Rin stared up at the woman for a moment. The wolf-eared girl tilted her head and raised a brow at her. As Rin struggled to get any words out, the woman turned away and muttered:

"Uh, never mind, sorry..."

"Wait, wait, wait," Rin called out, standing up off the bench, "sorry, you kinda caught me by surprise. Yeah," she said, pulling together a charming smile as the woman turned once again and their eyes met. "I'm Triss."

"Oh," she replied. "Um... Hello, my name's... My name's Kate," the beastborn replied softly.

As the surprise faded a little, Rin looked her up and down again. Taking in her appearance once more, she thought:

[Is she another friend of Gwen's? Is she even a noble? If not, how did she hear about me?]

"So... How do we do... O-Oh!" Kate said, before hastily walking up to Rin while she reached into her pockets. "I should pay you, right?"

"Sure," Rin nodded and the woman soon passed a single gold coin over to her.

"I-Is this enough? Don't worry, I have enough for the hotel too."

Rin looked down at it for a little bit before she said:

"Yeah, this is fine," Rin replied before she looked up and placed a hand on one of the girl's shoulders. "Are you okay, though?" She asked with a smile. "You seem nervous."

"Well, I am," Kate replied with a laugh, stepping away from her. "I... This is my first time."

[Okay, that's understandable.]

Easing up a little, Rin smirked.

"Yeah, I imagine a lot of women around Libera haven't even thought about paying for services like mine," Rin muttered as she looked around to make sure no guards heard that.

"... No," Kate shook her head. She paused then, looking from one spot on the ground to another, as though considering whether she should keep speaking or not.

"Hm?" Rin hummed, tilting her head.

"I mean that..." Kate took a deep breath, "I'm a virgin."

Rin's eyes all but bulged out of their sockets.

"Oh."

"Heh," Kate blushed a bit as Rin couldn't help but stare a little. "So, yeah. I'm definitely a little nervous."

"No, no, I get it!" Rin told her, waving her hands back and forth. "I understand."

Suddenly, it made a lot more sense why the woman was so unsteady, pacing back and forth and holding her arms around her body like that. It was like a call to action for the adventurer, though. Some motivation suddenly surged through her as she felt a bit of pressure, knowing that this was the woman's first time. She wanted to make it as good for her as she could.

Especially if she was being paid for the experience.

"Okay, alright," Rin calmed her own nerves down a little, "do you have any specific hotel in mind?"

"Not really," Kate replied.

"That's fine, I went to one a little while ago I can take you to. Not too sure about the price, though..." Rin trailed off as they started walking down the street.

As they moved together, Rin felt Kate's eyes roaming across her body as though she was scanning a gem she'd just bought.

[It's her first time,] she thought. [She's paying a lot for this. Make it worth her while.]

As those words echoed in her mind, Rin aimed that friendly smile Kate's way and tried to make some conversation.

"So, why me?"

Kate looked away, blushing a little.

"I... It's sort of a long story."

"We've got time," Rin shrugged.

"It wouldn't bore you or anything?" Kate asked meekly.

"Nah. Quite the opposite, I'm pretty intrigued. By all means, go ahead."

"Oh, well, alright then," Kate nodded slowly, looking away once more. "I'm... I'm in heat."

For the second time that night, Rin heard something that made her outright freeze with shock.

[... That's a thing!?]

The look on her face must have spoken for her. For the first time, a genuine smile bloomed on Kate's face.

"Why are you so surprised?"

"Um... I don't really know too much about beastborn," she explained. "Beastborn aren't really a thing where I'm from. So, I, yeah, I just didn't know this was possible."

"Ohhh," Kate replied. "I see... Well, yeah," Kate replied. "Wolfborn, specifically, have little heat cycles." Kate looked slightly flustered as she explained this, but at the same time, as she began speaking about something she was familiar with, her words came out far more loosely. "They're not as intense as they are for actual wolves, but, they can be rough, sometimes. This one has been pretty bad for me," she said, shuddering. "So, yeah. Now, I'm here."

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"Wow," Rin raised her brows. "But... Are you sure you wanna lose your virginity like this? I'm not trying to act like your mom or whatever, but... You know, you only get one first time," Rin told her.

"... Kinda. I mean, I get it, the first time is supposed to be special, but there's nobody I can think of that I'd even like to try to do this with."

"Really?" Rin asked, surprised.

"Yeah," Kate answered with a sad smile. "I've never really fallen in love or anything. I've felt horny, obviously, but nothing too serious, romantically speaking. So, yeah. I just... I'd rather do this than die of fucking awkwardness trying to flirt with people I'm not even seriously into. If anything, I just wanna get this over with."

"Oh..." As Rin gained more understanding of the full situation, she felt some resolve bubbling up within. "Well, don't worry. You're in good hands."

"... So, you're actually, like, a huge- I mean, not huge but... A big deal in the... prostitution world?"

At that, Rin eased up, letting out a laugh. Shaking her head, she replied:

"Not quite. But, I know what I'm doing, if you're worried about that at all."

She nodded and looked away.

"Good to know."

"By the way," Rin said, as the hotel appeared in the distance, just around the corner. "How did you even hear about me?"

"Uh, well," Kate stammered a bit as she began to explain, "there were these rumors I heard a while back. I- A friend! A friend of mine," Kate quickly corrected, "is a servant to a noble. She heard that there was a pros- sorry, uh, person..."

Rin interrupted her.

