Welldark B1 Ch. 06,5

'My worries these days are amplified uncomfortably...' Esther thought, running the fine comb through her drying hair. It was the second half of her morning ritual of getting her hair straight. Like always, it was a largely futile effort. Every stroke of her comb left the strands of hair to wave, wind and fluff out into various directions. During a resigned moment, she lowered her hands and inspected the person that met her gaze in the mirror.

The raven-haired woman looked at herself. At her face and at the person behind it.

Esther would have never described herself as gorgeous, such would have been a vain indulgence in her eyes, but she knew she looked good. Her face was pleasingly symmetrical. Her lips were red, full and slightly glossy on their own. Her nose sat in the right place, neither too big nor too small. Same for her ears. Her eyes had a pleasant cut to them, with her dark eyelashes and brows being sharp and dense. By the conventional standards of beauty, she fit the definition. It was all objectively measurable, it didn't take any level of self-aggrandisement to look at it.

Only her hair, she found horrible. Even semi-wet as it was, it went all over the place. The volume was almost domineering. Each individual strand fanned out, as it fell downwards, each taking a life on their own. Tips curled and waved slightly, as strands ran criss-cross over each other. Most annoying was the one that ran diagonally over her face. It stayed out of the way of things (at the current length) but it bothered her regardless. The sole solace was that her hair obeyed the laws of gravity. If parts of it had stuck out sideways or upwards, it would have caused her additional distress.

Esther couldn't remember when she had last inspected herself to this degree. Usually, the mirror was a tool that merely existed to check on her physical condition. Today was different. Albeit she couldn't put her finger on how. After a few moments of deliberation, she grabbed the white band from the board under the mirror. Three twists of her nimble fingers in, she stopped, shook her head, and put the band down again.

Nothing about her physical condition was different. Binding her hair now would leave it even more disorderly than usual. There were no shortcuts to making it appear adequate. Esther took the comb and continued where she had left off. Every part of her hair had to be given steady attention. Smooth as it was, the comb slid through without issue. Getting it to fall in proper lines was the entire battle.

Esther had taken other measures to tame her mane in the past. The obvious two, reducing her hair to a buzzcut or using a flat iron, had both been failures. To be completely clear, the flat iron had been a demonstrable failure. While it succeeded in straightening her hair out for a few hours, it didn't last the entire day. What she was left with was a pleasingly quick morning ritual, but a second half of the day in which she looked like she hadn't done anything. Inacceptable, by her standards. Cutting it short had been factually effective. However, she couldn't stand the way she had looked with short hair and had grown it out again.

Only recently, had she realized why that was. Esther desired to excel in all things she attempted. To prove to herself that she was and could be an outstanding individual. That she also desired to be a lady deserving of the title, that she had only realized recently. It had taken to know someone who was worthy of the effort. 'Karitas,' the name entered her thoughts unconsciously.

He was the sole reason why her worries were so amplified these days. On her own, she could sort out any problem in short order. She had always fixed her own issues, always chasing the solution diligently, always demanding more of herself. Others hadn't kept up with her. They had been content being flawed, content leaving things to her. With him, it was different. Fixing his problems for him, attempting as much, had gotten her scolded. He wanted them to solve these things - together.

Esther noticed, in her reflection, that the corners of her lips were slightly raised. She was doing that a lot the last couple of days. Smiling was a strange sight on her face and an even stranger feeling. Strange, but not unwelcome.

'It appears not only my worries are amplified,' she realized and sighed. A deep, heavy sigh, making audible the complicated mess she felt. A sound that temporarily lifted the weight off her soul.

Since the man of her interest had so abruptly announced himself into her life, it had been an up and down two weeks. Whenever he did or said something stupid, the wrath she felt was stronger than anything else in the past few years. For every other person Esther had ever had contact with, they had stepped away from her after one or two of her rebukes. Fine on her own, she had let go of them. All she needed was to prove to herself that she could excel. Excess weight was nothing to keep hold off.

Karitas was staying. More than that, he managed to impress her. With his strength, of body and of character. Like all people, he had his flaws. Most, like his extrapolating, were things she got used to. Others, like his spending habits, he tried to remedy. Few, like his perversion, she found herself reciprocating. He helped her discover things about herself, good and bad, that she hadn't been previously aware of. It was wonderful, in a strange, labyrinthine way. She wanted more of it. More of him.

The memory of a certain succubus bubbled up in her mind. A demonic seductress with greyish white skin, her thin tail coiled around Karitas' arm, leaning even closer towards him. She flaunted her sexuality and he looked back at her with clear attraction. His body reacted to her. Sometimes, he looked at her instead of Esther.

The comb scraped over her head, making Esther realize the unnecessary force she was putting into her motions. 'Why is it HIS conduct that annoys me so greatly?' she asked herself. No specific answer came from inside her mind. She knew, however, what she was feeling. Jealousy. A completely new emotion for her. Never had she felt like someone she loved would be taken away before.

Esther absolutely loathed that feeling. Most of all, how impossible it was to get a grip on it. No matter from what angle she analysed it, she couldn't reason it away.

Karona, much as Esther disliked admitting it, was attractive. Naturally, a man and a pervert like Karitas would look at her reflexively. Even Esther's eyes were occasionally drawn to the succubus' curves. None of this should matter, as long as he ultimately looked at her, the one he was chasing. Which he had done every time. So, why did it bother Esther? Why was she not satisfied with the actions he had taken? Why did she blame him for Karona kissing him on the cheek?

Always, somehow, her thoughts looped back to him being at fault. Reasonably, she knew he wasn't. 'What do I require him to do to please these base instincts? Perform in the world blinded, sealed inside a bubble?' That her jealous side considered that a somewhat viable strategy irked her extremely. Shoving that bit of herself aside, she stopped this fruitless contemplation and returned to looking at herself in the mirror. Purely for the sake of checking her hair, this time around.

It was as straight as it would be, only turning wild halfway down and towards the tips. At least she could get an orderly ponytail done this way. Raising her chin, she carefully combed everything backwards. By the time she was done, her hair had fully dried.

Letting her hair air dry was the only way to do it. Dryers worsened the way her hair fanned out and using a towel worsened the criss-cross wildness of the individual strands. Best she could do was wrap a towel around her head after showering, sucking out some of the initial moisture.

One last stroke of the comb and she secured her silky hair in an orderly bundle. Once she had wrapped the white ribbon around and properly tied it, she was finally content with the state of her hair. Where it curved over her head, it was orderly. Past the ribbon, the wildness still showed itself. A couple of particularly rebellious strands peeled out of the ponytail after a couple of seconds and framed her heart-shaped face.

For a moment, she turned back to the mirror and softly tugged at one of those strands. 'Karitas liked that bit of disorderliness,' she thought and found herself not disliking those strands as much as she usually did. She deliberately tugged a few more strands out of their confinement, to give that frame more substance. If she was going to cede ground to chaos, she was going to do it right. Finally, she grabbed her tricorne, sitting in arm's reach.

With the hat in place, she stepped away from the mirror and over to where she had placed her shirt. She focused heavily on the buttons, as she put it on. The last thing she wanted was to glimpse over her shoulder and catch her reflection. Nothing good would come of that.

After closing the perfectly fitting top and wiggling herself into equally well-sitting pants, Esther was dressed for the single class of the day. Only her empty stomach now put a barrier between herself and polite society. She opened the door, only to be met by the smell of sizzling bacon from the kitchen. It permeated the air and she had to stay relaxed to prevent a very unladylike growling from echoing out from her stomach.

With steps harsher and more hurried than she preferred, she stomped towards the kitchen. Despite that approach, Karitas only greeted her with a smile. "I thought I would invest in something nice with the money we got yesterday," he announced, waggling around a thick slice of meat, before dropping it in the pan. "Bacon and eggs sounded exactly like something nice."

He was right. It smelled splendid. Doubtlessly, it would taste the part as well. Esther still heard herself say something harsh. "Wasting your funds, the moment your coffers are no longer empty, is an unwise action, Karitas." It was meant as advice, but came across as berating. Even she understood that much. However, she couldn't just apologize afterwards. Because she couldn't. Period.

