I woke warmly and in a state of dishevelment that was on the high end even for me. My blankets were twisted around me. Fortunately, the warmth of the room made it so that I was comfortable even where the blankets did not cover. I contentedly sucked at the bit of someone gently lodged in the side of my mouth. Bit of someone...
My eyes shot open, and I realized that Mystery was sleeping with their head at the foot of the bed. Which meant thatâin my mouthâwas one of her big toes.
As to not wake them, I gently pulled my head away from its place as Mystery's footrest. Unfortunately, I had not quite finished that task before I felt a faint vibration come from my ring.
Mystery stirred as well, and opened their eyes right as my lips left her skin.
The color vanished from my face, and the familiar heat of utter humiliation filled my body.
Mystery, however, just giggled. Oddly, the response was comforting, as the light embarrassment was nowhere near as bad as them feeling afraid. They said, "You have a bit of an oral fixation, don't you, Lilly? I was up reading when after you fell asleep, and not half an hour in you rolled over and stuck my toe right in there. It was too cute for me to move."
I exhaled a breath I hadn't known I'd been holding. While still embarrassing, I was relieved that the situation hadn't been misinterpreted. Oddly, this served to calm me down quite a bit.
Like the day before, we grabbed our meds and then hit the showers together. Without the newness of it, today was a lot more relaxed than the day before.
"Cute girlstick, by the way," Mystery said with a wink as they closed her eyes and scrubbed the equivalent of shampoo into their hair.
"Girlstick?" I said and looked down at my slightly tingling but not-erect penis.
"Yeah," Mystery said, quite proud of themselves. "I came up with that. Works pretty well, doesn't it?"
I stiffened my bottom lip and gave an acknowledging nod. "Yeah, it kind of does. What would you have called it if I were a trans guy with a vagina?"
"Pound Muffin," Mystery replied without missing a beat.
"Enby penis?"
"Magic Wand," Mystery said and put a finger in the air. "Which is especially appropriate now that we are here."
"And yours?" I asked the enby with a vagina, motioning gently at their unshaved mound.
"The Glory," Mystery said, presenting it with both hands as if they were announcing a prize at a gameshow. "In a sentence, 'Lilly stood in worshipful awe of Mystery's glory. Would she be able to taste it? Only time would tell'."
I blushed before we both burst out giggling. Finally taking my turn to be in the water, I said, "I have to admit, those are amazing. I'll have a ... difficult ... time thinking of them with any other name after this." I had taken great care to avoid the obvious pun in that last statement.
"I expected nothing less, for my mind is a center of wonders," Mystery said, now drying off.
"How you do it is a mystery to us all," I replied, unable to keep from indulging in a pun twice in a row.
Mystery rolled their eyes back and let out a theatrical sigh of pretend frustration. Fauxstration, if you will.
Once we were finished, we exited the shower and were on our way. We had more sweet bread for breakfast, I said hello to Mr. Spleckârocking his maid uniform as always, and then we reached the temple and parted ways. I waited for the magnetic pull of my ring and then followed its insistence right back out the door.
Another outdoor class, it seemed; I was alright with that. Instead of heading toward the road, however, the ring brought me behind the temple, alongside a few other studentsâa mix of guplium and human. We all continued until we reached a grassy field.
The field was mostly emptyâwith scorched wooden poles out alongside an adjacent forest and a few dirt paths that seemed to be so purely from people walking on it. Elsewhere, the grass grew long, and wildflowers bloomed just above. With the breeze bustling through my clothing, it all just felt warm and pleasant.