Subclasses Ch. 15

Chapter Fifteen

"So," Gabi says, joining us for lunch in the VU on Monday, "seems like we might have a kitty, hmm? Should we be thinking of a name to put on a tag for your collar?"

I blush. "No, I don't think so. I've read some pet play erotica and it's really not my thing. What appealed to me last night is that I had no idea I was doing it, no idea that anything was different, and even when I started to get an inkling, I couldn't do anything about it. As with most of my kinks, it's the loss of control that does it for me. Being a cat was fun, but not a kink in and of itself nor a part of my identity."

Gabi's expression becomes conflicted. "What's that look?" Bea asks Gabi.

"I'm trying to decide whether I'm disappointed or not. Having a cat for a roommate was kinda fun."

"What about you?" I ask. "Do we have a bunny girl in our midst?"

Her soft brown cheeks redden over the couple seconds it takes her to find words. "I really don't know. I'd never considered it. It has a certain appeal, I suppose, but more in a cutesy way than a kinky one. Mostly, I just like bunnies."

"If you ever want to experiment...." Beatrix offers.

"I'll keep that in mind. Thanks, Babes." Her blush deepens at the thought. "And what of you, Miss Beatrix? If you were an animal, what would you be?"

"A geoduck," she says matter-of-factly, naming an especially phallic giant clam native to the Pacific Northwest, pronounced "gooey duck".

Gabi and I look at her, dumbstruck. What does one do with that information?

She cracks, unable to hold back her smile. "Gotcha."

Gabs has a one o'clock Spanish class in the Humanities Building which lies on the northeastern edge of Red Square opposite Bond Hall, where I have my math class an hour after that. So, after lunch the three of us head to Bea's room in Nash. I'm a little nervous, not knowing if Beatrix has anything planned for the moment I walk in the door, but my worry was for naught. The only change that occurred was me shrinking five inches into my increasingly familiar feminine body.

Bea and Gabi sit on her bed while I remove my jacket. Gabi lets out a pained groan. "My feet are just killing me today. I could really go for a foot massage," she says offhandedly.

"Sarah will give you one." Okay, so my worry was for some.

"Oh, that's alright. You don't need to make her do that," she says as I walk over, sit on the floor, and start untying her shoes. "Well, if she doesn't mind...." She gives me a wink.

"I know my pet well. She's happy to do anything you ask her to, isn't that right, Sarah?"

"Honestly, I'd rather just make out," I say.

"Really?" Gabi says. "'Cause I got the sense you'd be happy to continue rubbing my feet."

A euphoric grins spreads across my face as her words rewrite my life's calling. Gabi's feet may be the most sublime things my hands have ever touched. Both sets of my lips water as I knead them. I only wish I had four hands so I could knead both at once, but one at a time will have to do.

Or will it? I think, as Bea and Gabi continue their indistinct conversation, my focus wholly devoted to the heavenly arch of Gabi's right foot. Gabi's feet deserve as much love and care and touch as is humanly possible. I may not be able to get them both at once but.... "You should join me, Beatrix. I really think you'd like it."

Beatrix stops mid sentence, stands, and sits down beside me to take Gabi's left foot into her hands. Gabi lets out a pleasurable moan.

"Wow, Sarah," Beatrix says, breathily, "you were right. These feet are just- I don't even know how to describe them. The best things this world has to offer? That doesn't do them justice. I don't know how we have lived this long without massaging Gabi's feet before. It seems like a life wasted."

"Be honest, girls. Are you two typically foot fetishists?" Gabi asks.

"No," I say immediately and truthfully. "I mean, feet are nice, but they're just another body part to me, if a pleasingly sensitive one." What am I saying? I think. How could anyone not be in awe of these feet, these cute, perfect little toes?

Beatrix remains silent, solely focused on the foot in front of her. "Beatrix?" Gabi prompts. No response.

I don't know what provokes me. All I really care about is Gabi's feet, but some part of the back of my mind whispers that Beatrix is the reason for my current euphoria, and she should really be rewarded for that. "Beatrix, everything Gabi has told me to do is the best thing I've ever done. I think you will feel the same."

"Are you a foot fetishist, Beatrix?" Gabi asks again.

"No, but your feet are an entirely different matter," Beatrix intones, rapturous.

