Heartthrob

Then, through the door.

The shower room reminded Esper James, quite honestly, of a prison - or what she imagined a prison to be like, at least. She'd seen plenty of movies and TV shows with prisons. This was evocative of them at first glance, and not nearly so ornate or ostentatious as the rest of the convent had been up until now. Perhaps more modern amenities like showers weren't deemed worthy of the same sort of reverence?

The entire room was well-lit and steamy, bright light seeming to stream in from false windows on either side, their faces so glowing and vague as to appear filled with bright natural light. The rest of the room, however, was composed almost entirely of smallish baby blue tiles, square in shape, with stark white grout forming a grid between the tiles themselves. In the center of the rectangle of a room was a single long, raised wall that didn't quite touch the ceiling, but was tiled just the same as the floor. From this central wall, further partitions were made at about waist-height, sectioning off individual areas without hindering airflow or damming up the steam.

These sectioned off areas each had a single spout, an upscale but simple fixture which poured forth warm water onto any potential occupants. As for toiletries? Each of those waist-high partitions held a metal grate-like addition atop it, each of which was filled with shampoo, conditioner, bar soap, moisturizer, exfoliant... and so on, and so forth. The selection of amenities available seemed to be the nicest thing about the room, to EJ.

A small section at the front of the shower room, where the trio had entered, was drier than the rest of the room; here, metal bars held discarded habits and unused hangers; below, a shoe rack contained a veritable army of black leather dress shoes. Esthrielle began to disrobe immediately, stripping down out of her own nun garb; EJ and Purity soon followed suit, taking a cue from their white-haired partner.

There was something soothing about feeling the warmth and moisture of the steam on her skin, EJ thought. It reminded her of home... Her real home, the apartment that had been her home for so very long. The memory of that place struck a very bittersweet note within the ghoulette. She had spent the better part of forty years there... Thirty years at least, every one of them beginning and ending in that Kehler Complex studio apartment. She had even had the same appliances during that time; it wasn't like keeping the old ones would make her sick.

She felt her heart quiver gently, and only once, at the thought of it - the thought that she'd never see that Kehler Complex apartment again, in this life or the next. She doubted she'd even see Kehler Complex itself ever again... Never see those familiar stairs, that same old elevator, the awful wallpaper that had ever so slowly been growing on her. It was good, she knew - her waking mind knew, at least - but she still couldn't shake the sudden flow of grief she was feeling.

This, of course, formed a river of emotion that poured down the storm grate of a familiar, melancholy line of thinking. 'Would things ever be normal again?' was the topic, and while she knew the answer that she always found, that old flame of hope simply refused to be snuffed. Heartsflame is hard to extinguish, it seemed... and Esper James was never good at finishing the job, at least not without some sort of punishment acting as a threat, should she fail.

As she thought, she peeled herself out of her habit; Purity and Esthrielle assisted, both of them ending up doing far more work than the ghoul herself. EJ's face and hands (she was a bit of a messy eater) were still a touch bloody, and it would be in everyone's best interest for her not to bloody her custom outfit on her first day. Once the diminutive dame was freed from her trappings, and said trappings were hung with care, they ventured forth.

Esthrielle led without speaking, just bringing them to an open slot on that central wall. Esper James couldn't help but look around, if only to glance at the other nuns and see how they were bearing themselves within the shower. Each seemed fairly lax about their actions, but despite this lax nature, they had the wherewithal to stay focused on the task at hand. For most of them, that seemed to be washing their hair. Seeing how many products she had access to, and free reign to use? EJ was thankful for two extra pairs of hands to help her out.

Once they were comfortably stood in a vague triangle within the pseudo-stall, