A Wandering Muse at Camp

The camp had a handful of break-ins in recent years, and Lewis had secured all the buildings after the theft of copper components from the mess hall's AC units last spring. The rooftop units were far harder to reach without going through the building. The computers in the tech building would have been worth more and been easier to get at, but no one accused addicts that would target a camp that often helped less fortunate children to have been the smartest. The center's bill would be less intense if they stole laptops.

The deadbolts took some muscles to get moving and were Avery's least favorite part of unlocking the tech center. Furnishing the building had come from a series of grants and was how Lewis and Belinda met. Like the carpenter who framed out the building, Belinda had volunteered her time and expertise as a grant writer. It was how she had put her English degree to work after college. Even if she had done well for herself and advanced to have her last name as part of the company, grant writing was how she spent her summers. That was how she could spend a quarter of the year at a camp with her boyfriend.

Moving the thick metal door back in place, Avery luxuriated in the cool and dry air of the tech center's air conditioner. The staff and resident cabins were all equipped with HVAC, but the older designs never got this cool or seemed to pull the humidity from the air this well. Why's the A/C still on? Sensors should be able to tell when the building was unoccupied and only kick the system back on before the building was needed for classes. Once she clanged the metal back in place, her ears perked up to the sound of a violin.

The notes drifting through the tech center weren't the subdued and slightly mournful melodies that Avery typically associated with a violin. These were quick and jaunty. The pop, rock, and hip-hop influences were a far cry from the symphonic fare that Avery was used to. The sound called to her like a serenade in need of a voice.

The door to the room that served as the digital photography studio and computer lab was open just a crack. The art, cooking, and ceramics rooms were dark, still, and lifeless in the dead of the night. It starkly contrasted the joyful music and light wafting out of the lab. Light strobed in intensity in time with brief, nearly imperceptible stops to the music. Or maybe Avery was imagining a pause when the room illuminated. It was almost as if a lightning storm, free of the booming of thunder, was roiling in the lab.

Avery's heart quickened as she approached the room. Part of her wanted to retreat and leave Lewis or Belinda to whatever they were using the lab for, but her vivid nightmare hadn't faded yet. She wouldn't be getting back to sleep without installing the extra drives in the NAS and getting the student laptops backed up.

Standing in the shadow outside the door, Avery peeked in to see what was making the commotion and pulling her in like a siren luring a ship onto rocks and reefs. The back half of the room was swathed in a chroma-green backdrop. The section was a photo studio primarily used for learning how to pose or light students and static objects. It was the reason that the lab and photo studio were the only rooms in the building outside the bathrooms, without windows. It made it easier to control the light without the sun bleeding in. The subject for tonight was far more dynamic than what the students worked on while Avery tended to her degree adjacent temporary IT job.

The arrayed strobes would flash every ten seconds, likely capturing an image of the dancing and violin-playing subject. It must have taken an hour to get every piece of equipment set up to record the impressive moves of the comely model.

The woman was an absolute vision in bliss as she played and pulled off moves that seemed a mixture of ballet, cheerleading, and hip-hop. Her purple-colored ponytail flowed around her as she spun. It would go from a tight line to a bouquet of dark curls as physics flowed around her. A gauzy scarf with twin tails in a matching color swirled around her, looking like a short section of the double helix of DNA as it followed in the woman's wake. Regal-colored ballet flats were tied with ribbons tied in pretty bows at the top of her sexy calves. Silver heart-shaped charms hung wherever the lattice of ribbon crossed.

The scarf and shoes were all the striking woman was wearing. The leaps and spins would have to be painful on the woman's large and perfect breasts, but only determination and not a hint of pain shown on her features. Light pink nipples didn't fit the color motif of her accouterments. Dark, shiny purple lip gloss and matching eyeshadow darkened the woman's pale blue eyes.

The woman's breasts had an incredible teardrop shape, with her light pink nipples perfectly placed at the apex of the twin swells. Drops of perspiration would catapult from the eraser-shaped nubs and spin off into the room. The jiggle and bounce pulled her eyes to the woman's chest.

Tess was tall, elegant, and beautiful. Avery probably had an inch or two of height over the vixen, but both were well over the feminine average. Although Tess was trim, muscles revealed themselves with each lean, bounce, and shimmy. Tess's pert ass flexed most alluringly when she spun on her toes.

