Saira had been through a lot of changes just getting here. She didn't exactly make a lot of friends at school before, but now, here at... a... very different school, she had so many things to do and worry about and focus on and it was very overwhelming and so overwhelming that even her attempts to clear her thoughts sometimes reached a schizophrenic James Joyce-like cadance as she tried to bring together all manner of different things that were al-

Breathe, Saira, breathe!

She needed friends. Her time with Antipode proved that she was beginning to get lonely, and there are a scant scant few monsters that will even make for good conversation - and that isn't exactly a conversation you'd always stand around for, as it were. So after reviewing the papers, figuring out who was 'safe', as she didn't want to deal with any of the 'normals'... they wouldn't understand...

...Whatever. Saira found one name that, almost at random, she chose. Linnis. It sounded... pretty? If names and people had anything in common, maybe she'd be nice to talk to. This took courage, lots and lots of courage. So, that afternoon, Saira was marching over to Linnis's room, wearing a lighter, flared pair of khakis than her usual tough travel outfit's, and also sporting a soft yellow blouse, buttonless and with gold sequins at the slightly draping cuffs. Of course, she also had her glasses, and decided to throw in a small metal hairclip to hold back some of the hair that was starting to fall into her face.

So dressed, so determined, the Egyptian girl made a few knocks on the door, saying only one thing, and tentatively.

"Ah... Is Linnis here? You... you don't know me but I... I was wondering if we could talk or hang out or something. I've been looking for new friends around here and all... Er... I mean, if that's okay with you..."

My hand played over my folds tenderly, excitedly, and with heavy breaths. So few girls lately, aside from my roommates, that is. It was hard for me to go out and expand my horizons these days. Sondra, as she so often was, was probably taken for a few weeks by a particularly hungry monster. That was the burden of being married to a beauty on an isle full of beasts.

Images of her and I played in my mind as I rubbed and probed myself, of our quiet wedding, of our vows, of our wedding night. I promised her I'd always return, and that I'd always wait for her return. And while it did scare me the first time, I was now more.... quietly concerned. I knew I'd see Sondra again, I just was so sad about what she was going through.

And then, as I was nearing my peak, a knock on the door and a small voice. Shit. I called out something vague, but amounting to "One sec!" and I started fumbling around, looking for a robe or something. I grabbed one and jumped to my feet, tying it around my midsection. And if I was lucky, I'd either have my visitor distracted or gone before evidence of what had me busy trickled into view along my leg.

I opened the door, the silken green robe hugging my features, and falling to about mid-thigh, I smiled warmly, my hair a bit of a mess but not distractingly so, and I leaned lightly against the doorframe. "Hey, sory about the mess and the wait. What can I do for you?"

Saira blinked at the person who came out, almost seeming surprised. ...She IS pretty. Taking a wild guess, Saira assumed then that if the student culture here was like most schools, then the prettiest girls were probably the most popular... a lucky choice! So, with her best affable-looking smile, Saira responded in kind.

"Oh... Ah, hi! I'm Saira, ah, one of the newer students. I haven't met a lot of the other girls yet and I was wondering if... if..."

Awkward pause? Ack! Saira realized that she was still pretty shy, and began to look nervous, as she raced to figure out a way to finish the sentence. Why was it even that much trouble to do so, though? But... eventually she struggled out the last part of the sentence, though.

"...If we could hang out, or talk, or something!"

I nodded and ushered her in. Yeah, I wanted to save the trouble of having to deal with a girl who seemed shy enough to freak out when seeing the juice trickling down my legs slowly, but it was fine. I needed company, in more than just the sexual sense for once. "Please, come in. Like I said, it's a bit of a mess, ut please, make yourself at home."

She was beautiful. Dark skin, but not more than a golden-brown. Judging by that and her hair, I assumed Arabic, but she wasn't wearing a head-scarf, so I also assumed non-Muslim. Islamic women were hard to lay, generally, and for the same set of reasons, were also fairly disapproving of every single thing about me. It was, to say the least, a hard thing to put up with. She was pretty, though. She had so much about her that drove me wild, and I would imagine she had the potential to be popular, once she was comfortable.

One thing I knew about my school was this: 90% of it's girls were gay, either by birth or by circumstance, and of that portion, given circumstance, about three-fourths were as sex-crazed as me. I was just more honest about it than most. Given this information, it was easy for me to see one possible future for this girl in my mind, and her looks and shy, quiet demeanor could get her there. The question was, of course, fi that was what she was looking for. I couldn't know that. I doubted that even she knew what she wanted to find in me.

