I slip my hand into the crook of Trigger’s arm after he’s finished dressing himself appropriately. I saw several of the ladies doing this with the men escorting them, so it seems to be ok. I can hear faint calls of the wares people are selling and can pick out a few conversations. I start to ask Trigger about one of them, then realize he can’t understand the language.
‘I can understand language once I hear it, and I think I could transfer that language to your AI once I have comprehension. It might take a few minutes to transfer it all, but then you could speak it.’ I tell Trigger, hoping I’m right and it will work like that.
‘That should work, and it’ll start giving the AI an ability to break down languages, Earth languages are only so varied.’ Trigger responds. He seems thankful. I nod.
“So… We should walk through the market then…’ I say after a moment. I’m not excited about walking out into all those people, even knowing most of them won’t notice me. Trigger nods and begins walking, and I have to hurry a few steps forward to catch up with him. I realize I’m death-gripping Trigger's arm, but I’m not sure I could let go if I wanted to as we walk into the crowd of people. There’s noise everywhere, a buzz of machines, people calling out, conversations happening, and people brush against me. They’re too close, it’s too much. Trigger seems to notice my distress.
‘Just focus on translating them and sending me the data. It’ll be ok.’ He sends to me silently. I’m already processing the conversations I can hear and send it to him and Alastor, hoping his AI will be able to help him comprehend it. I take a deep breath.
‘It’s just, I don’t really like crowds… I probably should have said something earlier.’ I admit. Trigger is glancing around, seeming distracted. I take another deep breath, trying to calm myself down. Almost everyone has little mechanical creatures with them, the ladies have jeweled bugs, though none of them have as many as the lady we ran into in the street earlier. I focus and make a small imitation of one on my shoulder, although I can’t make it fly around. Not many people seem to be noticing us, my ghost is helping. I don’t hear any murmurs about us not fitting in, however. I start paying attention to amounts of goods and money being handed back and forth, trying to get an idea of relative value. There seems to be five different types of coins, three different metals, and the bigger coins are worth more, there's a gold colored one, a brown colored one, and reflective one, each worth more than the one before it, the gold one and the brown ones have two different sizes, and the reflective one only has one, and I only see the higher ranks using those with the bigger merchants. With my enhanced sight, I can see the image clearly. It’s the same person on all the coins, and seems to be a female person standing on large steps, her arms open wide. There seems to be stamped flames on the other side. I send the mental image to Trigger, along with what I've deduced about the amounts.
‘Thanks.’ He sends back, and I see his hand fill with smaller coins that he slips into a bag on his belt. I smile.
‘We should try to find a place to stay.’ I say silently to Trigger. He nods at me and leads me off to one of the side streets. I breathe a sigh of relief I didn’t realize I had been holding in when we were no longer surrounded by people. I read the signs hanging over the buildings and see several that are meant for entertainment and dining. I send the translation to Trigger so he can read their alphabet as well. I quickly find a sign advertising lodging and steer Trigger in that direction. We walk in the door and a small wind up chime sounds. it seems to be a bar or restaurant as well, at least on the bottom floor. A lady peeks her head out of the back room and approaches the bar.
“Hello, travelers, how can I assist you?” She says, looking at Trigger. He takes a moment, but his AI must translate well enough, because he nods and responds.
“Hello, I’m looking for a room for three, please.” The lady nods politely, and taps something onto the machine in front of her. It looks like an old fashioned cash register, but must be more useful, as she pulls a key out of it and sets it on the bar. “I can show you to a room, yes. For three you say? Are you looking at basic lodging or something more elaborate?”
“Indeed, beds and washroom access will be fine for us, thank you.” She nods politely, “Well, I can get you a room with a large bed and a cot, will that do? It will be three large gold pieces per night, meals included.” Trigger nods and places the three coins on the bar. The lady takes them and slips them into the drawer on the machine, grabs the key, and walks around the bar. There are a few people here, but not many, they seem to be eating lunch. The lady leads us up a flight of narrow wooden stairs to the second floor.
“Here, the third room on the left.” she says. “There are beds inside and a washroom at the end of the hall. Meals are served every 6 hours, starting at dawn, show up if you want. There's also a bathhouse in town, it's the large marble building near the town marketplace.” She hands the key to Trigger. “If you need anything else, come on downstairs and we’ll take care of it for you. I’ll find someone to bring you that cot before tonight.” She says.
Trigger nods and accepts the key, then walks over to the room and opens the door. I follow him into it, and he closes and locks the door behind us. It's a plain room, a large clock on one wall, a heater in one corner, a wardrobe against another wall, and a large bed in the middle. I sit down on the bed and finally relax.
“Do you suppose she kept talking to you because she just likes to talk to men or because women aren't supposed to do things without men here?” I ask. “Did you get anything out of her mind?”
“I don’t know, her mind was mostly focused on helping us, she thought we were normal enough, she was wondering who our third person was, that she thinks I’m handsome, and as she left, was wondering if she could… ahem.” Trigger coughs, looking embarrassed. “You know. With me.” I giggle.
“She’d enjoy it, I’m sure.” I tease. “I know I did.” I’m pleasantly surprised when Trigger’s face turns a bit pink. I pat the bed beside me, and he comes to sit next to me. He puts his arm around me and kisses me, pushing me backwards onto the bed. I giggle and kiss him back, allowing him to do whatever he likes. As I told him, he makes it very enjoyable. He ends with holding me in his arms, bare-chested. I’m unsure at what point he demorphed his clothes, and I remember his hands on my breasts, but not how we got there. My AI informs me we’ve been in the room for over an hour, however. Trigger kisses me softly, then stands up, remorphing his clothes. “I think Twila should be done now, and it would probably be best to call her outside, then bring her in.” Trigger says, and I nod, standing up sadly and remorphing my dress. Trigger’s eyes linger on me, and I smile, then go up on my tiptoes to kiss him softly before slipping my hand into his elbow. We walk out of the room, Trigger shutting and locking the door, then we walk back down and out of the building. Once we find an alleyway that is empty, I call Twila, and she appears with a brief flash of light, wearing clothes similar to mine, only pink and yellow. She smiles and curtsies prettily.
“Glad to see you again.” She says.
Trigger smiles and nods, “We found a place to stay for the night, I’ll need to pay more if we want to stay longer, but I figured we should look around and decide if we want to stay before paying for a whole week.” He says, and Twila nods. “Sounds good. So, what do you want to do for the rest of the day? What time is it here anyways?”
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“It seems to be after lunch, and I don’t know.” Trigger says and I nod in confirmation.
“The lady said there’s a bathhouse in town somewhere, and, sorry guys, but we all kinda need one… Swimming helped, but…” I trail off, scrunching my nose.
Trigger smirks, then leads us to the bathhouse, Twila and I on each arm. We walk up the marble steps, the only building I’ve seen so far that doesn’t have metal as the main material for building. Once inside, I see I was only partially right. There are metal pipes and gears everywhere in here, presumably carrying water and heating it. A young man walks up to us as we step into the door.
“Good afternoon, ladies and gentleman. Allow me to welcome you. You would like a bathing chamber?”
“Yes please.” Trigger responds.
“Very well. It will be a small gold per person.” Trigger hands him the fee.
“Thank you, follow me please.” The man says and leads us to a small room. It’s curtained off, and one of many clustered around the larger chamber
“Please undress here, the personal bath chamber is through the door.” He points at a door on the other end of the curtained room. “Your items are safe here.” He then turns and walks back to the front area.
Trigger holds his hands out, allowing us to enter first. With a shy glance at Twila, I enter first, followed by Twila and Trigger, who closes the curtain. I turn away and demorph my dress all at once. I guess we’ll all be together in the bath anyways, so I might as well. I unhook my belt and set it on a shelf. Trigger does the same, and Twila hangs her dress on a hook, then turns to me.
“A little help?” She asks. I immediately see the problem, and go to unlace her corset. She thanks me, stealing glances at Trigger’s body.
‘You might as well get a good long look, as we’ll be in there naked with him.’ I send her.
‘You sure?’
‘Yeah. And, you can touch him too, if he doesn’t stop you. You haven’t said so, but I know you miss sex.’
Twila flushes at that, and Trigger opens the door for us. We step into a warm room, a large inset tub with steps, it almost looks like a pool, or a cooler hot tub. We slip into the warm water and relax, there’s soap on a shelf, as well as towels next to the door. I duck under the water quickly. I know I’ve been naked with, well, probably both of them, even if I only remember it with Trigger, but it’s different with all three of us together. On one side of the pool, there’s a little waterfall from a pipe, and on the other there's a drainage pipe to keep the water from overflowing. Trigger is in the water, arms and legs spread out, and his arms on the side of the pool. The water is clear enough I can still see most of his body, and I flush. His eyes are glancing between Twila and I, and certain parts of his body are reacting to the view. Twila is swimming around, then she paddles over to me.
‘So I was right that he’d be good in bed, look at the size of him. Are you sure I can touch him?’