The blue-eyed man stepped away from the pan after loading something on a plate and walked over. His white hair looked good, as always. All of him looked good. He was a well-balanced display of manliness and his trained physique had a pronounced effect on her. His chest was broad, his jawbones pronounced (but not overly strong) and his white hair was ordered just enough to not get in the way, despite its relative length.

Once he had put down the plate, with one hand, he pulled back the chair closest to her. The other, he placed on her lower back and gently pushed. The contact had become normal at this point, but caused a pleasant warmth to swell in her chest regardless. "Milady, may I suggest you indulge? Whether my conduct annoys you or not, the meat has already been bought and prepared, it would be a waste to let it grow cold, would it not?"

'Cease your patience,' Esther wanted to scream out, but instead sat down straight and grabbed the fork already in place. He was right and her social skills suffered immensely when she was hungry. It didn't help that she was already irritated with herself. Quietly, she shovelled the food into herself and did her best to ignore Karitas' gaze. How he desired her and her imperfect personality even in these moments was beyond her understanding.

Esther heard the footsteps of the person joining them before she heard the voice of the succubus. "Morning," Arlethia chirped, half a dance in her steps. Her red hair wasn't exactly orderly, but it was mostly straight. She could probably get it in full order if she just took a little more time. "Ooooh, bacon," the red-skinned succubus fished a slice out of the pan, eating it as it was. "Hot -- hot -- hot -- hot."

"If you weren't a demon, it would be more than just hot, you would have just burned your fingers and tongue," Karitas reprimanded, swinging the spatula he was using in Arlethia's direction. She dodged with ease.

"Did you actually try to hit me or did ya just want to see my tits jiggle?" the red-skinned demonette joked.

"If I had wanted to hit you, I would have," was Karitas' answer, coming along with a wide grin. "You have exactly two good qualities. What else Willt likes about you is beyond me."

'This does not bother me. Why?' Esther wondered, narrowing her eyes while chewing. With the increase of protein in her system, her thoughts calmed a fair bit. She found her answer in the way Arlethia stabbed Karitas in the side with a finger and the man of her interest only proceeded to respond in kind. Sure, he made lewd jokes, but nothing about that was flirtatious. 'Arlethia is no competition, that is the answer.'

That was somewhat helpful a realization, but didn't solve her current conundrum.

"Anyway," Karitas brought the talk to something normal, once he had filled his own plate. "Why are you up so early?" He sat down next to Esther and began to eat.

"I got a class in an hour. Better question, why are you up so early? I know you hate mornings."

"Ah!" Karitas exclaimed and Esther immediately recognized the tone. The next few sentences would be unnecessarily long-winded. "You must recognize, my dear Arlethukinia, that I do indeed despise the morning star that wakes me from my slumber. As it is, however, I do wish to provide a nice morning for my desire, made manifest with raven hair this morning. And how beautiful she looks again this morning indeed!" Empty flattery, something every man could say. It took no observational effort. "I see you changed your hair a little," he stopped that pompous speech to address her directly, establishing eye contact between them that didn't break for a moment while he spoke. "I really like it, Esther."

She felt her entire body tense for the time it took her heart to skip a beat. "You are perceptive, good Karitas," she tried her best at a compliment. As it was both true and to the point, she believed she had succeeded.

"Whenever it comes to you," he smiled and made her morning bright.

_______________________________________________________________________

Arlethia and Esther walked next to each other in silence. The former tried to keep up with the latter. There was a noticeable size difference between them, Esther being over half-a-head taller than the succubus. That alone wouldn't have been enough to make Arlethia lag behind, but the raven-haired woman also marched at a fast pace. It was in her nature to get everywhere in a sensible timeframe. Arlethia did her best to keep up.

They arrived at the station exactly as the train pulled into it. Without any issue, they went inside and found a cabin to claim as their own. Esther sat down on one side, Arlethia on the other. The train started moving. The silence prevailed. Esther pulled her Ashod out of the holster on the belt and checked on her finances.

