CHAPTER 24: RABBIT FOOD - R

SERICA

Approaching the end of the cafeteria line with a cone of [begnie] in hand, I scanned the assembled students. Deneel was nowhere to be seen, and I had no idea where I might find her.

Meals were included in my tuition, my debt, and I intended to get my money’s worth. Waiting, I popped one of the sugary pastries in my mouth and tried to puzzle out the situation. It seemed likely that Illia could pinpoint Ains’s location, but I didn’t intend to knock on her door.

Some sort of incident had occurred in the kitchen; its flash of flame caught my eye through the door’s window.

I reached the counter, trying to recall my student ID number, when Cora stormed into the space, followed closely by four upperclassmen armed with polished steel ladles and spatulas.

"I really didn’t mean to-"

"Out!" one of them pressed a ladle’s bulb to her sternum and pushed her back a reluctant step.

Alright, what kind of nonsense are we dealing with now?

I stepped out of line and made my way to them as Cora stumbled over her words. She looked about ready to break down.

"Hey," I clutched her wrist, "Everything alright?"

She recognized me, and I caught a tremble of her lip. With a tug, I waved the other girls off, "Alright, we’re out of here, sorry for the intrusion."

Returning to the line with her, I held out my cone, hoping something sweet would calm her down. She shook her head, declining.

"What was all that?" I asked as she ground her front teeth, eyeing a cone of chopped carrots like she hadn’t eaten all day. The diet I set out for her in the aim of gaining Bloom’s acceptance had paid off; she was plenty thin.

"I don’t know," she said, picking up the uniformly cut produce, "I think I just ruined my year, pissed off a junior..."

I laughed, "It can’t be that bad, she’ll likely forget you exist in a few minutes."

"Brumer scorched off half her hair," she said, and set the carrots back, "Actually, I’m not hungry."

"Eat." I handed her the [begnie] and picked up the carrots for myself, "We won’t have time later, and don’t pay that bitch any mind, things’ll be fine."

We had bigger problems to deal with, the draft inching closer by the second. She reluctantly nibbled a corner off one of them.

I sighed, "Deneel’s going to fuck all of this up."

"Deneel?" She looked up at me and put a hand to my arm, "What’s the matter, Ser?"

Bless her.

She was going through her own mini-emergency and had immediately dropped it to focus on my problem. I really didn’t deserve it.

Where to start...

"She’ll be doing my draft. It’s complicated, but I need to get a hold of her."

"Can Ains help?"

"She’s got Ains, or is Ains, and they’re upset with me."

She laughed, the paper cone scrunching in her hand, "Sounds about right, you fuck-up."

"Shut up," I gave her shin a playful kick, "or I’m trading these carrots back."

"Nuh-uh," she shoved them behind her back, "they’re mine now, you eat the rabbit food."

"Bunny food for my bunny," at that, her butt jutted out, drawing my eye.

At least I mentioned your name. If all else fails, we can still fool around.

She was my silver lining in all of this.

"You want me to help you find Deneel?" she asked, "I can uh, have Brumer try to track her down."

"You and her are on speaking terms right now?"

She frowned, "I don’t know. She might appreciate the space..."

A warm glow rose to our side, Brumer reasserting herself in physical space, "Can you two quit talking about me like I’m not here?"

I needed to do something about this, and had been putting it off. Brumer was one more chain hanging around my neck, and it was time to start cutting them. Cora looked down at her feet, avoiding the situation.

"Brumer," I said, running my hand along my braid and looking her in the eye. She wasn’t scowling, but I could see the tension she carried in her cheeks.

"I don’t mind you being here," I said, holding my tone firm, "So far as you’re a boon to my équipe."

"Seri," she said, dropping the name they’d used for me as a kid, "I don’t think you should draft Cora."

Cora butted her way in, "That’s not something you get to decide."

"You two are crossing lines together that you shouldn’t."

Crossing her arms, Cora stepped in close to Brumer, "You’re one to talk about crossing lines. You think Mom would be happy with what we did?"

I hadn’t dwelled on that aspect of Brumer’s presence. I had no idea what that might mean to Cora, to be bonded to her mother’s Esprit, the sort of guilt she must be feeling.

Brumer’s hair caught ablaze, curling and shedding embers, "She asked me, how could you?" With that, she took off, dropping through the floor into the École’s sublevel, leaving a puff of smoke at her point of exit.

Cora closed her eyes and tilted up her head.

"Hey," I didn’t want to drop everything and sort this out. However, I was the one to press the issue with the flame Esprit, and I couldn’t leave her hanging. "We’ll figure this out. Come on."

"I can’t believe her."

"Come on, Cora," I laced my fingers with hers. Passing through the kitchen, we were met with a storm of pissed off juniors. I just held up a hand, refusing to pay them any mind. On the crowded space’s other end, we descended into the cold cellar.

Frigid mist rolled from the space’s walls, pebbling goosebumps across my skin. Across it were neatly packed rows of crates containing produce. There wasn’t a sign of Brumer.

"Where the hell did she go?" I asked. The temperature lowered with every step as we proceeded deeper into the space, intent on setting things straight.

The cellar’s chill clawed at us as we pressed deeper. We were not dressed for this. A large steel door stood before us and soft orange light seeped from its cracks, pulsing with the sound of deep, pained moans coming from within.

I wrapped my arm around Cora’s waist. She was shivering.

"Brume?" she whispered, grabbing the door’s handle and slowly dragging it open. The sight within made my teeth grind. Brume floated, perched mid-air with her ass hiked, spread wide with one hand, the other’s four fingers pistoned into a flare-bright pussy that dripped molten slick. She let out a gritty moan, "Haaa-ha~ Ohhh-oh fuhhh~ Cherry!"

My harness gripped tight around my cock, my nipples were already pebbled, and I found my hand drifting down Cora’s hip to the soft curve of her ass.

Ainset still hadn’t shown herself. There was no one here to police me. Cora leaned her chest against my side and shuffled her feet wider, breathing steam against my throat, "Ser..." she said.

I pressed my middle two fingers into the crack of her ass, and then further inward to the warm wet spot at her entrance. She shook, grinding it against me as we watched her bonded come undone, "I want you inside me Ser..." she whined.

I didn’t just want her though, I wanted every aspect of her. She chose to have bring Brumer into the picture, make her a part of herself. I decided I’d claim that as well.