Places were swapped, and without delay, Esthrielle's arms were about her blonde babe's midriff. EJ snuggled in, Esthrielle accepting it without question; if anything, she was happy to have found the warmth of her diminutive darling so welcoming, muted though it was. Cool flesh was still plenty warm from all her blushing and agitation, and even without such stimulus, their shared body heat clung to the ghoul like a magnet.
They lingered this way for minutes uncounted, letting the time while away in idle silence only broken by the television's voice. Esthrielle's soft breaths were matched by Esper James's, the pair silently reveling in one another's touch and proximity. Eventually, as Esper James's mind returned to her in earnest, she noticed that Purity still had yet to return. How long had it been? What was she up to? A bolt of iced lightning struck her heart, piercing it like a jagged icicle.
Was Purity in trouble?
Suddenly, her position was a source of stress. Esthrielle's touch, once lovely and perfect and everything EJ could ever ask for, became like thorny lashes against her skin. The heady air in the room was stifling, choking the ghoul - the heat was oppressive, and the scent of perfume that lingered here made her feel sick and agitated. She needed to get up, to get dressed, to go check on Purity.
A gentle push of her body against Est's tangled arms spoke what EJ's lips couldn't bear to say. Esthrielle allowed her lover to stand without protest or question, going to rest her arms atop the rests on either side of her. EJ threw back a halfhearted smile to her Wayward girlfriend before marching straight to the bathroom, motions tense but purposefully stilled so as not to show off just how fucking frantic her heart felt. She couldn't quite breathe, at least not easily - and by time she had swung the door shut, she was lightheaded from keeping her lungs shut tight.
Clothes, clothes, clothes... Something her size, maybe? It was a futile effort, countless bits of waterproof fetish wear tossed into a misshapen bundle on the floor. Finally, she stumbled onto something that nearly made her laugh, and would have elicited bitter mirth from her lips had she not been in such a hurry: a nurse's outfit, stockings and all, made of PVC.
Fucking... Ugh. In truth, it wasn't supposed to fit her, because on a taller woman it would have ended barely below her womanhood. For a petite girl like EJ, though? It wasn't much better, but it was better, and the lack of sleeves and necessary tightness made it fit her all the better. The most shining silver lining, EJ thought as she wriggled her way into the form-fitting garment, was that the cap was cute. A little big for her head - it was obviously supposed to be quite small - but that was endearing to her, too.
After a few minutes of painfully-restrained fervor, she had donned the entire thing. A quick inspection of herself in the mirror gave her all green lights, and she didn't linger to admire the way it accentuated her modest chest, or her notable hips, or the black tips of her otherwise blonde hair, or-
Alright, Esper James, that's enough looking yourself over. Your lover is in danger, right?
EJ shook herself from the momentary inspection, admonishing herself from the safety of her own mind as she opened the door. Opening the door, EJ was met with a cheering section of one: Lucretia threw a hand up and exclaimed, doing her best to hype up the nervous nurse. Zofia gave her a thumbs-up and a smile, as well, and Esthrielle offered a grin, a wink, and a licking of her steely fangs.
All great reactions, Esper James figured - but not ones she could luxuriate in, or properly acknowledge. Another false smile was forced onto her lips as she strode towards the door that would lead to La Scission proper, though she knew she couldn't simply dip out without saying something.
"Ah... I'm gonna go, uh... I'm gonna go talk to Khetnep, honestly. She and Purity have been talking for a while, and, uh, it'll be a good opportunity to see if she has a job for me. I can't let everyone else earn their keep while I just freeload, haha..." Come on, EJ - that laugh wasn't even convincing, baby girl. However, Zofi and Lulu simply nodded, and Est pushed herself to a stand and began to approach her blonde babe.
"Hey, EJ, that's a great idea - let's go together, okay? Safer that way, less likely for a creep to get weird to you. Here, lemme toss a shirt on - I'll pretend to be a client, you can be my toy, we'll make a convincing pair." The suggestion was much closer to an order or a statement than a request - Esthrielle wasn't planning on letting EJ slip out unattended, certainly not in the lion's den they all now found themselves in. Esper James gave herself a kick, not for the first time, for her little 'testing' stunt back at the convent. Est was being a good girlfriend, and making sure EJ wasn't going to get herself in too deep again, so the second-living couldn't even be mad at her for it.
EJ nodded, waiting by the doorframe as Esthrielle went to cover her chest once more. This time, she stole the hoodie EJ had earlier been wearing - it had always been too big on EJ, but it was closer to correct on Esthrielle, at least. Once she had covered her chest, Est made her way over to EJ, who was more than grateful for the Wayward's speed to do so.
"Alright, EJ, let's go. I remember the way to the office... C'mon." Est reached forth and took Esper James by the hand, movement casual but with a rigid grip that belied her own growing anxiety. That was a bittersweet comfort to the ghoul as they slipped out into the hallway, the short nurse with the wide hips and her casually dressed Jane - EJ was happy that Esthrielle realized the gravity of the situation, but also, she regretted putting such worry within the girl who had just been cuddling her. Fuck.
