Minding Her Manor Ch. 02

Laleli looked at Lapis in shock. The apprentice ranger's words echoed in the manor's decrepit sitting room. Lapis, the ranger-in-training who hated superstition and barely seemed to even want to be here, had just volunteered herself to be first under 'the veil'. "... are you, um, sure, Lapis?"

Lapis nodded, though Laleli knew people well enough to detect the signs of nerves lurking at the corners of her eyes. No, she definitely wasn't. "It's the only way to start this off right," she said, her voice ringing clear with stalwart stoicism. "If Minni leads this off, it's just going to turn into some shade of foreplay between her and Olivine, and then I'll just have to leave the room. We're here to welcome our friend Laleli back. That's it. No fooling around tonight."

Olivine rolled her eyes with a smirk. The butch girl already had an arm draped around the shoulders of a very flustered-looking Minni, slowly running her fingers through Minni's pretty red hair. "No promises."

Lapis's cheeks reddened, and she glared. "I--you--"

"Easy, Olivine," Button said. The spindly girl was fidgeting in her lap, eyes cast downwards, her long legs carefully crossed to keep her short skirt from showing anything off. "If, um, if Lapis says no fooling around, that means n-no fooling around."

"Oh?" Olivine batted her eyelashes. "Well, I'm not hearing a safeword, Bluebutton. And Lapis and I had lots of fun deciding on a safeword last summer, sooo..."

Button bit her lip. "Come on, Olivine. P-Play nice."

Olivine hesitated, then shrugged, raising her hands as if showing she held no weapons. "Fine, fine." She laughed. "I'll be merciful."

Button gave a small nod. She looked even redder than Lapis.

Laleli grinned. Sweet, brave little Button.

She gave her honeysuckle-scented candle a deep sniff. This was such a thoughtful gift to come home to. She'd really missed the girls, and Button especially. Button was always getting her little presents like this, keeping her company on walks. She was always the first to meet her when she came home for visits. She had a way of making Laleli feel special.

Obviously, she'd no doubt do the same for any one of them, not just Laleli. There was nothing special about Laleli. Button was just a good, sweet friend with beautiful brown eyes and pouty, kissable lips. Who had a crush on Lapis.

It was obvious, really. Button was wearing a coat Lapis had made her. They'd been awfully cozy at the window just now. Button stood up to Olivine to defend Lapis. It was adorable. The way Button looked to Lapis, it almost made Laleli jealous.

But it didn't, obviously. It would be silly to get all envious of a friend's attention. Laleli was just eager to help Button act on her feelings, because Lapis would never notice otherwise. Some people were just too thickheaded for romance.

"Now, then," Olivine said sweetly, "Laleli, would you do the honors?"

"Huh?" Laleli snapped back to attention. "Yeah, sure." She picked up the veil. She was surprised at how warm it was. The headset was smooth and glinted like glass or metal, but it seemed the chilly evening air had barely touched it. The dark visor glinted ominously in the candlelight. "Here you go, Lapis."

Lapis felt extremely tense as Laleli strapped the veil into place. Laleli patted her on the shoulder. "Okay, so... do you know how this works?"

"More or less."

"Veils have some sort of lingering illusion magic in them." She tapped the visor gently. "When you expose them to bright lights and sounds, sometimes they make seemingly random images appear inside." She brought her candle a few inches from her lips, casting her face in a flickering light, and breathed in that honeysuckle scent. She made her voice hushed and mysterious. "But in a place of spiritual resonance, the ghosts and wyrds sense it as a beacon, and they can use that faint connection to reach out. Or so they say."

"Yeah, so we're gonna use you to ask the manor ghosts some questions!" Minni giggled, reaching over to light her candle with Laleli's. "Candles, everybody!"

Button and Olivine hastened to light their candles, and the air filled with sweet complementary scents. Laleli wondered how long it had taken Button to work out five compatible scents.

Lapis had gone quiet. She sat there with her legs crossed, surrounded by her four closest friends, and appeared to wait.

"I'll ask first." Laleli smiled and reached toward Lapis with the candle. Slowly and deliberately, she drew a simple five-pointed star before the visor. She heard Lapis give a soft gasp, and a small smile danced across her lips. This was a good-quality veil if it was already producing flickers. "O, spirits of the flat and empty," she intoned grandly, "faeries of the Second World, ghosts of the lost and lingering, I beseech you for your wisdom."

"Um." Lapis's voice was suddenly quite soft. "Um."

Laleli could just barely spot lights glimmering on the other side of the dark visor. She grinned. This one seemed to be very sensitive, which was perfect for them. She rubbed her chin. What to ask?...