"You two are the best," Gabi says with a giggle. She leans back on her elbows and just takes it in. "I wish my feet were clean. This massage just feels so good and whoever sucked our toes the other night discovered an erogenous zone I'd never been brave enough to mention to anyone before."

"Gabi's feet are clean." Beatrix Speaks in an unaffected tone betraying an empty mind.

Both of us immediately pull her toes into our mouths, and start sucking. My tongue massages her right big toe, and Gabi moans in ecstacy. At her moan, I feel a jolt of pleasure, myself, but it's nothing compared to the sense of fulfillment I get at having served Gabi's marvelous appendages to satisfaction. I plan to never stop.

Gabi sticks her hand down her yoga pants to do her part in getting her off. Several minutes go by, Bea and me enthusiastically servicing Gabi's feet, eliciting moan after pleasurable moan from the silky-skinned russet goddess before us. At a nirvanic sound I know I had nothing to do with, I glance over at Beatrix. She's pressed Gabi's foot between her cleavage. Why didn't I think of that? I think and follow suit. Moments later, Gabi lets loose a holy series of "Yes, yes, yes"ses. I feel her toes curl against my tongue and cheeks. There's nothing quite like performing your greatest passion to perfection, and magic turning that sensation into sexual pleasure. Beatrix and I let out euphoric, orgasmic crashes of our own, as Gabi falls prone to the bed.

"Okay, that's enough, ladies. Thank you." We pull away from her divine feet, which suddenly lose a little of their divinity--only a little. "Come lie down next to me." I was born to lie next to Gabi. "As wonderful as that was, and as tempted as I am to abuse this power, right now I think I just want my two best friends back."

Sense floods back into my mind, and I know I am, regrettably, no longer a slave to Gabi's whim. My vision is still blurry from the wash of dopamine and serotonin running through my brain. Beatrix rolls onto her side, and flops her arm across Gabi. She pokes me hard in the side.

"Hey! What was that for?" I cry.

"You cheated again, Pet," she says with mock indignation and severity.

"I didn't mean to! I still don't know how I did it. It just sort of happened."

Gabi emits a pleased sigh. "I'm finding that I'm glad you can. That experience was- Well, I'm starting to see what you get out of being controlled," she says. "Not that I want to make a habit out of this. I like my role as Mistress, thankyouverymuch."

"I doh'know, Babes," Gabi says to her, "you looked like you found your calling as a foot slave." Beatrix playfully whacks Gabi's shoulder in response.

We three lie there together, just content to be in each other's presence.

"Gabi," I say.

"Yes, Babes?"

"I think...." Can I really say this and mean it?

"Go on," she prods.

"I think I do like you," I admit, "as more than a friend."

"Aww, I'm so glad to hear that, darlin', but I'm going to ask you to wait until tonight to know for sure. I won't be hurt if things look a little different after your mind clears."

"That's... really considerate. Thanks, Babs."

She gives me an imitation bunny nose twitch at my use of the nickname. Gabi - is - a peach.

* * *

Gabrielle heads to class, leaving Beatrix and me alone in her room.

"Whatcha thinking about?" Bea asks me.

"Nothing," I say.

"Tell me!" she insists.

"I was thinking about street names in Renton, the city where I grew up."

"Oh. So actually 'nothing'."

"Yup."

"Think about something else! Do you have any more thoughts or questions about my ability?" Beatrix asks.

"There were a couple things, yeah," I say, my mind shifting gears. "When you sped up time last week, how were we able to breathe? When you first said time would speed up for us, I had a moment of panic. Speed things up too fast, and the pressure required to move air molecules becomes immense. Speed us up to relativistic speeds--though I have no idea if that's how fast we were going--and even moving through air particles risks a nuclear explosion."

"Hah, nerd," she says with feigned derision.

"Like you don't love it." She smiles and I continue. "Speedster superheroes always bothered me. 'Okay, so you have a near frictionless super suit. Cool. How did you account for the force of moving a step without breaking your legs, or barring that, the cement you were standing on? How does everything you touch not shatter on impact?'"

"I take it your suspension of disbelief is not very strong?"

"Oh, no," I say, "I can suspend my disbelief with the best of them. It's when the writers try to explain how things work. That opens the door for scientific criticism. Plot holes only exist when the physics is part of the plot.