Avery was entranced as Tess danced on her toes and did leaps and flying splits without stopping her earnest and endearing notes from the dark wood of her violin. Her body could dance and move without missing a single ebullient tone from her violin. Sweat from the dancing and warm studio lights made the beauty's skin shine enticingly.

Never before had Avery felt a shred of sexual feelings toward another woman. Sure, she thought other women were beautiful, but they didn't get her motor revved like a well-chiseled man. Tess's tight ass, flat stomach, bouncing breasts, and the violet-colored heart of pubic hair at the top of her otherwise bare womanhood had Av staring. Maybe it was the month without sex or her vibe, but she was hornier than she could ever recall. She leaned further back into the shadows and watched longer.

Tess was in her own world and had cast a spell on Avery. She had no idea how a body could move and undulate like Tess was, certainly not without missing a note on her violin. No, this is wrong. Avery thought as her hand felt her pussy through her shorts. After a minute, she silently slid under the elastic of her panties and curled a finger into her quim. Feminine nectar was practically flowing from her.

Go find a bathroom. Do this in private, at least. The logical portion of her brain argued, but Avery couldn't stop watching. It wasn't as if Tess was doing anything overtly sexual. She was dancing naked while playing the violin with grace and skill that Av had never seen. The woman exuded a calm and earnest sensuality.

Stop! Avery pleaded silently as lustful feelings took over. She rolled her panties down silently before sliding a second finger into her soaking pussy. Her other hand made tight circles around her most sensitive nub. What am I doing? It was as if Tess's show had ensorcelled Avery and eroded nearly all her free will. I'm not into women! The argument felt forced as Av gave into lust.

After a few minutes, it took all that was left of her will to hold back a moan coursing out of Avery. As the violin got louder momentarily, she also gave in to that. It was another betrayal of Avery's typical self. She was usually quiet when she had sex or pleasured herself. Climax approached as she gave in to the rapturous feeling.

Given another minute, Avery would have orgasmed furiously with only her own fingers. That was something that just didn't happen for her. She needed a vibrator or cock and clitoral stimulation to reach earthly nirvana. Before that could happen, Tess stopped dancing and playing to down half a liter of water from a sweating water bottle at the edge of the space. Av watched as she fiddled with the camera for a few minutes. The woman's butt, framed by silky ribbons, was incredible. The barest glimpse of the woman's unembellished pussy between her legs looked tempting. She could see silvery sparkles that enhanced the flowing, minimal garment scarves as she tried to concentrate on that, not the beauty's intimate anatomy.

Avery needed Tess to start playing again to sneak away. She couldn't move, lest she draw attention to herself, and got caught with her fingers in her pussy. How on earth would I explain this? It was only a five-minute break before the intense violin started again. Av pulled her fingers from herself, rolled her panties back up, and licked the excitement from her digits. She liked the taste of her nectar brought on by the vision before her. It seemed to take on an extra sweetness.

When she turned to leave, her foot carelessly found a box in the darkened hallway. An impromptu Rube Goldberg construct toppled like dominos around in a wide arc before a ball bounced through the door into the studio. Shit! Avery froze as she watched in slow motion. The ball hit something, and a large object fell to the floor with a boom. She couldn't get out the door fast enough to not be caught, not with all the new security.

"I SWEAR TO ALL THAT'S HOLY!" Tess roared. "IF YOU'RE PEEPING ON ME AGAIN, MATEO, I CAN LEGALLY CASTRATE YOU!" She came sprinting out of the room with the violin in one hand and zero regard for her modesty. "Avery? What are you doing here?" She looked befuddled as she turned on the light in the hallway.

"I'm so sorry. I was coming to work on backing up the computers." Avery muttered without making eye contact.

"You have a key?" Tess put a hand on a hip but didn't seem embarrassed about getting caught.

All it did was show off her cute little pussy better. The inner labia were the same delicate pink as her nipples and hung minusculely outside the outer pair. Everything other than the heart of pubic hair was smoothly waxed. Why do I care how cute her pussy is?

"Yeah, I'm trying to get more of Dwayne's upgrades rolled out, or at least my take on them." Avery fidgeted nervously.

