Ringmaster Ch. 12: Mess Hall

I did REALLY want one of those burgers that I got yesterday from the food truck that Danna and Summer brought me to, but then I remembered that I was on a college student's salary after all. This ring made me powerful, not rich. So, after a bit of deliberating, Tae and I decided on going to Dining Hall C where our food plans were accepted.

Around this time, it was pretty crowded, as to be expected around lunch time. Tae kept close to me, blushing as she nervously reached for my hand. She clearly wasn't quite prepared to be seen going on a lunch date with a woman, but she was getting there. You know, despite the fact that we just fingered each other not too long ago. I decided to meet her a little more than halfway and held her hand as we walked, which made her blush even more.

I ended up just getting a nice ham and turkey sandwich with plenty of the toppings while Tae got herself grilled cheese and tomato soup. We found a clean table and took a seat, setting our stuff down and relaxing a little.

"So, um, this is a date, right?" she asked as she fidgeted nervously in her chair. Going from being this more standoff-ish person to more open was a huge and sudden transition for her. Gently, I placed my hand on hers.

"Yes, this is a date and it is going well so far," I said, trying to reassure her. I mean, I could have used the ring to just make her calmer, but that felt more like it was cutting the weeds rather than plucking them. "It's alright, Tae. You don't have to be so nervous around me." I gave her a warm smile, which made her even redder.

"Yeah, you're right," she said as she turned to eat her food. Her shoulders slumped down more as her nerves settled. I took a nice large bite of my sandwich and the two of us ate until she decided to break the silence. "So, um, a polycule, huh?"

This caught me a bit off guard, so I choked a little on my sandwich. I coughed a bit and drank it down with some water. "Uh, yeah, a polycule. Right now, it's about five girls, but now six including you."

She fidgeted a little with her food. "Um, how does it all work?"

"What do you mean?"

"Like, are you all dating each other? Are they all dating you? Is anyone able to recruit people in? How would marriage work?" I could see that she was trying to understand the fundamentals of a polycule. Personally, I still was too.

Then, I glanced down at the Reality Ring. It doesn't just alter people, but it alters their reality, right? I mean, it's called the REALITY Ring after all. I didn't have to worry about the details. I could make them. I closed my eyes and braced myself for the pain that was probably going to occur.

In my polycule, we all are considered dating each other. None of us get unhealthily jealous of each other. We all treat each other kindly and respectfully. Anyone can bring in another girl to the polycule if they want. Joining the polycule is that girl's own choice. No effect of the ring can influence their decision. Marrying anyone does not make them exclusive to that person. Everyone in the polycule is fine showing affection, even in public, to each other. All girls currently in and when someone joins the polycule will become aware of how the polycule works.

Now, I expected the ring to flare up, as I was making a big change. What I wasn't expecting was just how large it was. My hand writhed in pain as I shoved it immediately in my water, but it didn't help. It felt as if my hand was in a burning forge. I gritted my teeth as hard as I could, but squeals of pain escaped from my teeth. I collapsed on the ground, holding my hand as the burning filled my arm.

Tae rushed over around the table to my side, panicking and trying to figure out what was going on. All I could do was squeeze her hand and try to fight through the searing sensation. Other people came over to see what was going on, and at that point I was too much in pain to care about attracting attention.

"Hey, is she okay?"

"I saw her collapse. What happened?"

"Is something wrong with her hand?"

"Someone call the campus doctors!"

"No, no, I'm fine," I said as I slowly stood up. I wiped away my tears and put on a smile to reassure everyone. "It's just, um, a medical condition. I had just, uh, forgotten to take my medication. I'm fine now." Thankfully, everyone seemed to be put at ease and slowly dispersed after I reassured them even more.

Tae, however, was still holding my hand and had a look of concern plastered over her face. "What's this medical condition? How can I help? Do we need to head back to your place and get it?"

"I'm fine, Tae," I said, sitting back down in my chair and guiding her to hers. "Please, it's okay now." She nodded, but she kept her eye on my hand with the ring, holding it the whole time as we finished up our food. Danna may have been able to accept the magic ring, but I wasn't quite sure about the rest of them. I mean, sure I'll tell them at some point in the future, but not now.

Gently, I leaned down and gave Tae's hand a soft kiss, smelling a bit of my juices as this was the hand she used to finger me. I chuckled a little and smiled at her, which made her blush again. Suddenly, my phone began to ring. I looked at the number to see that it was Summer. "Sorry, I gotta take this. I'll be right back." Tae nodded and I walked off a bit to a more private area. "Summer, what's going on?"

"Hey Ringmaster." Oh, it was Regina. At some point we should probably get her her own phone.

"Regina, um, what's going on?" I asked, trying to play things cool.

"Oh, nothing much. Summer went to get us lunch, Danna's taking a nap in your bed, and, oh yeah, uh, WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU DOING WITH THE RING JUST NOW?"

I figured that I wouldn't be able to get too far without Regina discovering what I did. She was magically bound to the ring after all. She likely had some psychic connection to any changes I did.

"I just, um, laid some ground rules for the polycule. I didn't expect that it would be that big of a change," I said, hoping that she wasn't mad at me.

"You basically set up a whole set of guidelines for multiple girls and potentially who knows how many more. Do you know how reckless that was?" Regina said, her tone more obvious now. She wasn't upset at me for having done such a large change. She was concerned that I did such a huge change and that I could have hurt myself.

"I'm sorry," I said, and I waited a few seconds for Regina to respond.

"Look, I'm just gonna come by and check out how you're doing, alright?"

"Okay," I said, admiring her care and compassion. She made have been incredibly sex-hungry, but she still very much cared about us. "I'm at Dining Hall C."

"Even if you were somewhere in Russia, I'd be able to find you," Regina said with a chuckle. "As long as you got that ring, I'll always know where you are."

I chuckled a little bit, thinking of Regina kinda like my sexy guardian angel. "I'll see you in a bit. And wear proper clothing!"

"Ugh, fine," she said as she hung up.

With a deep sigh of relief, I headed back to Tae to see that she was talking with someone.

Okay Maria. It's okay. Just relax. It's just Lexi. You met her yesterday. There's no problem here. It's just that she's here talking to Tae. Who you're on a date with. Despite being seen on a date with other girls yesterday. And Lexi here doesn't know that you're in a polycule. Oh no.

Neither of them seemed to have noticed me watching them as the two of them talking.

It's okay, Maria. Just go up and explain things. After all, there's no indication that this could go south.

I took a deep breath and began to walk back to the table. As I did, I began to notice that something was different about Lexi. Her eyes still had bags under them and her hair was still messy. Her clothes were a lot neater than before. She was wearing a black T-shirt with some loose fitting yoga pants on. There was, thankfully, more color and life back into her skin. I guess me giving her a bit more of a positive outlook made things perk up for her.

Speaking of perk, I couldn't help but stare just a bit at her tits. I hadn't really noticed it before but Lexi had quite a solid body to her. I mean, being honest, she wasn't quite Vanessa levels of hot, but more on the cute side, like Danna. I guess that she had about B cups to her and a moderately sized ass.

Wow, just a few days with this ring and I'm already checking and sizing up girls. Keep it together, Maria. Don't lose control.

"Oh, hey Maria!" Lexi said, waving me over. I gave her a smile and sat back down in my chair.

"Ah, hey Lexi. I was just taking a phone call," I said, reassuring Tae about where I had gone off to. "How are you doing?" Tae grabbed a chair from nearby and gave the seat a pat.

"So much better," Lexi said, taking the offering and setting her stuff down. "I don't know why, but having talked to you yesterday really helped me get my head on straight." I couldn't help but internally chuckle considering how "straight" she was. "Things are definitely starting to look better for me."

"Oh really?" Tae asked, turning and giving me a curious look. "What kind of stuff did Maria talk to you about?"

"Just how things are going to get better," Lexi said as she sipped down some soda. "Something about just listening to her made me feel so much better." Wow, she had a beautiful smile.

Tae turned back to me, then sort of quickly glanced at Lexi and gave a subtle nod towards her. I didn't quite understand what Tae was doing, so she did it again. I just kinda gave her a more confused look back. Tae frowned a little, seeing as her subtlety was too subtle. "Hey Lexi, are you dating Maria?"

That immediately made both me and Lexi choke a bit on our meals. I had to take a quick sip of water to make sure that I didn't die by sandwich. "HUH?" I asked back in surprise once I could talk again.

"Well, it's a simple question. Lexi, are you dating Maria?" Tae asked.