"Fuck." EJ couldn't keep it confined to thought - and Est shot a glance back at her, though the gaze didn't linger and no words accompanied it. Rather, she simply pressed on down the hallway, practically dragging Esper James with her hurry to get to Khetnep's office.
Their speed-walk was dead silent, save for the soft slapping of bare feet against stone tile. To an outside observer, Esthrielle would simply seem a client eager to get down to business - and Esper James, her meal of choice for the morning. The sound of footsteps approached as they neared the elevator, a trio of bodies rounding the corner and heading straight at them: a tall man in disheveled Tsang attire, with a scantily clad woman on his right arm, and an effeminate male on his right.
The man was far too drunk to do more than ogle Esper James as he approached, licking his fangs openly as his troupe neared the duo - but the performers on either one of his arms, clinging to his openly-groping limbs, let their respective gazes linger a bit too long to pass it off as mere coincidence, or even lust. As the two parties drew near to contact, Esthrielle took the initiative, pulling EJ close with a defensive nature reserved for one protecting a favored plaything; the man and his arm-candy stopped at the behest of their leader, executive leaning low to get eye-level with EJ.
"Haha, h-hey, heyyy, you... Y'look like that, th'fuckin'... Blonde little bitch Judash's lookin' fer... Baha, bwahaha-ha-ha...!" He grinned from ear to ear, intoxicant only accentuating the boldness offered from his swollen ego. The executive looked up at Esthrielle, whose tense expression belied her eagerness to sock the bastard in his vampiric fangs, though she kept her hands at her side.
"Hmm, hey, girlie, I... Haha, I think maybe... Maybe you take thish li'l piece a' ass up to HQ, eh~? Try'n tell'm you got the real Eshper James? Maybe Miss Aligarry'll even let ya' watch'm, eheh, watch'm roast 'er..." The executive cackled as though this was an excellent bit of comedy, and his attendants followed along, lavishing the drunken deviant with soft coos and comments on his sense of humor. He leaned back, then, guffawing with his whole portly body, eyes shut tight as they wept tears of mirth. The male of his mid-morning treats cast an apologetic look down at Esper James, giving his head a subtle jerk towards the hallway behind him.
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
Esthrielle nodded to the prostitute, dragging EJ past the obstructing trio and doing her best not to literally race down the hallway. They rounded the corner and slowed again, trying to resume the strained, semi-casual pace they had earlier favored. Esthrielle turned her head down to look at EJ as they walked, hoping to say something to her - but EJ beat her to the punch.
"Fuck that guy. I f-fucking..." Rage. Rage burned like a branding iron in Esper James's chest, barely suppressed by the presence of observers to what would have otherwise been a vicious mauling. Every inch of her was atremble with molten fury, and indignance, and an instability that was as unfamiliar to her as it was dreadful. Thoughts whirled in her brainpan like a tornado at full tilt, composed almost wholly of predisposition towards ferocious, unthinkable violence, and yet...
...yet, within the burning whirl, a polar remnant sat at its eye. Judas would never burn her - she'd never kill the blonde, right? If it ever came down to it, Judas would do plenty of terrible things - and sure, EJ had to admit, Judas might give her a little death, la petite mort both literal and figurative. But, true death? Immolation? She'd never do something like that...
In an instant, her fangs were on her tongue, digging in and piercing cool flesh. Not fully through, she restrained herself enough to keep from fully biting it off, but she knew these thoughts were bad. Her jaw shook with restrained desire, and she felt her grip over the intrusive need to hurt herself slipping - until, suddenly, Esthrielle was pressing the blonde to herself with as much force as she could muster without causing harm.
"EJ! Esper James, hey, hey, it's okay! It's okay, you're okay, that fucker's just a drunk piece of shit...! Don't, don't do anything you'll regret, babe...! Hey, hey, look at me, look..." Est was quick to comfort her beloved, words whispered but fervent, holding the blonde so close that EJ could feel her partner's heartbeat. Esper James turned her face upwards, looking to the other woman even as tears began to well and sting her ducts with their saline tinge. Est's eyes were wide, her face wracked with a desperation that EJ had never seen on it before - and just like that, thoughts of Judas, and the man in the hall, and hurting herself, were cast out as evil spirits.
"...Est, hey... I-I'm, uh, I'm okay. I'm okay, I promise, I... Phew, God, fuck... I-I just..." Just what, Esper James? The ghoulish girl swallowed hard, clenching her eyes shut hard and steeling herself to continue. Still shaking, her arms wrapped around Esthrielle's torso, and EJ found herself taking comfort in just how warm her lover was... How alive, how real, she felt. Everything EJ sometimes felt that she herself was not.
Est nodded, knowing that there would be no continuation to the thought, nor expecting there to be one.