"Spirits," she declared, "what was the name of the woman who lived here?" Best to start simple.

Lapis was silent a moment. Then she gave a start, lips parting as if in surprise. Her voice was a tiny, fragile whisper. "L-Lady Winter-Rose Everwish?"

Laleli was briefly startled out of the game. "Wait, Lapis, are you... playing along?" She laughed in delight.

"I." Lapis shifted. "N-No. No, I..."

"Honestly," she whispered, leaning in conspiratorially, "I half-expected you to deadpan this whole game until we gave up and picked something else to play." She put a hand on Lapis's shoulder. "Good for you! Hey, if you really wanna sell it, try doing a wild voice or something."

"I--I'm--I can't." Lapis's voice was soft.

"No worries." Laleli patted Lapis's shoulder. "You're doing great."

"I'm--"

"My turn!" Minni scooted forward, eyes alight with excitement.

"Remember," Laleli said--more for Olivine's and Button's benefits, as she'd played this game with Minni before, "her headset muffles her hearing a lot, so make sure to speak up."

"Right, right." Minni wove her candle in a delicate figure-eight in front of Lapis's visor. Laleli could barely see lights twinkling and sparkled in response. "Spirits, O, spirits, O, like, whatever she said, why do you still haunt this land if you're dead? Why not, like, pass on, you know?"

"W-Wait," Lapis gasped.

Minni blinked. "Sure. Take your time." She bounced from side to side idly. "Ooh, I can ask a different question, if you want! Like, was Winter-Rose super old?"

"N-No..."

"Can Winter-Rose appear, like, in person?"

"C-Can't..."

"Was she super--"

"S-Stop," Lapis cried, "stop, I--t-too much, I--I... I, um..." She trailed off.

"Minni," Olivine scolded, "one question at a time."

"Ooh, okay!" Minni beamed. "No rush, Lapis! Just my first question, then." ][beamed

Lapis sat there for a moment. She shifted in place, putting her hands down on the floor between her legs.

Laleli was sure it was just her imagination, but Lapis's cheeks seemed a little red.

"Yes," Lapis whispered at last. "She..." She took a deep, shuddering breath. "She... has matters unfinished..."

Minni pouted. "That's not an answer! C'mon, is that all you see?"

There was another long silence.

"I..." Lapis squirmed, biting her lip. She started to bring a hand to her face, as if to adjust the visor, then stopped.

Minni blinked. "Hey, Lapis, I asked--"

"Now, now," Olivine said with a sly smile, "you know the rules. No follow-up questions." She licked her lips, nakedly ogling the figure of the veiled Lapis, and scooted a little closer to lay a hand on Lapis's shoulder. "And no follow-up questions, Minni. It's my turn~"

"O-Oh..." Lapis bit her lip. "I... I..." The candle drifted before the veil. Its flame flickered, reflecting its bright glow off the dark, glassy material.

"Is this a friendly spirit?" Olivine laughed. "Is she going to shower us with riches?"

"Um..." Lapis's hands were in her lap, anxiously fidgeting. Laleli frowned. Lapis's cheeks were definitely red--was she this unused to much attention? But she was still playing along, so... "Yes... so... good... good... oh..."

"You doing okay there, Lapis?" Minni giggled. "Should we, like, end the ritual early?"

The longest silence of all stretched before them.

"Lapis?" Laleli prompted. She reached to take off the veil. "Hey, you seem kinda--"

"N-No!" Lapis cried. "No, no, I--I can--I can--"

"Okay! Okay." Laleli dropped her hand. "But are you sure? You're not just saying that for our sakes, right? Because none of us want you burning your social battery out early."

"I... won't..."

Laleli considered Lapis for a moment, then shrugged. "Okay. It's all good. We'll keep going."

"I--" Lapis was panting. "I... I... but..." She seemed to lose her words again.

Olivine pulled back, smiling happily. "Well, excellent! I can't wait to leave this manor a wealthy woman. Button, your turn!"

Button scooted forward, hesitantly lifting her candle. She looked spooked, eyes darting between Lapis and Laleli, her hand trembling a little. Reflexively, Laleli reached out a hand and took Button's wrist to steady it.

Button went bright red.

Laleli's heart thudded in her chest--was this okay? Had she made Button uncomfortable? She was just... just trying to encourage a friend. Right?

Her hand dropped away. Button's eyes dropped, and she turned and quickly drew the figure-eight in the air. "What are you showing her?" she asked.