'Karitas is bound to mismanage his funds again. I am best advised to put aside what I save in breakfast expenses,' she thought. Somehow, after yesterday, she had agreed not to pay him back. She wasn't quite sure why she had agreed that him earning the bonus from the Anomalia class meant that she no longer had to pay him back, but Karitas had smiled and insisted. Eventually, she had yielded. 'Next time he mismanages, we will be prepared.'

"What'cha smiling about?" Arlethia asked out of nowhere, her voice equally inquiring and oddly smug. That the unknown expression on Esther's face then collapsed only caused the succubus to laugh. "It's fine to look happy, princess."

"Princess?" Esther asked, narrowing her eyes at Arlethia. "Why do you call me that?"

"I just like the sound of that word." The large-chested succubus leaned onto the table. "Do you like 'milady' better? Or is it about who says it, mhm?"

"Yes," answered Esther to that question. "Applying to all statements."

"Can't answer 'Yes' to 'What'cha thinking about?' though," Arlethia pointed out, her waving tail occasionally peeking out behind her. "It was about Karitas, wasn't it? It was, right?"

"I was thinking about him, yes," Esther confirmed without much of a thought. "What makes you inquire about this?"

"Just want to see if or when you two decide to get together," the succubus responded. "Never seen Karitas in a real relationship before. Closest he had... well, as it turned out, that girl was SUPER crazy. She stabbed him when they broke up, but he already had his Astral Body, so nothing much happened."

"A disdainful individual, I am certain," Esther hissed. She put her Ashod away and instead concentrated on keeping her breathing steady. Anger, at least, was an emotion she could control well.

"Not to talk about him the entire time, what class are you even getting to?" Arlethia asked.

"Anomalia Management for Queens."

"Seriously? Me too!" the red-skinned shortstack exclaimed, just as the train came to a soft halt. "Fancy that, you should have said something!"

"I had no reason to," Esther responded. 'Am I supposed to say more? Keeping a conversation going is tedious,' she thought. Luckily, her partner was skilled at chatting.

"Well, good we found out now, would have been super awkward if we got there and only then realized." They got off the train and started walking through the underground complex. The main station at Welldark University was an impressive complex. Some of the walls reached the surface. Stained glass windows caught the daylight, sending multi-coloured images into the otherwise artificially lit, gothic tunnels underneath. Vast arches supported the hallways and the tunnels of dark, polished stone.

A few vending machines and small bakeries decorated pillars and corners respectively. They gave sustenance to students and teachers that were happy to pay the additional money for the immediacy of a snack. Esther would have doubtlessly fallen prey to this, had the breakfast not been so hearty. She made a mental note to swim an extra few rows today, to get rid of all the bacon grease. Ruining her current state of fitness was inadvisable.

"So, why did you take the course?" Arlethia probed her fellow student some more.

"I lack experience in the field of communication. If I am to become Karitas' Queen, then I need further education."

"You always put things in rather elaborate terms."

"My intention is to use as few words as possible and remain undoubtedly clear in my meaning," Esther responded. "Most people say too much, too little or nothing at all."

"I guess that's a thing that happens a lot?" Arlethia nodded and earned herself an annoyed glance from Esther. "What?"

"You provided a basic example," the raven-haired lady shook her head, the low-bound ponytail brushing over her back. "'I guess' is redundant, you are making an objective statement. 'that's a thing' is using an unnecessary filler word, inviting more miscommunication. Your tone identifies it as a question. Your gesture, by contrast, implies a statement. You responded before finishing your thoughts on the matter."

"It's how normal people talk, what can I say," Arlethia shrugged.

"It is unclear, imprecise, unnecessary and ineloquent," Esther sharply retorted and suddenly there was silence again. It only occurred to her that she may have insulted Arlethia by the time they had reached the classroom. Once more, the apology got stuck in the preliminary stages.

Perhaps her worry was unfounded, Arlethia continued talking as if nothing had happened, once they were looking around. "Pretty big room," she noted. It was another one of the semi-circular variety. Albeit, any kind of sexual modifications were not part of this one's inventory. "Oh hey, that's a familiar face over there...," the red headed demon pointed over at Aclysia, who nodded respectfully in their direction but paid no further attention to them. "...and over there is Karona."