"Don't get me started on Ant-Man."

"I'm tempted, but we don't have that kind of time," Bea jokes. "But to answer your question, I cheated. I had actually considered the issue about breathing-"

"Hah, nerd," I interject.

"-so I borrowed from your favorite author. I sculpted a bubble around us, and within that bubble, time sped up."

"I always knew the hundreds of hours I've spent reading fantasy would pay off in the end. I feel like there needs to be a Reading Rainbow episode for the Cosmere stories."

"'Hey, kids. I read twenty-five hundred pages over four books and now I know how to speed up time in a safe, non-city-leveling manner. But don't take my word for it!'" For a girl with a British accent, her impersonation of Levar Burton ain't half bad. I give her an appreciative grin.

"You mentioned on Saturday that you had a hunch for why I was able to affect you without your consent," I say, moving onto my next ability-related thought.

"Oh, right. I think it's because it was my ability being used. Any time I use my ability on myself, it behaves as if I've given my implicit consent, so my guess is, because you were using my ability and not your own, it 'believed', for lack of a better word, that I had given it consent to be used that way.

"However, that doesn't explain how you were able to affect Claire. That's why I had to use you to spill her tea rather than making her do it herself--you'd given me your consent to use you, while she hadn't," Beatrix says. "With my ability, you should have only been able to affect me, yourself, and inanimate nature. And I still have no idea how you are able to access my ability in the first place."

"I have a guess about the latter," I say. "When you two were dueling, I felt something strange, some sort of resonance building between you two, like your magic batteries were generating a magnetic field together." I pronounce the 'g' in magnetic like the 'j'-sound in 'magic', and she rolls her eyes. "Then when you targeted me with the command to dump Claire's tea on her within that resonant field, I felt a link of some sort form between us. I suspect Gabi wasn't affected because you hadn't targeted her.

"I'm not certain why, now, I can only access your ability sometimes," I continue, "but I did notice the bond grow a little stronger again when you were using your ability to make me Gabi's slave. Maybe by dominating me with your ability, it temporarily strengthened the link between us?"

"It's as good a theory as any," she says. "Now that you mention it, I feel that bond, too. It's strange though. It's like I know I'm connected to you, specifically, but the connection doesn't have a direction; I can't sense a line from me to you or anything."

"Now that is interesting; I can sense your direction. It's faint but it's there. I wonder why the difference." I pitch my voice to sound as stalkerish and creepy as I can. "You can't hide from me!"

"Sarah can't sense my direction from our bond," Bea Speaks nonchalantly.

"Well, it was good while it lasted," I say with a verbal shrug.

She gives me a taunting smirk. "I'm tempted to see if I can remove the bond altogether with my ability. If you can reverse our roles on a whim, that seems a mite too fair to me. Things aren't supposed to be fair between us!" she pouts.

"I promise to use it responsibly," I say, raising my left hand and placing the other on an invisible bible, "at least as much as I can. The first time I hijacked your ability, it was by accident. When it happened an hour ago, I felt compelled by the situation, by your command to do as Gabi said combined with Gabi's command to worship her feet--feet that needed as much attention as I had power to give them." I give her a pitiless smirk. "You brought that on yourself."

She laughs. "Perhaps I did." Then, she bolts upright.

"What is it?" I ask, alarmed.

"If I'm right, and the reason you could affect me was because using my ability on myself carries implicit consent, then there might not be any safeguards. Not that you would, but I wonder if you are as able to set me on fire with a couple words as I am." She looks stricken.

"Beatrix, you know I would never, ever do that to you, right? I love you, and causing you pain, let alone harm, is not something I could ever want to do. I wouldn't even want to do that to anyone at all, except maybe certain members of Congress and people who talk at the movies. Or people who shush me when I talk at the movies."

She gives me half a smile. "Oh, I know you would never harm me, Sarah. I was thinking- What if something like this happens again, and someone else gains access to my ability? We still don't know for sure how our bond was formed. It's possible I could form another bond by accident."

"Well, then use your ability to cut our bond to see if you can," I suggest.

"But then you'll be unable to toy with me!" She sounds shocked I'd even consider the idea of giving up that power.

"I'd much rather your mind be put at ease knowing there's a contingency plan than have direct access to your ability," I say, genuinely. "As fun as it is, there's really no contest."

"Are you sure?" she asks. "When Hannah and I experimented, I tried giving her access to my ability by Speaking, and nothing happened. If this works--if I sever this bond--we may never be able to get it back."

"Hon," I say with a reassuring look, "your peace of mind is absolutely worth it to me."

She nods solemnly with a grateful expression. "Okay. Sarah no longer has access to my ability." I feel a sudden something. It's not a ripping sensation--the bond isn't torn from me--more like the snipping sensation of a haircut; an image of an umbilical cord being cut flashes across my mind. "Did it work?" she asks. I nod, and she sighs in relief. "Thanks, Love. Your willingness to lose that power- I don't know that I would have been as willing if our places had been reversed."

"That's because you're a domme and I'm a sub, silly girl."

She smiles. "Quite true. Let's see if I can recreate the bond. Undo my last command." We wait a couple expectant seconds. "I don't feel it. Do you?"

"Nope," I say, shaking my head.

"Sarah and I have a bond that allows her to use my ability under certain conditions." Another pregnant pause. "Anything?"

I shake my head. Bea's expression falls. "Beatrix," I say, "it's really okay. This is your ability. I don't feel like I lost anything I had a right to in the first place."

"Okay," she says, still a bit morose. "I just- I kind of liked having that bond in place between us. We've discussed this on the forums at length. No one has ever been able to share their ability before. What you and I had was something new, special."

"Have any of you ever met in person?" I ask.

"I don't think so. Why?"

"Well, if I'm right, and I gained access to it because there were two people using the ability to form that resonance, then that could be why no one has been able to do it before; there had never been two Speech-able people in the same place at the same time.

"If you want to test my theory, we can try again with Claire, assuming she's willing."

Bea nods, some of the melancholy fading. "That's a good idea. If nothing else, it's an experiment, right?"

"Scientists gonna science," I say, like it's an everyday expression.

"I'll text Claire this evening and see when she's available."

"Okay. There's no rush." I give her a warm smile.

"Thanks, Babe. You- you're really something special."

"Aww, you're just saying that on account of my willingness to let you do whatever you want with me," I say.

"That's hard to deny," she says with my favorite smirk.

* * *

I saunter into my dorm room after Linear Algebra, collapse into my computer chair, and when Gabi's online game of Mario Kart ends, join in the next one.

There's an awkward silence--a new experience for the two of us--as we're both anxiously wondering the same thing: Do I like Gabi?

"Now-" she begins at the same time I work up the courage to say, "I-".

"You go," she says.

"I still don't know how I feel about you romantically. I want to like you that way because you do mean a lot to me, and having two girlfriends is an exciting prospect, especially two as incredibly hot as you and Bea. But, to be honest, I don't feel like I know you very well." She looks taken aback. "I mean- Okay, so I do know you by your actions and demeanor, but we never discuss anything deep or heavy. I don't know your thoughts, and I barely know any of your history. I've never been able to tell if you're a closed book, or just a closed book to me. Which is fine--don't get me wrong--we make perfect roommates. I just need more for a romantic connection."

She nods her head as she thinks over what I said. "That's fair. And for what it's worth, it's not just you; I don't open up to almost anyone. Maybe it's because I'm an only-child." She--Bowser--hits me--Dry Bones--with a red turtle shell and passes me to come in second place in the race; as a result I come in sixth.

"Crushes don't have to make sense," I say, "but, may I ask, what is it about me that you like?"

"Your authenticity," she says without hesitation. "You've got so many varied interests--a thumb in so many pies as my mom would say--and it doesn't matter who's around: you're going to tell them whatever you're thinking about. No apologies. You never fake anything. I don't know if you realize how rare that is."

I hadn't, or at least, I never understood--and still don't fully understand--that most people aren't as authentic as I am. "Thanks, Gabi," I say, faking, ironically, some of the enthusiasm at what I know is supposed to be a compliment, but to me just seems like standard procedure.

I frown at her. "What's wrong, Babes?"

"I- Why does everyone want me for my mind?" I cry dramatically. "Won't anyone please just want me for my body? Who I am on the outside?" She snorts and hits me with yet another red shell.

"Oh, I do that." She pauses. "You're the only person I know with two bodies. If you think about it, I'm physically attracted to you twice as much as to anyone else!"