"Huh? Well, I guess I'm caught." Tess shrugged. This close, the amethyst stud outside her left nostril sparkled in the light. It, too, was in the shape of a heart, perfectly matching a pair of jewels on either earlobe. Tess knew how to accessorize. "Come on in and get what you need done. I'm not going to bite." Naked Tess was like a different, friendlier creature. She had always exuded confidence, but now she radiated it like a star.

"Uh... Ohh... Okay. Are you sure you don't want to be alone?" Avery questioned, but if Tess was going to be naked and welcoming, Av would follow her like a lost puppy. Av glanced down to ensure her excitement wasn't evident on the shorts she wore as pajamas.

"Look, let's just get this out of the way. I'm sorry I've been a bit of a bitch to you, Av. Dwayne was just the highlight of my summer for the last five years." Tess didn't even explain what she was up to. The silver in the scarf was an alternating pattern of embossed or filigree hearts to keep with her theme.

"I was kind of dismissive of you, Tess. I think we got off on the wrong foot. Were you and he a thing?" Avery was surprised at how the conversation started flowing.

"No, he's very gay and slightly too old for me. His husband is a hoot, too. Hopefully, they'll visit us when he gets out of the trio of casts." Tess set her violin on a table and crossed the room to an old mini-fridge. "You want a water or a fizzy, slightly fruity water?"

"Do you have one that tastes like a single lime was in the same room as the water?"

"A key lime fan, eh?" Tess smiled. "I've always been partial to a fart of raspberry." The woman giggled at her own joke. She reddened as she crossed the room and dropped something on the stool beside her camera into her purse as she grabbed a towel.

Avery hadn't seen it as she tried to pretend she was turning on the laptop closest to the server and not staring agog at the single prettiest woman she had ever seen. She needed to log in to the headless server to shut it down before upgrading.

"You play the violin amazingly, Tess. Was that music your own?"

"Yeah, but very close to Lindsey Sterling's stuff. It's very derivative." Tess twirled a towel over the plastic chair beside Avery before sitting.

"Who's Lindsey Sterling?" Avery hoped that she didn't appear dismissive as she was curious. Then again, she was always worried about how she sounded to others. It was part of the fun of her particular brand of introversion and mild anxiety.

"Really? You haven't heard of her? Famous on YouTube, got a long way on that talent show?" Tess looked slightly offended.

"I haven't heard of her," Avery confirmed as she finally got the laptop booting. She hoped Tess hadn't seen her miss the power button a couple of times because her eyes were focused elsewhere.

"She's into dance and violin, like me. Kind of a personal hero. I'll have to find some on my phone to annoy you while you're working back here pounding on the laptops during my classes." Tess smiled teasingly. "Her and the violinist from Yellowcard, Sean Mackin, are kinda the most famous violinists I can think of that don't play classic stuff."

Tess -- That same time

Although she should be embarrassed to an extreme level, Tess made sure not to show it. That was a lesson that her father taught her when she was young. He was home on leave when Tess stood up for a girl who was getting bullied. She lost some friends at her school, but sometimes, doing the right thing was embarrassing, and she needed to not care what anyone else thought about it. It didn't completely adhere to getting caught dancing and taking pictures of herself in her altogether, but the instinct was the same.

"Okay, if it sounded anything like you did, I don't think I'll be annoyed." Avery started typing on the keyboard into a black and green terminal without looking at them. The pink blush that Tess should have adorned her was finally slacking from her face. Tess envied people who could touch type without looking at their fingers.

"Oh, there's the newer stuff that Caitlyn Quay produces," Tess remembered another source of more pop or rock violin in music.

"She did the music for 'A Fatal Heroine,' right?" Avery's face lit up.

"She did! But that was more of her classical fare. Her new stuff is more my style."

"I might have to check it out, 'A Fatal Heroine' was one of my favorite games ever. And that soundtrack was divine." Another of Avery's smiles warmed Tess's soul.

"So, what are you doing?"

"Shutting down the server so I can add a few more hard disks to the Network Attached Storage or NAS. It's acting as a mirror, but I want enough storage to back up all the campers' drives to the NAS." Avery's face brightened again as she explained. Tess could tell computers were her niche, not just a way to a better paycheck.