Laleli blinked. That was... a weird phrasing. People usually addressed the wearer, not the 'spirit'. Button sounded very serious, almost as if she believed in the game.

Laleli squinted. Was Lapis... drooling?

"... h-how," Lapis whimpered, a sound Laleli had never heard from her before, "t-to feel... gggooood..."

Olivine lunged over and yanked the veil off Lapis's head.

"Hey!" Minni protested. "I had a really good question for my next turn!"

But Laleli wasn't looking at her. Nobody was. And after a moment, Minni seemed to follow their gaze, and a little "Ohhh," escaped her.

Lapis's cheeks were red. Her eyes were glazed. A little drool dribbled out the corner of her mouth. For a moment, she didn't seem to see any of them.

Laleli's bardic training hadn't covered much about hypnosis or mind control. Not everyone believed such things were possible, even among the bards, and it generally wasn't seen as appropriate material for students until their twentieth birthday. Which was, well, today.

But the look in Lapis's eyes... she looked like a sleepwalker.

"Lapis?" Laleli prompted gently, nudging Lapis's shoulder.

Lapis blinked once, then rapidly. She turned to look at Laleli, and light seemed to return to her eyes. She licked her lips and self-consciously wiped her mouth with her sleeve. "I..." She looked around, and her cheeks seemed to somehow get even redder. "W-What... um..."

"What was that?" Laleli asked. She took the veil from Olivine and examined it with narrowed eyes. "Did it... what happened? What did you see?"

Lapis visibly swallowed.

~ ~ ~ ~

As the veil slid into place over her eyes and the headset covered her ears, Lapis was plunged into muted darkness. She could still hear the others talking if she strained her ears, but the headset seemed specially designed to drown her in its world of nothing.

She grimaced and sat back, trying to make herself comfortable. Hopefully this would be over soon enough. The thought of all four girls staring at her when she couldn't see them was a little overwhelming.

Olivine had better not be checking me out, she thought, scowling.

She waited there in the oppressive gloom. It almost felt like it was pushing down on her--the quiet, the darkness, the uncertainty what was happening around her.

Finally, she sensed movement to her left. The distant, mostly-obscured light of a flickering candle appeared ahead of her.

Her mouth quirked. This was going to be even duller than she'd figured if the veil was broken. Was she supposed to pretend she saw something? Or just--

Something twinkled in the corner of her eye.

She couldn't help a gasp as florets of brilliant light blossomed before her. It was like a storm of blue wildflowers. Her eyes widened as the flowers bloomed and burst, shifting into soft magenta hues, then vibrant sunset pinks. She felt the headset vibrate faintly, sending a low, subtle hum into her ears.

She heard Laleli asking a question. She tried to listen, but the hum muffled the words, and the lights were... distracting. Laleli was asking something about the ghost's name?

Lapis considered it. She could give a name, maybe. Just to keep them happy. The trouble was, she was really bad at names.

The hum pulsed in her ears. It almost sounded like... whispers. Sibilant and soft, too faint to fully consciously make out. The lights flashed and sparkled before her.

To her surprise, the idea for the name rose in her organically. She blinked.

"L-Lady Winter-Rose Everwish?"

Even as she said it, unease curdled in her gut. That name felt awfully specific. Had she maybe heard it somewhere in her studies and forgotten it? That might make sense. There had to be a logical...

The lights pulsed and flashed. The blossom-like patterns were giving way to swirling lights, like many-colored comets streaking away from her.

... explanation...

It seemed silly to worry. This was just some old glitching artifact, and she was just remembering something she'd heard long ago. There was nothing to worry about.

The comets spun and danced, drawing her gaze deeper into the black.

For just a moment, Lapis swore she heard something underneath the pulsing hum in her ears. Something like... a voice.

"Nothing to worry about~"

"I." Lapis blinked rapidly, trying to shake off the sudden feeling of unease, to stop staring at the lights. But there was nowhere else to look. Nothing else to hear.

"Nowhere to run," purred the voice.

"N-No." She squirmed. "No, I..."

It was in her head. She knew this happened sometimes to people. In a state of sensory deprivation, the mind played tricks.

Tricks. That was all this was. Parlor tricks.

"That's right, sweet girl." The headset seemed to vibrate just as the lights intensified to flash brilliantly before Lapis's eyes. Pink. Pink. Pink. "There's nothing to worry about at all~"

Lapis felt a touch on her shoulder, and for an irrational moment, she thought the owner of the voice had touched her.

She swallowed. Just her imagination. The voice was just her head trying to make meaning out of the soft, soothing vibrations.

