“Well if it isn’t the two big heroes!” A grinning Sabri said as we entered the meeting hall, we were a bit late this time, so it looked like everyone else was here already.
“And how do you know already?” Molly said with a smile to discharge any venom from the question.
“Why your dear Peter, of course, he didn’t give us the details of what exactly happened though.” Sabri said without hesitation.
Molly seemed to want to be the one to recount the story so I mostly left it to her, if nothing else she did have a bit more context for when I was focusing. She started after we were already on the roof of the shed, describing the brain-melting wait and then spotting the truck arrive. There was rapt attention as she described the portal, particularly at its scale.
“They were going to drive a truck through it?” Leo asked. “That’s huge, if someone has the capability to do that from Wyoming to Ontario then they could probably put an army anywhere on the planet without anyone realizing.”
“Yeeeep, Wilson’s already having kittens about that.” Molly confirmed before starting into the action. “So here they are starting up the truck and I start saying that we could have just let them go with backup being late but then she slammed that first round into the truck before I even finish the thought.” She said then punched her palm with a fist. “Boom! The truck gets fucked up but before they even know what’s happening, she took another two shots. Boom! Boom! Fast as she could cycle that fucking big gun, and you know what the fuck she was shooting?” She leaned forward with a wicked grin. “Their fucking guns, she shot the fucking guns out of their hands from the better part of a kilometer away.” She continued even as I was hiding my face in embarrassment at hearing it described like this, I hadn’t even thought about it at the time. “That’s like some Vash the stampede shit.”
“Who?” Leo asked.
“Old anime, don’t worry about it.” Molly said waving a hand before continuing regardless of the interruption. “Then she fucking says ‘Alright we’re done’ like she had picked up the groceries or something, then grabs me and fucking jumps off the roof!” I think she was looking at me cringing out of existence because she started roaring with laughter and slapping my back, the clangs loud in the room, but she wasn’t done yet.
“So then once we are in the car, she wants me to go right and I thought it’s because it would keep us out of their sight behind something I missed, but no! It’s so she can fucking aim that fucking cannon of hers at them out the side of the fucking car!” She descended into roars of laughter again as I buried myself deeper into my lap, steam from my heating face spiraling out through the gaps in my arms.
“It made sense at the time!” I moaned out. “If they were going to see us anyway, I could have shot back!”
“Wait, wait, wait, did think you could hit them?” She asked while cackling.
“Yesssssss.” I said my moaning turned into incomprehensible quiet hissing.
“Oh stop teasing her already Molly” Ivy’s voice said from luke’s throat. “It sure seems like you’re glad she could.”
“Fuck yeah I am, it took an impossible situation to one we won.” I peaked between my arms at the wide grin on her face as she was standing over me, apparently haven gotten up from her chair while I wasn’t paying attention.
“You weren’t nearly this dramatic at the after-action meeting.” I muttered still keeping my eye on her.
“Ha, well I get to brag about you here!” She declared while leaning over to wrap an arm around me, She then stretched the other away from me in an open palm pointing gesture. “There’s nine people whose future went from being pruned to death to us working to find them a way back home!”
I raised my head and blinked up at her, an uncertain smile forming on my face.
She suddenly grimaced. “Wait, I’m zero for two on being useful in fights you’ve been in.”
I giggled at that, and her grin returned. “Next time eh?”
There was the expected battery of questions as the story was wrapped up, were we scared, why was it just us two, etc. In the end, the first half of the meeting was mostly occupied by us and then the rampant speculation that followed, I don’t think there was actually anything practical that came out of the discussion. Particularly once the comparisons to stuff in cheesy movies started, but I was glad not to be the topic again.
Sabri dragged us off talking about it eventually so we wouldn’t spend the entire evening on aimless speculation. Our mundane discussion meandered across stuff like upcoming movies or our plans for the summer, I of course became the topic again when Molly brought up my updating of social media. There weren’t any barbs to it, and they were being complimentary, so I didn’t get particularly wound up.
Once the night got late we parted our separate ways with cheerful goodbyes.
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We were on the way to class the next morning when Jake interrupted Anna and I’s conversation about what types of fabric she used and why. “The con is in two weeks, right? Will everything be ready for then?”
“Hopefully!” Anna answered. “Sam is almost done with her costume itself, it’s just hand sowing on the odds and ends now. We were going to work on the props together starting tonight since mine is mostly done, I’ve got better access to my workspace after all.”
“Speaking of that.” I interjected. “I got paid yesterday, so I might start picking up some stuff for our place soon!”
The pay was substantially more than any job I had worked before, I was a little shocked at how much I had gotten given most of my hours spent ‘working’ was basically hanging out with friends.
Anna seemed to gyrate between excited and sad at this news. “I wasn’t planning on going to your place any less.” I said softly pulling close to her while guessing what she was upset about. “I mostly want it to be that I can make progress on stuff in downtime.”
She nodded settling into being excited, and not wanting to let something I said before slip away I leaned up to whisper in her ear. “I haven’t forgotten the goth clothes either, I see fishnets in your future.” She flushed and nodded, but I took the opportunity to tease her a little “The other parts are optional of course.”
“Eep.” She squeaked but tightened her grip on my hand.
Oh hoo? That’s new.
The rest of the day slipped into the usual mixture of interest and boredom lectures provided, I did get an email mid-afternoon about an update meeting at the CRD after classes tomorrow. Otherwise, it was just a mundane day followed by a meal that included an experimental burger patty of coke for a meat flavor and a rather alarming list of other ingredients including Styrofoam for the texture. It was quite good though, and I thought I could probably replicate it on my own in the future too since I helped Mike make it.
When I arrived at Anna’s door that night, Reiko opened it and welcomed me in. “She’s just distracted a bit I imagine.” She said, something… suspicious about her smile. “Head on down I know she’s expecting you.”
I gave her the eyeball for a moment, while she made a shoo-ing motion but went down anyway. Well, it’s not like I’m quiet, so she will have a warning anyway. As I entered her basement room, I was distracted a bit by how I was still noticing props or things I had missed on her storage wall. One thing you can say about Anna is that she is certainly productive, I’m sure I recognized that gun on the top shelf from something, but I couldn’t remember what. As my vision strayed across the shelves I found myself looking back into the main space, as I panned right I noticed that she had dragged her standing mirror in front of the row of clothes racks parallel to the stairs, then followed it up to see Anna herself frozen facing me.
Ah, that’s what Reiko was up to.
She had evidently been in the middle of fitting her jumpsuit, as she had it on herself and I could see pins in places, the front hung open without the zipper having been added yet. She had a grey bra on beneath it and I could see the top of her panties where the zip would end at the bottom but that was it, judging off her expression she didn’t intend this at all.
“I didn’t know you were planning on cosplaying The Boss, it looks great on you though.” I joked trying to defuse the situation while dragging my eyes to her face with a force of will, I did notice her blush spreading down into her torso.
“Hi Sam.” She squeaked while grabbing the front shut. “I didn’t hear you.” The indie music was loud enough to make that quite believable when combined with focusing on something, fuck why did I assume she would hear I’m loud but not that loud.
“Sorry, I should have said something when I came down.” I said looking away guilt twisting in my guts as my burners spluttered. While I like teasing her and compromising myself to see her reactions, I had no intention to cross any lines she didn’t want to.
“No, no, I knew you would be by. I just lost track of time. “ She started apologizing as if it were her fault for some reason then she continued hesitantly. “Are you ready to get working?”
“Are you sure, I can wait upstairs-“ I started unsure of how to tread this conversation.
“I-it’s fine.” She interrupted me, apparently uncertain herself.
Despite my guilt, as I walked down the remaining steps while staring at the floor I couldn’t get what I had seen out of my mind. She hadn’t exactly been cut and toned like some model or something, but fuck she was hot in a way that someone in a picture I didn’t know couldn’t possibly be. My emotions felt… strange there wasn’t really something I could identify as arousal like I imagine would have been there before, but I wanted to be with her in some undefinable way like I needed to do whatever I could to make her happy. That butted up against an undercurrent of guilt and worry at what I had done, I had said a fucking joke at what I saw, what kind of a person am I to do that? What if I had hurt her because-
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I felt an arm wrap around me, and I realized I had frozen at the bottom of the stairs not daring to turn to look back into the room. Startling I turned my head towards her as I felt her other arm between us holding the jumpsuit closed as she pulled herself against me.
“I’m fine Sam, don’t worry.” She said softly in my hair.
“Sorry, I d-didn’t intend to upset you.” I said unsteadily.
“You didn’t, I was just surprised.” She said softly then giggled. “You’ve shown me far more after all. Fuck that little top in the mall, I really hope you bought it.”
“What?” I asked the tonal whiplash startling me further.
“You know that running bra thing with the straps?” She sighed while remembering it. “That was hot as fuck, tell me you got it.”
“I um think I did?” I said uncertainly. Suddenly she pulled her arm from between us to pull me tight to herself, the jumpsuit flopping open. The combo of confusion and that much skin-on-skin contact between my face and arms being against her almost bare torse caused my mind to melt. I was initially coherent enough to be aware of her start to laugh but the next time I was back into it enough to really think I found myself sitting on the stool blinking with a hand on the cheek that had been touching her.
“Oh, you’re back then.” Anna commented cheerfully from beside me as I dropped my hand and started looking around. She evidently had enough time to exchange the jumpsuit for sweatpants and a hoodie while I was out of it, it’s possible that I am getting increasingly biased, but she looked hot in that too.