"I understood about half those words." Tess giggled. "What's a mirror? I mean, in this context? Obviously, I know what a mirror is." Tess found herself rambling. "I did put on this makeup."

"You probably noticed we have shit all for download speeds."

"I'm well aware. I have to run into town often because of that."

"I can put programs here that download over time, or I can grab them on my laptop when I go into town, and the rest of the computers can install from our network without going to the internet. It helps since I reinstall everything on the laptops weekly for the new campers." Avery explained as if what she was doing with the computers was old hat.

"Huh... Can you teach me a few of these things?" Tess guzzled half her water. Violin and dancing took a lot of energy, and she had sweat a ton.

"Depends. Can you teach me a few of those dance moves?" Avery smiled broadly.

"How long did you watch?" Tess finally felt her cheeks redden more than when she saw that she had left her vibe out.

"One song. What are you up to with all this?" Avery's eyes were on the screen as she motioned toward the photo portion of the room.

"Well... I'm kind of working on a book."

"What kind of book?" Avery turned away from the screen with a raised eyebrow

"It's a book of nude photography. It's not all me; most of it's not me." Tess babbled. She took a deep breath to get back her composure. "It's called, A Wandering Muse it's supposed to be people doing what they love in the altogether. It'll be my second volume published and the first with any of me in it." The blush returned; Tess had difficulty bragging about herself.

"You're published? That's amazing!" Avery's vision turned away from the screen. Tess liked the way the girl looked at her.

"Yeah, the first one will pay my expenses through grad school. I have plans for the advance from the second."

"What are you studying?"

"I'm working on an MBA, and I minored in English. I'll work for my mom's agency when I graduate in a year. I think she wants me to take over in a decade or two. What about you?"

"Computer Engineering," Avery said as she stood and pulled out a rack from the big metal-enclosed box in the corner.

"Is that coding and stuff like that?" Tess was curious to make Avery talk about herself a little.

"I can code, but that's more of a Computer Science thing. Computer Engineering is designing hardware. I like computers and to get my hands dirty when I can." The beauty pulled out a screwdriver and slowly opened the chassis. A pair of dark-rimmed glasses looked sexier on her than her usual contacts.

"You look like it." Tess suddenly hoped that the words didn't sound teasing or dismissive.

"You saying I look like a nerd?" Avery smirked playfully.

"N... No. You look like you're in your element. Like you could be in my book." Another blush burned on her cheeks.

"So, what's A Wandering Muse about?" Avery pulled out a big cardboard box from a cubby. Whatever it was sounded heavy when it thudded onto the table beside the thing she was working on.

"People in their element, that also happen to be nude. I have a writer, a chef, a gardener, a painter, and a sculptor. This will be the second volume."

"Along with a great musician and a terrific dancer?" Avery started to pull out hard drives from the box. The tech upgrade came from a grant that Tess's mother got for the camp.

"Yeah. I guess." Another deflection of a comment.

"Is it all women?" Avery had a curious expression.

"Nope, the writer, chef, and sculptor are dudes."

"Well, if your photography is as good as your violin and dancing, I want to see your book when you finish it." Avery smiled. Tess's heart soared when she saw the grin. Her heart was thudding peculiarly. She hadn't felt like this since talking to a crush in high school.

"I'll get a copy or two when it's published. You might have to go somewhere private to give it the once over, though."

"Does your mom know how you're using the studio?" Concern graced the beauty.

"Mom, yes, she gave me the key. Future stepdad, no. He will someday soon, though. He knows I do nude photography. They have a copy of my first book."

"So, is hanging out naked in the tech building a normal occurrence?" There was a knowing smirk on her face.

"Yeah, it is. Can you tell?" Tess couldn't help smiling demurely.

"Yeah, you don't seem to be in a hurry to cover up." Avery wasn't making eye contact as she concentrated on plugging things into the server. "Not that I mind." There was another brief blush on the brainy woman's face.

"I figured you're the only other one with a key, and you've already seen the tits, ass, and pussy. It's one of five ways I de-stress. I don't usually involve a camera facing me, though." Tess smiled when Avery looked up and met her eyes. "The tech building is the only place I can play my violin without disturbing anyone else. The walls are thick enough to keep the sound in; if they weren't, cabins are at least a quarter mile away."