Out of the pretty, swirling lights.

"Good girl!" A soft giggle. "And you want to keep staring, don't you? Since you know there's nothing to worry about~"

Pulse. Flash.

Lapis felt her heart fluttering. Her mind was spinning. "I--I'm--"

"Just stare. Listen."

For a moment, Lapis swore she saw words flash before the spiraling lights. One word.

OBEY.

"I can't," she managed.

She felt a pat on her shoulder and the hand released her. "Be a good girl, now."

Another pair of words flashed before the screen, but she wasn't able to make them out. Then another word. Then more and more, words and phrases blinking too fast too read. She managed to catch what looked like...

GOOD GIRL.

No. No, something was wrong. She needed to--needed to--

"Nothing to worry about," the sweet, feminine voice purred in her ear. "Just listen. Stare."

FEELS GOOD TO STARE.

Lapis felt dizzy. She fought against the feeling, fought to speak up, to alert the girls. She needed to get this headset off. She needed to get it off now. "I'm..."

She struggled to find the words. What did she say? That the veil was making her dizzy? That it was giving her a... headache, maybe? This all had to be in her head, but... no, she had to stop this, either way.

But as she opened her mouth to speak up, another candle-light flickered before the veil.

And the veil exploded in colors anew.

Colors and words. Pulsing slower, now, slow enough to read.

OBEY.

STARE.

LISTEN.

"There's my good girl," the voice said smugly. "Doesn't it feel so good to just be good for me?"

"W-Wait," Lapis gasped.

OBEY.

"What's the matter? Don't you want to feel good?"

"N-No..."

GOOD SLUTS KNOW THEIR PLACE.

"Oh, silly girl, of course you do!"

"C-Can't..."

"Oh, you can, and you will~"

The lights pulsed and strobed, the words becoming too quick to differentiate. Lapis could feel the words settling into her mind, though. Good slut. Good girl. Good girls obey their Miss. Obey. Obey. Obey.

And there were other images now, too.

"Because there's no pleasure greater than serving me, is there, sweetie? And you want pleasure, don't you?"

Images of luscious asses swaying in time to the pulsing beat of the headset.

"You want to be good for me, don't you? Just an obedient little slut for her Miss~"

Images of luscious ruby-red lips, glistening with fresh lipstick as they moved in for a soft, intoxicating kiss...

"You want to feel good. And good is all my adorable little thralls ever feel~"

Images of a beautiful woman with wavy, shimmering brown hair, blue eyes sparkling with amusement as she cupped her massive tits together, barely concealed by her black dress, and let them bounce.

"You will kneel."

KNEEL. The word flashed before her eyes briefly as lipstick marks covered the spiral-filled screen, soft, wet kiss-sounds echoing in her ears.

"S-Stop," Lapis cried, "stop, I--

Spirals pulsed before her eyes. Subtle at first, then brighter, faster. Lapis couldn't keep up. Stars twinkled and burst, and hearts swirled around her vision like beautiful pink bubbles.

"You don't want me to stop, silly~" That voice... that sweet, heavenly voice, husky and sensual, silky and feminine... "You want more."

GOOD LITTLE FUCKSLUTS ALWAYS WANT MORE.

More. Oh, more sounded so nice...

No. No, no, no, she had to--

The lights flashed. Pulsed. Strobed.

"T-Too much," she whimpered. "I..."

"Too much?" the voice teased. "Aww, sweet little thrall, I'm just getting started~"

The spirals pulsed in and out over an image of that woman in the black dress now pinning a shirtless Lapis down, Lapis squealing in pleasure as the woman groped and toyed with her breasts.

"... I..." Lapis couldn't remember whatever she'd been about to say. Her head was spinning.

"You will serve."

SERVE.

"... I, um..." Lapis's thoughts were caught in tar. Sweet, hot, sticky tar.

"Quiet, slut."

Lapis felt her words leave her. She tried to close her eyes, but the spirals wouldn't let her escape even then. They just got brighter, pulsing with such brilliant light that she could see them behind her eyelids, and then suddenly her eyes were open without thinking and she was drowning in their beauty...

"Good girl!" The voice laughed, and Lapis was rewarded with another image, this time of the gorgeous woman leaning down over the point-of-view, tits jiggling within the dress, eyes shimmering, hearts blossoming and popping like bubbles in the air around her angelic face. "Such a good silly slut."

Lapis squirmed, cheeks burning. She tried to speak, but words suddenly felt so faraway, unimportant, impossible for a silly slut like her. She put her hands between her legs on the floor, struggling to contain the need building down there.