It took me a few seconds to remember just who was sitting across from me. This was Tae. Who was best friends with Carmen. One of the biggest gossip girls on campus. Of course Tae would be the person to immediately try and stir things up. Though, I wasn't quite sure why Tae brought that up just now. Her eyes were focused mostly on me, and I hadn't seen her giving any sort of glances to Lexi.

"Ah, I'm not dating her," Lexi blurted out. Although she said it quickly and denied it, I could hear a little sadness in her voice. Her face turned red and she looked down at her food. "Ah, I'm sorry. I forgot I have to go do something." She stood up, ready to leave.

I was about ready to use the ring to make sure she didn't leave, when Tae stopped her in her tracks.

"Well, would you like to?"

Wait a minute. Was Tae trying to set me up with Lexi!? Or more, because of the changes that I had made about my polycule, was Tae trying to allow herself to be with Lexi?

Before I could think more, Lexi sat back down, redder than a cherry. "Yes, I want to date her!" She blurted it right out, then proceeded to somehow be even more redder in the face. She turned to me, both embarrassed and forlorn.

"Maria, just the way that you talked with me yesterday, the boost of confidence and hope that talking with you gave me. It was like nothing I had ever felt before." She was breathing heavily, like years of pressure inside of her was gushing right out. "No one in my life before has been able to make me feel so alive, so hopeful, so thrilled about the future until I met you. And I know that this was just one time that we met, but I waited for hours for you to text me."

I looked over to Tae, who just seemed proud of her work, as if she had just spent hours interrogating a criminal who finally had the damning piece of evidence thrown in their face. I turned back to Lexi, who was on the verge of tears. I gave her a gentle smile and squeezed her hand as I began to understand how she was feeling.

True, she wasn't in love with me like Danna and Summer are, but she was feeling pent up. Lexi told me before how she was in an arranged marriage. She likely always had to hide that she was a lesbian. And, thanks to the ring's influence and power, she finally found someone who made her feel alive. I have GOT to get better at being careful with who I use this ring on and how.

"God, have some decency." I heard a voice say behind me and I, instinctively, pulled my hands to my side. "I mean seriously? In public?" I turned my head to see the smug yet sexy albino herself, Regina. "Hand holding? I didn't think you were that much of a degenerate." She gave a little wink to make sure that everyone knew she was joking around.

"Uh, Maria, who is this?" Tae asked as she looked up and down Regina, blushing. I could also see that Lexi's mouth was agape too.

"Tae, Lexi, this is one of my girlfriends, Regina." As I said that, she casually put her arm around my waist and pulled me in tight. She planted a firm kiss on my lips, sending those wonderful electric tingles through my body. I pressed back into her a bit before remembering my present company.

"Oh, um, wait, girlfriends?" Lexi asked, curious and a bit excited.

"Well hello cutie," Regina said, stealing my chair and moving right up next to Lexi. She rested her chin on her fist and got right up near Lexi's face. Lexi just blushed as she tried not to stare down Regina's cleavage. "When were you gonna introduce me to her?"

"Oh, um, h-hello," Lexi said, still trying to avoid looking at her.

"Hey, gorgeous, my tits are down here," Regina said, which made Lexi turn even redder. Regina just giggled at how she made her react.

Though, Regina kinda brought up a somewhat decent point. I am part of a polycule and I can now bring any girl who I want to into it.

Okay, take it easy Maria. You managed to bring Tae into this polycule. All you would have to do is ask her. I mean, given the way that she's looking at Regina, she would probably want to join. After all, I already know that she's a lesbian. So, just build up the courage to-

"Hey, you wanna be part of a polycule?" Regina asked with a sly smile.

All three of us were immediately taken aback by Regina's sudden upfrontness, but truthfully, I'm not quite sure why I was surprised. Regina has shown herself time and time again to not be too shy about this kind of stuff. I think I was more surprised that Regina asked if she wanted to go out, rather than just, you know, having sex with her.

"Oh my! Um," Lexi asked as she looked around nervously before closing her eyes. She took a deep breath and then nodded her head. "Um, who is all in the polycule?"

Oh yeah. I was about to ask Lexi to join right before Regina got here. Figures she would be the one to be on the straight and narrow.

Regina smiled and pointed to me and Tae, then to herself. "There's three others too. Lots of fun to be had."

