Sera shuddered, a tingle going up her spine, as her Instructor slipped a hand under her dress. "Endure it," he whispered against her ear, planting soft and slow kisses along her neck.
"B-but, hngh!" Sera let out a yelp as her instructor planted a hickey on her clavicle, his left hand pressed against her waist and his right hand groping her inner thigh. "Slow sips, remember Sera?" He brought his lips close to hers, breaths mingling. "It won't be good if you eat too fast," he growled, lips touching hers.
He pressed a firm kiss against her mouth, teasing her with his tongue. And just when her mouth parted in acceptance, Sera woke up.
* * *
"Wuh!" Sera jerked and fell off her dorm bed, hitting her head on her nightstand on the way down. "Fuck, ow!" She gingerly rubbed the back of her head and then pinched her cheek in frustration.
A dream about the Instructor? She must be hungrier than she thought. Sera groaned and buried her face in her arms. True, with the Instructor, she always had a meal to look forward to, albeit small ones. But she hated feeling how her meals were at the whim of another, especially someone who thought they knew what was better for her than she did. But dreaming about meal time with the Instructor? With that old sadistic geezer? Sera held her stomach and it growled pitifully.
With the news of the raid and her placement, Sera's regular schedule of guiding had been interrupted and consequently her feeding times as well. The last three days she had been focused on the informational bootcamp which was a mixture of dungeon study, monster review, physical training and combat practice (mostly defensive for guides). With lessons ending at midnight and starting once more at 6am, Sera had no time to sneak off to the nighttime clubbing district to siphon kisses and heavy petting. She had been essentially fasting (see starving) for the past few days.
The C and D-rank espers that she regularly guided were shifted to other non-raid guides and the B-rank espers participating in the raid with her were currently using guiding supplements in order to focus on training. The earliest she'd have a scheduled esper for guiding would be during raid formation training, 4 days from now, when every esper would begin to top up on purification in order to be in fit shape for the raid entrance.
I might die before then, Sera thought glumly, staring blankly at the still ceiling fan in her room.
Food. Food. Food. Gah, stop thinking about it, Sera scolded herself. She felt a pang of nervousness rise in her chest, the situation wasn't good, she would need to feed somehow before her sanity degraded further. Previous trauma had heightened Sera's caution and worry regarding her sustenance. After all, she had almost killed someone before…and she didn't have plans on hurting anyone like that again.
Sera shook her head and got up off the floor, preparing for the day. At least, now that the bootcamp was over, she would get to train with some of the espers she was on good terms with. Being a guide, her bootcamp lessons were with other guides and, like Hib, most of them despised her guts. Sera had a hard time focusing on not tearing their limbs off with how hungry she was and how incessant their bullying was. A push here, a shove there during combat practice… Or a spilled juice on her lap and even a needle placed in the shoes in her shoe locker.
At my big old age, I'm seriously getting bullied? Sera despaired. She desperately wanted to swallow all of them until nothing remained. But ignoring and tolerating the guides' petty behavior was better than confronting them. This was because Sera preferred simple solutions. Her only approach to bullies was straightforward: beat them to a pulp, crush them into paste, or eat them whole. All three options she had in mind would alert causality and since that wasn't something Sera was willing to risk, she simply tolerated it. At the end of the day, if she really wanted to, she could kill every guide on her dorm floor in a single night. It would ruin her plans though, so she didn't.
So she had patiently endured three days of passive aggressive snark from her fellow colleagues, keeping her head down and focusing on her raid preparation. At least from today forward, she would start seeing some friendly faces again.
* * *
Sera entered the training hall with her workout and combat gear slung over her shoulder in a large, black duffel. She scanned the room, esper and guides were trickling in. A melodic voice cheerily called out for her and she turned her head to see a tall, pony-tailed muscular woman in a sports bra and shorts jogging towards her.
"Julia!" Sera exclaimed, smiling wildly, "Good to see you." Julia was one of her regulars. A blonde-haired, pink eyed woman, she was the fraternal twin of Risa Agnato. Their sync rate was surprisingly better than most other B-rank espers she worked with, hovering at a solid 72%. Sera was usually able to cleanse about 20% of Julia's pollution per session. She would never tell her this, but Julia's vitality was strong. Strong enough that Sera could pull more pollution (and a little mana and life essence to boot) without harming her. Because of this, Sera thought Julia might end up re-awakening to an A-rank someday.
Julia lifted her up in a big, crushing hug.
"I've missed you! Sera-cutie-pie~ I want a session so bad I can't wait until we can schedule again. These guiding supplements are so gross, you wouldn't believe it. Chalky, chewable tablets that taste like dirt, yuck, you'd think the research department would improve them," Julia yammered, still squeezing the breath out of Sera.
"J-Julia, I'm suffocating," Sera choked out.
"Oh! Sorry, just it feels good being around you and touching you," Julia laughed, rubbing her cheek against Sera's hair before setting her down.
"I appreciate the compliment." Sera smiled. This is why she liked Julia - bold, straightforward, and honest, Julia was an esper who spoke her mind and was proud of her athletic build and masculine demeanor. She didn't hide her thoughts and didn't care about rumors. And she showered Sera with friendly affection.
Sera glanced at Julia, should I ask her if she wants to do impromptu guiding? She's not a fan of the guiding supplements…But Julia's not very sly…if we do it, she might let it slip and then we'd get in trouble for an unauthorized session.
Sera gazed at Julia's lips as she continued to chatter on. They were pink and supple with a subdued shine that reminded her of chapstick. Her hunger was still clouding her judgement. If I could just…sneak a few kisses…satiate a little bit. A little bit of food. She leaned in closer to Julia.
"So that's why I had to go to the storage room And then-eh? Hey, uh Sera?" Julia peered closer at Sera, bending her face down closer to hers. "Yea?" Sera said, her breathing slowed, her eyes half-lidded and looking up drowsily at Julia. Sera couldn't stop looking at Julia's lips, they looked delicious. I want to bite them. She inched closer and closer and then…
Julia's palm pressed against Sera's forehead. Suddenly, Sera snapped out of her trance. "Are you okay, Sera? You don't look so good, you look kind of flushed? Do you have a fever?"
Oh, Julia… cheerful and kind Julia, had not noticed Sera's advances whatsoever.
Ah, Sera thought, I'm so hungry I almost made a move. A very not-workplace-appropriate one. She rubbed her temples. "Ah, I'm fine, Julia. Maybe just a little dizzy, I forgot to eat breakfast so…that's why," she lied.
"Oh! You've gotta eat breakfast, especially since we're doing martial arts and knifework today. Here, I've got a banana in my bag."
Sera stared at it silently and an absurd thought popped in her head. I'd rather have someone's banana than this fruit banana-ah, that's a bad thought. She shook her head and took the fruit.
"Thanks." Chewing slowly on the unappetizing fruit, Sera began stretching with Julia in preparation for combat training.