Linnis was generally right about her assumptions. Being from a rather secular immigrant family, Saira most certainly wouldn't have had what hang-ups another girl might have - which suited hanging out with Linnis just fine. But she was still a little shy, and only after she was sure Linnis had indeed welcomed her, did Saira move into the room. The girl seated herself on a side of the bed, lightly kicking with her feet as if to make herself more comfortable by doing so.

"Thanks, really... And I don't mind the mess. I just haven't met that many people to talk with. There were a few girls, but they seemed..."

Saira made a weird scrunchy face - and had to fix her glasses immediately afterwards - when she thought of Nene and Akane.

"...Off. One seemed to act funny but it might've been her not knowing English that well. The other... Wow. A piece of work, apparently works out ridiculously and carries around lead umbrellas or something for kicks. So I thought to myself that I should meet someone a bit, ah, slightly more willing to talk and hang out and be, well, like a normal girl, you know?"

And when she said that, Saira smiled some, admittedly with a note of uncertainty in the smile. She didn't really know Linnis at all, and was trying this out of the blue. But if she actually developed friendships here, her life would be a little easier. The smile shifted to a contemplative look, as Saira tried to liven up the conversation a bit with a question - scratch that, give Linnis a chance to talk with a question.

"Hm, maybe to ask first... Ah, what do you study, mostly? I'm focusing on archaeology..."

"Psychology. I'm hoping to get an MA in Human Sexuality and Gender Studies so I can become a therapist." It was true. If I ever got out of this hell, what this place had taught me was to treasure my sexual identity, and I'd want to spend my life helping other young women to the same realization, without the hellspawns and such that had taught me to grab life by the breast.

I smiled warmly at her, resisting my natural urge to undress her with my eyes and deciding on a slower, more casual approach. When my need obertook my composure, it made the shy ones uncomfortable, so I kept it in check. "I always thought archeology was fascinating, and being from where you're from, there's no shortage of stuff to study."

Saira smiled, listening to what Linnis said, and nodding. Though... with a bit of a blush, she felt the need to make a correction.

"Ah... My parents are from there. I'm a New Yorker, actually. Of course I don't have the accent so..."

She looked down, but it wasn't a dejected look. In fact, the slooked up again, holding back a slight giggle. For some reason being around normal company was helping Saira react naturally. She just needed the push to open up first.

"Well, anyway. Human sexuality sounds interesting, and the mind's one of those great mysteries of the world, really! It's a lot harder to understand than historical fact or lost relics..."

Another smile, this one more fully-formed, and trying to reach the same level of warmth that Linnis' had gotten to, entered Saira's face. The Egyptian girl reclined a bit as well, moving into a full, arms-raised stretch. She seemed to be making herself comfortable here, and also seemed to enjoy the company!

My eyes browsed her body and I tried to keep composure of the lustful desires I had been wrapped in when she arrived. I held the reigns rather close in that area at the moment, still trying to relax her, and get to know her. "Well, I'm a lesbian, my wife and her sister enjoy women, as a matter of fact, my research indicates that a vast majority of the women here are either gay or bi. So, obviously, there's a community in need of an advocate even here. That's my issue, these are my people."

Saira blinked rather pronouncedly, and slowly, very slowly nodded. A lesbian, then... Well... She tried not to feel too awkward. After all, just because someone's a lesbian doesn't mean they're checking you out simply for being a girl. Right? Yet... As she tried to sound unaffected, Saira couldn't hide the slight blush she got at that fact.

"Oh, I see... Well, there's certainly a lot of judgments against gays and lesbians back home... I can understand upholding a cause, especially with how many girls there are here, and how many of them apparently are bi or lesbian!"

A pause, as Saira blushed deeper, and looked down slightly.

"Uh... if you don't mind my asking... how did you come to that figure? Did you manage to ask them, or can you understand people with psychoanalysis or something? If the latter, I almost wonder..."

She blushed even deeper, finding herself at least curious enough to ask. But it was something of an embarrassing question at the same time!

"...Would you be able to tell if I was bi or not from something about me? Just, er, y'know, wondering. Would be kinda cool if you could pick apart someone's personality like that!"

"Most people are bi, a lot of them just deny it. That's research from the Kinsey Institute, not me saying that. But as for the girls here, a lot of it was through a combination of trial and error and analysis," I answered calmly and with a warm smile. And then she asked about her, I blinked for a moment and nodded, "I think you are. Partially because of the tone with which you asked. It was like you wanted me to confirm something you were unsure of admitting to yourself without independent verification."

Saira paused for a second, her cheeks clearing slightly - but not completely - of the blush, before nodding slowly.

"Ahhh... Well... Thanks, at least. I don't get too many times where I wonder about that, but you reminded me, so... Er, yeah."

Then, after patting behind her with a hand to make sure Linnis hadn't moved in the way or something, Saira leaned back, now half-laying on the bed, sideways. She breathed a sigh, seeming to relax some, maybe even stretch a little, her chest expanding with the added breath.