Esper James buried her face into Esthrielle's chest, beginning to sob openly, muffled by thick cloth and living flesh. The blood in her mouth was swallowed as it came - none so much as if she had bitten fully through, but neither was it a modest amount. Regardless, she was sure that the damp spot of warmth she was leaving on Esthrielle's clothing was composed of more than her sorrow alone. Something told her that Est, too, knew this - and still she held her lover tightly, shushing and cooing softly, a hand going up to gently stroke EJ's hair.
A handful of minutes passed by like this; thankfully, the hallway was theirs alone, all the way until Esper James had wrung herself dry of the pain that her heart once held. She pulled away only by centimeters, looking up towards Esthrielle again, the red flecks of her irises now accompanied by the redness of tears. A few hot breaths, an aborted attempt at speech, a heavy swallow - and then she spoke once more, timidly smiling as she did.
"Hah... Heheh, ha... Yeah, okay. I'm, er, I'm okay now, for real. Come on - we've... We've gotta go get Purity. Find her, at least. I think I... I've got something new to talk to Khetnep about." Her smile was bolstered with each word, as was her determination. The cracks in her heart were sealed, for the moment, with affection's molten gold, hardening into something perhaps more beautiful than before shattering came.
Esthrielle nodded, chancing a smile of her own, before going to plant a loving kiss on the ghoul's upturned forehead. That smile, that genuine show of love and acknowledgement, almost did more than the embrace - almost. It was still plenty good, though. "Yeah. Let's go find Purity. C'mon."
They began down the hallway once again, unmolested as they found the stairwell to the staff section of this den of sin. The stairwell was reached without delay, and after a second round of the arduous ascent from their initial arrival at La Scission, that foreboding corridor to Khetnep's office loomed once more. Esper James almost chuckled to herself as she took step after step, legs beginning to burn but in a way she was all too familiar with - turned out living in Kehler Complex had been good for her, after all. Taught her how to push down the pain in her calves, at least.
Their pace was slowed as they neared Khetnep's office door, each woman holding a shared yet unspoken trepidation within them.
For Esper James, her determination's flame sputtered like a dying gaslight, tempered by theories of Khetnep's cruelty. She had been pretty nice, it was true - nice, a bit scary and happy to flex her power and dominance and aura, but nice regardless. And yet, Purity had hammered home that, despite her outward kindness on their first meeting, she was a woman to fear.
The anecdote about how Khetnep even got out of the South played again in EJ's head, a play of imagination performed in a theatre of thought and conjecture. Khetnep, imposing woman that she was, killing or subduing the crew of a PADE freight vessel... Making landfall somewhere on the UNAC'd eastern coast... Making her way to Vitus, dying willingly and in such a way that betrayal either wasn't possible or simply wasn't considered... and then, of course, the conclusion.
Eating everyone that had thrown their hat in with her, simply as a display of self-serving power. The ultimate indulgence for a second-living, and an atrocity so foul that its mere potential to be true made Esper James chill with fear. She thought back to her own tangles with human flesh, lingering on the officer she had pounced on with Esthrielle.
It had been so succulent, so impossibly savory, and meaty, and rich; the fat had been creamy, the blood had been tangy, the muscle and sinew more filling and luscious than any other meal she had ever had. And yet, she had only been able to pull herself away after she'd glutted herself on the dead man's body - and only then, because Esthrielle had interrupted her. A part of her was afraid of the truth she knew, the truth that if Est hadn't been there?
EJ would have eaten till only bones remained, and those would have been left merely for her lack of molars.
It was chilling, to consider the darkness that lay within one's own heart when inhibitions were cast away. The players bowed and the stage was darkened as Est finally dragged her in front of the door itself, releasing a sigh half borne of worry, and half of acceptance of what may lay beyond. She leaned down slightly, speaking in a hushed tone just above a whisper.
"Okay. I'll... I'll let you do the talking, EJ, you're second-living. You're both ghouls, right? That's gotta count for something, more than an ex-Knight busting in and making demands. That work for you?" Est was back in the same sort of mission mindset as when she had been in the Knights' kill squads - weighing objective truths and advantages over her own feelings or premonitions. If the atmosphere hadn't been so tense, Esper James would've thought it kind of charming, seeing the way she naturally fell into this sort of operator mindset.
EJ nodded, a single bob that tousled her long blonde locks. Her... very long blonde locks. Distractible as always, EJ took a moment to take note of the way they hung... cornsilk blonde strands with inky tips, though those tips hung all the way to her waist now. Had they always been so-?
Train of thought was interrupted by the sound of laughter through the door - Khetnep's, by the sound of it, deep and husky and luxurious, dark velvet that wrapped a listener up in sinful warmth. Esper James pinched herself, vowing to look at her stupid fucking hair later, in the mirror of the bedroom - for now, she needed to make an entrance.
No knocking this time - no decorum, no deference, simply a pair of women worried for their third. EJ turned the handle and swung the door, striding in with as much false confidence as she could muster. Her eyes met those of the woman behind the desk without pause, words pouring forth unbidden, her mind taking a back seat as her heart and soul did the talking.
"Khetnep, where the hell is Purity?"
Bold, little ghoul. Very bold.