“Sorry.” I mumbled steaming up, surely I could keep my mind together enough for something.
“It’s fine, you’re adorable like that.” She answered with a laugh while placing the sheet of wood she had been transferring a pattern onto down, she got a mischievous grin. “Very complimentary of me too.”
“Oh no, I was talking while like that?” I asked burying my head in my hands.
“Don’t worry you didn’t say anything I didn’t appreciate.” She the smile in her voice.
“What was I saying?” I moaned, the most embarrassing options possible flitting through my mind.
She laughed again and changed the topic instead of answering me. “The boots, gloves, and tights you ordered came in, so if you get started you might be able to try the whole thing on tonight.”
“Fine.” I grumbled at her evasion, then perked up and looked at her. “You think so?”
“Yeah, you were really fast with a needle when practicing and there’s not that much left.” She confirmed. “I am really interested in seeing what it looks like on you.”
Well now I need to do it, I can’t exactly let that desire go unanswered.
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I was starting into attaching one of the cosmetic buttons when I felt a request come across the repair bus. “Hey Anna? Do you have some more needles I could borrow?”
“For sure, what’s up?” She asked as I felt Lilly, Rose, and Crocus group up before walking out onto my hand with the needle in it to examine it.
“These three want to help.” I explained while holding my hand out to her.
“Oh that’s awesome, give me a moment!” Anna said taking a moment to excitedly look at their curious prodding of the needle before digging in a drawer.
With them pitching in it went faster than I could have imagined. Being able to hold ruffles pleated exactly right while the Lilly and Rose did all the needed tacking stitches in parallel allowed us to fly through those, after that we would work together to secure them. Crocus had indicated that he wanted to attach buttons, it was something he clearly enjoyed as his excitement over them was visible as he would bounce around in a circle around each one he completed before running off to start on the next.
An hour and a half later found the three of us surveying for any missed pins, incomplete joins, or anything else I might have missed on the main skirt, having already checked the blouse and small apron. The trio exchanged mutual nods before Lilly gave me a tiny thumbs-up, after a few moments of me petting them they wandered back into my body to recharge.
“I think it’s all done Anna!” I called excitedly, prompting her to look up from the sewing machine and her jumpsuit, having stopped working on the prop gun for the moment. She had explained a while ago that she wasn’t going to cut wood in the house and that we can do it in the light on the weekend.
“You ready to try it on?” She asked excitedly, then jumped up before I could respond. “Let me just wait upstairs while you do that.”
“Sure!” I chirped, before adding. “I would say you could stay but I think it would be a better surprise altogether.” She swallowed and nodded, before hurriedly retreating up the stairs as I giggled.
I undressed, laying my skirt, shirt, and socks on the stool I had been sitting on before starting into getting the costume on. I didn’t know for certain what order everything was supposed to go on in, so it was something of a multiphase affair with a few attempts to get it right. In the end, I started with the tights, then got the skirt partially on, before stopping to get the blouse and pulling the straps of the skirt over it. Then finally doing the bodice, I think it’s called that, up over the blouse to get the shape right.
We had chosen a ribbon, in purple of course, to have done up under my collar but that took a bit of time and the help of google to get looking about right. The boots were heavy black things that stopped a bit past my ankle, we had chosen them to look more on the battle side of the Battle-Maid idea and they were a little stiff making putting them on tricky. Like the other footwear I had tried, they felt fine on my feet, the unyielding nature of my body meant that other than sometimes feeling like I might damage them shoes were pretty much always fine unless they were trying to shred my skin or something. After that, it was just the small apron over my waist and the black gloves before checking it looked ok in the mirror while patting my hair back into place.
Woah, I like how this looks way too much.
The gloves feel a little weird with the joints in my hands but otherwise this get-up is actually pretty comfortable. I suppose that’s not too surprising given Anna got it fitted on me right and it’s all good materials, honestly, it’s not actually that ridiculous looking on me either. It kinda suits how dramatic my appearance is, while it’s clearly not something a normal person would be wearing out and about, I think I look cute in it.
Hopefully it’s not narcissistic or something to think that, I expect that Kat or River would probably say that it’s good to have self-confidence. It’s probably time to get a judge in though, I moved to where Anna couldn’t see me from the stairs while coming down them. “Hey Anna, I think it’s ready!” I called, then waited a touch nervously.
I heard her rush down the stairs and then she turned around the corner and stopped looking at me grinning broadly and looking me up and down.
“Oh wow, it looks awesome!” She said excitedly.
I opened my mouth to respond, but then a thought crossed my mind. What if I responded in character, and if so, what would a maid do in an anime? I can’t say I really had any sticking out in my mind, it’s not like I really intentionally sought that sort of thing out, so I just sort of had a general cliché in my head rather than anything specific. Improvising I reached down and lifted the edge of my skirt a bit while crouching just a little at the same time as doing a shallow bow with closed eyes, hoping it would be at least vaguely what a courtesy was.
