my Orchard to them, in full force. 

A young woman adjusts her glasses after dropping down onto her computer chair too suddenly and disturbing them. Placing down a steaming plastic cup of noodles with the foil lightly bouncing up and down, the college professor reaches for her mouse and begins downloading today's data to comb through. An orange tabby cat leaps into the girl's lap and she pets it passively while looking over Danielle's daily logs first. "What do you think, Cheep?" The mint haired woman asks her pet cat with an exasperated sigh. "Can we do anything with that limited power? It's not particularly marketable for hero work but..." Mint switches tabs and double checks the terms of service for her plan B, tapping freshly bitten nails against her desk impatiently. "Well, all seems viable. Maybe she's got a future in porno, isn't that exciting Mr Cheep? Oh yes it is, hehehe... They allow twin stuff, which is weird, but it means my selfcest pitch should go down a charm so what do I care. I'd sell her to the circus if it made more money, but Nicole's a stickler for image... she's gonna be breathing down my neck if she finds out about any of this. I don't think she watches porn though, I mean why would she?" 

A notification distracts Mint from the conversation she was having with her well behaved cat, the young professor tabbing back to view Discoman's logs now that they're finished downloading. "Quality could be better but this is all new tech, I put cameras in your eyes too Cheep!" Her poor cat tends to be the first test subject, at least after initial trials. Fast forwarding through the day's worth of footage, Mint's finger quickly lunges forwards and pauses the playback, rewinding to the start of the odd scene that just barrelled on by. 

"Joy... are you... a v-villain?"

Mint removes her glasses and wipes the lenses quickly, forgetting her ramen entirely as she places them back on and watches the scene in full with multiple pauses and rewinds. After hours of analysing the playback and wishing she could fully comprehend the parts that didn't quite make sense only having visual and audio data, Mint leans back in her chair and shakes her head, not even sure what to say besides... 

"No shit?"