‘Yup, just remember he’s mine.’ I say, grinning at Twila. She giggles and sits on the underwater ledge next to me, kicking her legs somewhat shyly. Trigger arches his eyebrows at us.
“Going to leave me alone over here?” He winks. I smile and shyly swim over to him, sitting next to him. My heart is racing hard enough he can probably hear it. He puts his arm around me and kisses me. I relax a bit, sliding against him. Twila joins us a moment later, standing in front of us, unsure where she should go. Trigger glances at me, then slowly offers his other arm to Twila. She swims over shyly, and curls up next to him. Both of us have our heads on his bare chest. I remain there, my hair drifting in the slight current though the pool, for a while before stretching and scooting away a bit. I find the soap I noticed earlier and begin scrubbing my hair with it, watching Twila and Trigger curiously, wondering what they’ll do.
‘Hey, are you ok with us touching? Twila really wants to and I wanted to check with you first...’ Trigger sends. I nod slowly.
‘Just, don’t forget about me for her, ok?’ I ask shyly.
‘Don’t worry about that, you aren’t easy to forget, besides, I only like her, I love you.’ Trigger says, and I feel my cheeks heat. I duck under the water, rinsing my hair out so he can’t see my shock. And happiness. He loves me? When I come back up, Twila’s hands are on his chest. I notice she’s not looking into his eyes, instead staring at his body under the water, touching him, one hand trailing down his chest. It’s arousing to watch. I sit on the ledge, watching shyly as Twila explores his body. It’s oddly arousing to me, even without touching him. I hide behind my loose hair, idly rubbing soap on my legs, trying to avoid their notice as I stare. Twila’s hand has reached the excited part of Trigger’s body, and he has a hand on her breasts. I set the soap aside and watch them, curious how far they’ll go, and kinda excited to watch something that I never thought I’d be allowed to.
‘Before we get too far, what don’t you want us to do?’ I hear Trigger’s voice in my head.
I shrug shyly.
‘Umm… don’t kiss, please? You can go as far as you want other than that, just save your kisses for me please.’ I request. It’s a little thing, I know, but… If I’m going to share with Twila, I want one thing that’s all mine.
‘I can do that, come here, and I’ll give you a couple right now.’ Trigger smiles warmly. I smile back and swim over, receiving his kisses happily, then scoot back a foot and continue watching them. Twila moves to lay on him, his cock between her legs, her head on his chest. Her hands stroke his sides excitedly, with his hands playing with her nipples. Twila moves and starts kissing his chest, her hands at his cock, his hands at her breasts. After a few minutes, she takes one of his hands and puts it between her legs. Trigger starts fingering her as she strokes him. My body is pulsing with excitement watching them, and between my legs is aching for touch. I drop my hand between my legs and I start slowly rubbing myself, trying to find what feels good, remembering Trigger’s fingers inside me this morning. Twila pulls his hand out of her, gasping for air. “It's been so long…” She gasps, then pushes herself onto his cock and rides him hard, desperately, moaning and whimpering as he slides in and out of her. My fingers slip into myself as I enjoy the sight, probably far more than I should. Twila continues riding him until, gasping and writhing, she orgasms. Trigger orgasms too, his back arching, and his face contorting with pleasure. Twila pulls off of him and cuddles in next to him.
“Thank you so much, both of you… I missed that more than I realized…” Twila says, her breathing slowing. Trigger hugs her, then reaches out to me, pulling me into a hug and long, tender kisses. I wrap my legs around his waist underwater, needing to be close to him. Twila grabs the bar of soap and cleans herself up, then offers me the bar.
“Might as well wash him up.” She winks at me. I smile, unwrap my legs from Trigger, and begin washing. I take my time, and notice that Twila is staying aroused watching me touch Trigger. Trigger just seems happy for all the attention. We get out, and Trigger dries us girls off, with loads of kisses for me. When we return to the curtained room, all our stuff is as we left it. We get dressed and return to the inn for the evening meal.
At supper, we find a table in the back where we can watch people come and go. Supper is some sort of stew and bread, along with the option of a form of alcohol or water as the drink. We enjoy it, the stew has a different flavor, it isn’t bad, the bread is dry, but not crumbly, and goes with the soup quite well. Trigger has a smaller portion, and I remember that he needs blood at some point. Once back in the room, we make ourselves comfortable. I morph my clothes into a tank top and underwear. Trigger and I slide into the big bed, and Twila lays on the cot. Trigger holds me, nuzzling my shoulder, and kissing me as we doze off.