“Why, thank you, master. This one seeks to please.” I said in a slightly flat tone, trying to ham up the robot idea. I held the pose for a moment while considering how remarkably easily I said such a cringey line. I straightened and smiled at her a bit unsteadily, even as she looked at me with a shocked expression.
“Master- I mean, Anna did I do something wrong?” I asked while I stepped forward to reach towards her, restarting after realizing that I was tripping over the persona a bit, which was weird as I hadn’t really intended to say that.
I didn’t get an opportunity to do anything else as she rushed me, reaching out and grabbing my head before pushing hers forward into a rough kiss. I was too distracted by this to be aware of anything else until I felt a hand snake under my skirt and pull my hips towards her, her left hand having moved to the back of my head freeing her other.
I felt her lean against me, causing me to step back to stay balanced, but she kept pace with the steps until I fell back into her bed with her still on top of me. She released the kiss and then gasped for breath for a moment.
“Anna?” I had enough time to ask before she pulled her hands from beneath me and started shakily undoing the buttons on my blouse. I was too shocked to respond, but at the same time, it’s not like I didn’t want her to.
She had it almost to the skirt, then paused. “Are you ok with this?” She asked huskily.
“Anything for you Anna.” I answered feeling breathless, despite the flow to my burners saying otherwise.
I awkwardly tried to help her undress me, but she pushed back on my hands when I did so. While I obviously could have still overpowered her, I let her do as she pleased instead. She was clearly mindful of my work, so I didn’t fear she would damage the dress. She undid the last button before pulling the ribbon at my neck off gently then spread the blouse open the bodice down, even as she had one knee up on the bed under my skirt and between my legs.
A hand wandered up and down my torso for a few moments exploring its surface while she held herself off the bed with the other, the contact was practically electric causing me to shiver, the small clanks that accompanied the motion seemingly exciting her from how her breath hitched. She carefully continued to remove my clothes, guiding me out of each piece until I lay on her bed with only my underwear remaining. She paused at this simply looking at me looking me over eagerly, uncertain what to do I took the initiative to unlatch my bra and then discarded it to the side, I hesitated for a second before working the panties off too. Laying there I felt vulnerable in a way I hadn’t up to this point with myself entirely on display to another person while clearly not human or even complete considering the smooth surface between my legs.
When I was taking my underwear off, I had avoided meeting her gaze and I still was looking away fearing what her expression would be. “Are you sure you want me?” I asked quietly, certain that her answer had changed after seeing what I lacked instead of just being academically aware from that first night weeks ago.
I felt a hand on my chin and let her gently turn my head back to face her, I got the briefest view of her flushed face before she kissed me again, a gentler one this time the softness of it causing me to close my eyes as I relaxed into it. She released me a few moments later, she softly answered my question as my eyes fluttered open. “More than any person I’ve ever met.”
Only then did she start to undress, the sweats being tossed away with none of the care she had treated my dress.
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It had been awkward; I had no idea what to do for her without even basal lust to guide me. She was more than willing to teach though, as it turns out my… physical characteristics offered a lot of options. While it might not be as flexible as that of a human, my tongue is remarkably strong and textured between the surface and its segmented nature. Which describes me as a whole I suppose, my fingers have complex geometry to them without the complete skin coverage of a human for example. It was probably a good thing our exploration started at her place, as I am not exactly… self-lubricating.
The degree to which I felt happy while she expressed her pleasure could not be described, it made me feel fulfilled to the core even if I couldn’t help but feel some guilt at how amateur I was, but the fact I could do anything for her was beyond what I could have hoped for honestly. I didn’t seem to lose myself quite as I did in normal skin-on-skin contact, probably because I was so focused on her that I didn’t afford myself the opportunity to, my brain seemed to cooperate on that at least.
I suspect I didn’t quite get as much out of sex as she did even with my amateur output, but I really don’t care. She was happy, and I enjoyed it enough that I didn’t even want to compare it to something I couldn’t even imagine. We lay wrapped in each other for a long time after, the bed offering the chance for her to surround me in a way my weight didn’t normally allow. Honestly, it was without comparison to anything before, I hoped with time I could offer her something equal to how good just a simple embrace made me feel. The feeling when she traced fingers through my open hips as we lay there was without comparison too, the vulnerability of myself during the act only seemed to heighten it further.
Reluctantly we took an opportunity to clean up, as I am not self-cleaning either, if anything with my recesses and lack of shedding skin, it was to an even lesser degree than a human. I let her help with this as she seemed to enjoy exploring how I worked, sometimes forgetting she was holding the shower head in her hand while she watched my components move beneath her hand.
I didn’t seem stable or coherent enough for her to want me to try to go home, and it’s not like I was going to refuse the offer of falling asleep blissful in her arms.