"Prostitute is fine," the adventurer stated, waving a hand dismissively. As long as the other girl was comfortable, she could refer to her as whatever she wanted to. Now that she understood everything that was going into this, Rin truly wanted to put the girl at ease.

"Uh, yeah, that, who was offering her services to people. I thought about it, slept on it a few nights, and... Yeah, here I am."

As happy as Rin was to hear that tales of her late-night ventures were spreading throughout the noble world, she couldn't help but worry if that meant the local law enforcement would soon be hearing about this as well. That was something she'd worry about in the future, though. For now, she had a virgin to attend to.

Soon, the pair were walking under the hotel's dim lights. Kate walked up to the clerk out front while Rin looked around, trying to see if any guards had listened in on their conversation. A moment later, Kate was done and both girls were heading into an elevator, on their way up. As they reached the second floor, the elevator doors opened and Kate pointed at one of the rooms, walking toward it with her head low.

Rin followed behind her and soon, the pair were walking into a dingy hotel bedroom.

Once they were inside, the moment of truth arrived.

[Okay,] Rin thought, as she inhaled slowly. [Just try to make this good for her.]

---

{Eve}

As late as it was into the night, at this hour, there tended not to be too many people at the Academy. That was good, of course. Personally, Eve liked these little moments where she was allowed to roam the halls on her own. A few others tended to agree with her, however.

She'd found classmates at the library, others getting some last-minute workouts in at the obstacle course, people sparring at the meditation center, the sorts of late-night activities that let Eve know the others sometimes found themselves in similar spots to her. It was comforting to know that the occasional anxiety that would creep in before a mission was normal, or at least shared by her fellow rookies.

Sometimes, she'd head up here casually, however. Sometimes, she'd be laying down on her bed, eyes closed and wings pressed against it, when she'd decide that maybe a few minutes of cold air and flying was what she needed. Tonight, however, it was that usual pre-mission nervousness that had her moving around. She'd tried to go to sleep, she really had, but after around half an hour of no success, she decided to try this.

She settled for heading to the Meditation Center and sitting down for a little while. It had helped a handful of times before to sit by the edge of the room, by the open wall, and stare out at the moonlit landscape, and maybe it was just what she needed right now.

Once she reached the room, though, she discovered that someone else had the same idea. Eve opened the door to the Meditation Center and found Cara sitting by the edge, with what looked like a bottle of alcohol by her side.

She stared at her teacher with surprise decorating her face for a few seconds, naturally, before deciding that she should walk away and find some other place to sit at. However, before she could close the door, she saw Cara turn around to see who had entered.

"Hm? Eve?" Cara asked.

"U-Um, sorry," the fairy replied with an awkward smile. "I was just gonna sit down for a bit, I'll go-"

Her teacher cut her off.

"Nah, it's fine. Come in."

"... Oh," Eve responded softly as her teacher turned back toward the trees. "Uh, okay."

In all honesty, Eve liked Cara quite a bit. She was absolutely her favorite teacher. However, she hadn't really signed up for this when she'd floated out of her room. So, she felt slightly unprepared as she flew over to the woman and sat down opposite the bottle she was drinking from.

As Eve landed at the edge, she saw Cara staring out at the forest. Her brows were slightly lowered, her face steely. She looked like she had been, and still was, deep in thought. Now that she was here, however, it was admittedly easier for Eve to relax.

Then, Cara held the bottle out for her.

"Want some?" Her teacher asked.

With that offer, even as awkward as she felt, Eve couldn't help herself.

"Wow, a teacher trying to get her student drunk?" She said with a slightly cheeky smile.

"This is the Adventurer's Academy, not a fucking primary school," Cara countered with a smirk.

At that, Eve shrugged.

"Uhm, well, sure. Just a little though," she added as she took the bottle.

"Drink as much as you want. I'm done, anyway," she replied.

Eve only took a sip before she passed the bottle back to the woman. The alcohol her teacher drank was as tough as she was, burning Eve's throat intensely as the liquid slid down into her stomach. Despite her words, however, Cara soon lifted the bottle up and took a sip of her own before setting it aside.

"Ahhh..." She let out a little hiss. For a few seconds, the two of them fell into silence. Eve, however, felt some curiosity bubble up and she asked:

"So... what's the occasion?"

Cara briefly turned toward her with a raised brow.

"... Does remembering the time you fell in love with someone count as an 'occasion'?" Cara muttered in response.

That was an answer Eve was wholly unprepared to hear, and it showed in the way her brows were currently hugging the ceiling. She paused for a moment and then replied:

"I... I guess so. It depends on how it went, maybe. Or, how much the person means to you, or, meant to you."

"Well, in that case, yeah. That's the occasion," Cara said with a slightly sad smile before she lifted the bottle to her lips again.

Sadness was an emotion Eve had rarely seen this woman express. The few moments where she did were mostly related to Rin's disappearance, a while back. Right now, with her short grey hair dancing just in front of her eyes as the wind swept across her face while the woman hunched over, she nearly looked like an entirely different person.

"Have you ever been in love?" Cara asked suddenly, out of nowhere.

Eve's eyes widened. Cara saw her reaction and quickly looked away.

"You don't have to answer that if it makes you uncomfortable," her teacher muttered.

Eve looked away, though, contemplating the question. She looked ahead at the forest, as though it held answers for her.

The answer was "yes", certainly. She just wanted to remember the circumstance. Once she did, Eve sighed and nodded.

"Yeah," she said to her teacher. "I have. It sucked, though."

"Well, fuck," Cara laughed. "That makes two of us."