Chapter 7: That Time I Experienced the Unfiltered Ecstasy of the Entire City at Once
Tsuna is without a doubt the most beautiful person I've seen in the city so far--and that's saying something. I mean, ok, it's a matter of taste, but I've always had a keen aesthetic appreciation for the ethereal, androgynous look, and that's Tsuna all over. To my eyes, their face and body perfectly blend the best features of a man and a woman: a strong, tapered jawline with full, sensual lips; large, lustrous grey eyes fringed with the kind of naturally full, dark eyelashes you see on teenage boys who don't appreciate them enough; a slender neck curving gracefully into broad, well-defined shoulders. Their skin is honey-brown and their hair a mass of glossy black curls that just brushes their shoulders. They're not naked like most people in the future, but wear a white, semi-sheer pleated robe that leaves their sex to the imagination, and incidentally makes them look like an ancient and powerful god/dess incarnate. The first time I see them stepping out from behind Raine and Sunni, I'm struck by the impulse to fall to my knees in worship like a virgin before the Great God Pan. Tsuna smiles at me, the same knowing smile as Raine's, and my cheeks feel warm as I realize that they can probably feel that submissive impulse in me.
"Welcome to the city, Robyn." Tsuna says in a voice as soft and deep as velvet. "Raine tells me you want to experience everything, the way I do."
Their glance toward Raine is like a sensual caress, loving, but with a hint of banked sexual heat. The twins stand with both hands clasped together, steadfast in their devotion. I suspect Tsuna would take Raine back in a second, and I can see why Raine might find the offer hard to resist.
"Yes," I whisper. Then I clear my throat and try not to be so melodramatic. "Um, I'm from the year 2021, which I guess you know, and I'm just learning all about the city while I'm here. So, I want to...uhhh..."
"You want to be opened up to the city. You've heard that connecting with everyone all at once is unbearable for most people, and you want to test the limits of your endurance. You want to be overcome by the force of it. That's how you get aroused. Isn't it?"
I nod, blushing fiercely now. I know I shouldn't be embarrassed by what I am in this time, but I can't help it. Or maybe I just enjoy squirming in humiliation as my masochistic desires are revealed. Tsuna seems to sense this, and continues in a languid tone:
"I've felt your pleasure-in-pain many times before. You come through very clearly when you open up, and your sensations are...unusually raw. Many in the city were talking about you after your first session. Some find you difficult to endure in your intensity. I think it's exciting, what you do."
"Oh!" I squeak.
"Perhaps now you'd like to feel it feel it from the other side. To share in the intense sexual sensations of others, instead of only sending yours out."
In fact, I've already shared my senses with Sunni and Raine, but I guess our connection really was completely private because Tsuna doesn't seem to know about it. Having that secret gives me enough strength of will to look up (I hadn't even realized I'd cast my gaze down in deference) and look Tsuna right in the eyes.
"Yes, please. If you're willing to share that with me."
Tsuna laughs, a low, musical sound.
"Certainly! Come with me. I'll take you above the city, as I did with Raine."
Tsuna turns without another word and I start to follow in automatic obedience. But after a few steps, I turn around and run back to say good bye to the twins. Both of them hug me harder than usual.
"Be careful," Raine whispers in my ear. "Tsuna won't stop until you say so."
I murmur assurances, but my heart starts pounding at her warning words. An edge of fear creeps into my excitement. I won't lie, it's strangely intoxicating. After getting used to being safe all this time, it finally feels like I'm taking a risk. It feels real.
Trembling a little with nerves, I follow in Tsuna's wake a they sweep through the city toward the seedpod launch. Many people greet Tsuna, some physically with kisses and touches, but most people respect that we're going somewhere and don't hold us up too much. We're airborne before I know it.
Outside, the copper disc of the sun is once again hanging low in the burnished sky, even though it should be early afternoon by my accounting, and it doesn't seem to be going down much as we soar along the curved face of the city. I'm starting to think it could be the midnight sun circling the Arctic horizon, though there's no sign of ice or snow. We might be farther north than I thought. Who knows how far the city has travelled since I first arrived in the future?
Sitting close to Tsuna alone in the seedpod is even more overwhelming than being with them in the city streets. I can literally feel the heat radiating off of them like a tropical noonday sun.