Lexi pondered to herself for a bit and then nodded. "Okay, I'll join." As she said that, it was like there was a magical shimmer occurred around her. Tae blinked a few times, but nothing else seemed to happen to her. Lexi looked around at the three of us before giving us a big grin. "So, girls, is this our first date?"

"You're adapting to this surprisingly well, Lexi," I said as I began to finish off my sandwich.

"I mean, it's my first time being part of a polycule, but it's like dating a buncha people at once, right?" Lexi asked, "No problems here! The more the merrier, right?" She went back to eating her lunch, enjoying the food and not paying too much attention to the albino girl who was just staring at her.

I turned back to see how Tae was doing. She seemed a little nervous still like before, but she calmed down a bit after I put my hand on hers. After we all finished up our food, it was Tae who spoke up first. "So, Lexi, what are you studying?"

"Huh?" Lexi said before thinking a bit. "Uh, Film and Communication." That immediately got me perked up and paying attention.

I casually moved Regina out of the way to sit next to Lexi. "You're a film student? What kind of stuff do you do? Do you have any of your works? What's your favorite film?"

"Oh, um," Lexi said, thinking to herself for a bit, "I do video editing and camera work, you could say! Here, I'll show you a sample of what I do." She reached into her bag and pulled out her phone, swiping and pressing for a bit. Then, she set it down on the table and showed us a video.

"Hey everyone! How's it going? Today, I'm gonna be playing the Legends of Secrets!" Sitting in a large chair was Lexi, wearing a nice T-shirt with a deep view of her cleavage. Around her was a chatbox, some UI elements, and a large screen with the game that she was playing.

"Wait a minute, are... are you a streamer?" I asked her, and she nodded her head enthusiastically.

"Heck yeah I am. I go by ChillKoala and I've got a bunch of subscribers and viewers. I get thousands of viewers per stream." Down in the corner, I could see a lounging koala icon, which I assume was her logo.

Okay, so she wasn't the kind of film student that I was thinking of, but the other two seemed interested. And I guess she does have to worry about video editing and lighting and all that other good film stuff. I can't judge her too harshly.

Regina, on the other hand, just seemed utterly mesmerized by all of this. "So you make videos of yourself and people pay you for them?"

"Yep," Lexi said as she scrolled further into the video. "Here I'm playing the video game of Legends of Secrets! It's one of my favorites to play on stream for people. I managed to make about $525 off of this stream alone."

Regina looked in awe and tilted her head. I could clearly tell she was being drawn in by Lexi's sex appeal as well as I'm sure a good portion of her audience was. "That's amazing." She leaned in and gave Lexi a kiss on the cheek. "So, uh, tell me. What's a video game?"

It was at that moment that I remembered that Regina was likely in that ring for a while. Lexi stared at Regina as if Regina had just asked if the sky was blue. "What? How have you never played a video game before?" she asked.

"Lexi, I don't even know what a video game is."

Now Lexi's eyes went even wider. "What!?" She stood up and grabbed Regina by the hands. "Okay, I am fixing this right away!" She turned to me. "Maria, you don't mind if I take Regina here for a bit, do you?"

"Uhhhh," I said, looking between Regina and Lexi. When did I start to have to give her permission? Okay, play it cool, Maria. "Go right ahead."

Regina grinned as Lexi threw away her trash, then dragged Regina off. Tae and I both watched them leave before turning back to each other. "Well, looks like they're gonna have a good time together." She looked down at her phone and began to text a few things. "Hey, I gotta go. This, um, this was a good date," she said, nervously tucking her hair behind her ear. My goddess that was hot. "I'll see you around then?"

"Yeah," I said. She looked around a little to see who was watching, then shrugged her shoulders. Tae stepped forward and grabbed me by the waist and planted a firm kiss on my lips. I let out a gentle little moan into her mouth as I reciprocated the kiss by wrapping my arms around her neck. I could feel my face start to get redder as I wanted to go farther with her, but I also knew we were in public. I broke off the kiss and gave her a warm smile. She, being a bit more confident than I, decided to give me a gentle little grope of my tit.

"I'll see you around, Maria." With that, she headed off.

Without much reason to stick around here in the mess hall, I headed off as well.

Generally, I consider myself to be a pretty smart girl. I am in college after all. I get mostly As and Bs, but when it comes to math, all the numbers mix together like alphabet soup. But of course, my college wants me to be well-rounded and everything, so I'm forced to take this course.