"I don't know, I guess... Sometimes I want to be figured out. So many people here that I just don't know, that know nothing about me. It's nice, it's... relaxing, you know?"

Then, Saira tilted her head to the side, laying it on a cushion of her own hair. She had a bit of a soft smile going, but at the same time, the most subtle note of concern or discomfort showed.

"I hope I'm not intruding on you too much! It could be seen as rude to just barge in and ask you to reassure me when you never even knew me less than an hour ago. I mean, I just chose you myself, for my own selfish reasons... I just picked a pretty name, just because I needed a friend. At least I found a nice person to go with that name, though!"

The last bit, the compliment, was left with a remainder of the previous nervous tone and blush. She had added it so Linnis wouldn't come away with the impression that Saira didn't even care for what she learnt about Linnis as a person. It was true that she cared, yes, but... impressions! Of course, it was probably also a bit because something about being slightly unsure about oneself sexually in the same room as a lesbian gave this certain tone to interactions. Like... almost like Saira second-guessed her emotions constantly, unsure whether it was just friendly, or if maybe there was some kind of attraction. Once the idea entered the mind, it gained a life of its own...

"Even when my wife isn't captive of local wildlife, if you know what I mean, it isn't uncommon for people to just come in and be far less polite than you've been." I smiled warmly and ran a hand through her hair to relax her, "My wife and I practice an open relationship, since we're both nymphomaniacs in our own ways, it seemed like the most reasonable course of action to us."

Saira breathed a deeper sigh, as Linnis played with her hair. It was calming, indeed, the feeling of a hand through her hair, slowly stroking through it, like a simple rhythm that she could slightly focus on. The girl shifted her hips a bit to be in a slightly more comfortable position on the bed, and smiled warmly to match Linnis's own expression. The blush seemed to lessen, too, as she felt more at ease...

Though an eyebrow raised at the mention of the 'local wildlife'. Saira knew that she had gotten Linnis's name from the files in that office block, so she was likely to have been one of -those- students, since the administration seemed to put special emphasis on them. But... hearing it from the teal-haired girl's mouth was different from reading it on a sheaf of paper. And she continued!

Nyphomaniac... open marriage... In a way, it seemed to suggest what may even happen later. Yet... strangely? Saira didn't seem to mind the prospect of that. Maybe it was because unlike the monsters, it didn't seem like it would be forced. Maybe it was because of the frank talk about sexuality. Hell, maybe it was just those hands running through her hair, calming her down and at least seeming like they meant Linnis cared for how she felt...

"I've learned, oftentimes, when you first meet someone, it's a sizing up of what you see, what you think of them. That when we, as a society, look at people, even if we dismiss our initial judgments as snap judgments, we form our opinions of a person in the first hour of meeting them..." I rattled on a little, stroking her hair and laying beside her, "For instance, you probably would see me as relaxed, and rather frank about things. Now, if I give you the information that before you knocked, I'd been pleasuring myself right where we're laying now, you'd have to reevaluate me. 'Does this information jive with my opinion'?"

As I continued to stroke her hair, I looked into her eyes, "In you, I've seen a person who is alone in a storm, looking for shelter, but wanting more than just that.l Wanting to shine a light into yourself, and come to know yourself better. Am I wrong?"

Saira turned her head to the side, smiling still, though for the briefest moment looking contemplative. The comment about her pleasuring herself seemed to produce a slight shift in Saira's expression, albeit more one of 'wait, what?... Oh.' than anything worse. This place was calm, next to her. Peaceful and relaxed and... nice.

"Oh... I mean, it's... it's not the kind of thing I'd expect someone to tell me! I... I guess it'd somewhat make sense. You did call yourself a nymphomaniac before, and if you have a wife and miss her because of... that... Well. Then, ah..."

Saira blinked, blushing slightly as she gathered the slight courage to say what she was going to next.

"...I mean, if I were you, and felt the way you did, I might have done that, too!"

And when Linnis's face settled over Saira's own, she sighed, instinctively. It... it was strange, with all of these crossing wires in her head, all these different emotions and possibilities... that the sight of another girl's eyes, staring into hers would be something so soothing. It was confusing at times, but Saira almost didn't mind. She was right now in the moment. Consciously she felt this could go one way or another, but in another respect, she didn't really even think about that - this was just her, Linnis, and a soft bed.

"I... Well... When something... to... to shine that light on is revealed then... Hmmn, yes, I think you are right. It's been nothing but strange days since I got here. And I've never, rarely, rarely if ever, chosen to make the changes it's brought to me. But... I chose to come in here. There's... There's something about that, that I decided to do something, that what's happening now is mine to say I wanted. Do you understand, Linnis?..."