Waving tantalisingly in the thin grass, Cori bit her lip. She wanted to do it. She knew how it felt -- how the others had described it. Described the way sitting on it had made them feel, how it had slipped so smoothly and effortlessly up their legs and into their --
She caught herself and looked away from the pink tube wafting in the long grass, cursing herself. She should leave, leave now and head back to school. But it was mid afternoon and the sun was beautifully warm and the wind was cool and crisp and for once in what felt like all damn year long, she was alone and happy. She'd strolled through the parks and shopped in town, and now she was far out into the reserved bushland that fringed her hometown, chest-deep in soft grassy patches, completely free to dance in the breeze and sing her heart out and do anything she wanted. Her classes, dull, boring, tedious lectures aimed at the primarily educated youth of tomorrow -- young girls in their late teens and early twenties, and boys in their mid-twenties mostly -- were a far, far cry from this simple freedom. She had always loved nature, loved its power, its independence, its constant ability to find a solution without help. This was where she wanted to learn, to exist, not behind a holopad or screen in some drywalled grey classroom.
Except now she'd stumbled upon something she'd never seen before. Only she knew what it was -- from hushed whispers and closely-guarded notes, mostly amongst the other women in her classes but occasionally from the men as well. She may not have seen it, but she recognised it, almost impossible to misplace as it was -- the multitude of soft-looking, glistening pink tubes spiking gently upwards into the sky from far-outstretched fronds and the already strong scent even from this distance were more than enough to give it away.
Turning to glance back at the edge of the silver city behind her, looking for all the world as if it had simply been cut in half by a line of trees, Cori ran her hands nervously over her skirt again and turned back to face it. She
knew
she shouldn't be standing here, even now -- everyone who'd ever seen it had spoken about being irresistibly drawn in by one thing about it or another. And yet she was still standing here, and despite the pound of her heart and the heat on her skin, she didn't turn away. She glanced behind her again -- and turned back.
'Oh god, am I really going to do this?' she asked a little self-incredulously of no one around her as she wrung her hands in her lap, her breathing fast. She parted the sweaty fingers to loop one strand of blonde hair over her ear from where it had fallen, and took two steps forward timidly. Even this tiny distance closer, the smell seemed to triple in strength, and she found it overpowering even the scent of the recently rained on grass beneath her feet. She blinked in surprise, staring at the growth some twenty feet away, and squeezed her thighs together.
'It just sort of, guides you,'
Bethan said in a hushed whisper to her friends.
'Guides you?'
Rochelle asked, wide-eyed. Tracey smirked knowingly the whole time they talked.
'You just come in close and it's as if it knows where you are, where to go,'
Bethan went on.
'By the time I was on my knees, it was slipping up the inside of my leg and pushing softly but firmly into-'
Cori caught herself remembering the conversation she'd somehow been a part of in front of the lockers two weeks ago between Server-Based Infrastructure Maintenance and Business Financing. She slapped her palm against her thigh, but she couldn't help herself.
'It was sort of inside me before I even realised it,'
Bethan giggled excitedly.
'By the time I knew it, it was starting.'
And that was the worrying bit. The bit no one had ever talked about. The bit that made Cori pause now instead of run over to it and throw herself head-first on top of the countless pink tubes. Out of all the rumours she'd heard -- and to be honest, most of them
had
been just rumours -- she'd never heard what
it
was. It was always cut off by a tense, excitable giggle, such as in Bethan's case, or a knowing, smirky look accompanied by pursed lips, like Tracey. Cori didn't know for sure if Tracey had seen one of the plants, much less been with one -- but she knew of others who acted in similar ways after their interactions.
She wouldn't have been to surprised, after all -- it was her and Bethan that had revealed the location of their growth to the campus authorities, who had quickly and efficiently sterilised it and removed all trace of the growth, as was government policy concerning the "weeds." Both had promised they'd never come close to it, and no one could find any evidence against their word. If only they'd thought to listen to their locker-side conversations.
Looking around herself once more, Cori took another two steps without really thinking about it and had to stop herself physically before she moved any more. She was getting ahead of herself, letting the intensity of the stories pile up inside her head without really considering the consequences. The aroma here was even stronger and as she breathed it in she found it had the giddying effect of making her feel weightless, as if it were lightly wrapping itself around her brain and lifting her up so that her whole body felt lighter than it had been. She almost fell another step closer.
I'll just take a look and leave,
she thought to herself, staring at the nearest pink tube now, watching as the thick, wavy secretion coating it from tip to sepal seemed to flow freely down its length like a gooey, viscous gel.
Just enough to see it up close. Then I'll turn and run.
She took another step closer. And then another. Before she really knew it, she was striding ahead, and within seconds she was mere feet away from it.
This close, the smell was like nothing she'd ever scented before. It filled her up like the intensely sweet smell of candy or rich perfume, yet ten times as thick. She could almost feel it rubbing against her windpipe as she sucked deep inhalations of it down, shuddering as it breezed back up again as if the very motion soothed and coated her insides.
Cori fell to her knees two steps away from the plant, her wide eyes full of the phallic tube, oblivious at this point to the world around her. She almost wouldn't care even if someone came upon her right at that moment. Leaning in close and inhaling deeply, Cori's face widened somehow even further in a full, total grin as she smelled the plant's rich perfume. Her nose was only an inch from the tip of the tube as she sucked in the fragrance, and when she sat back from it, she sat low, her body relaxed, her butt on her heels. A tiny clear mark was on the tip of her nose where she'd ever so slightly touched it, leaving a tiny spot of clear goop there. She didn't know it was there.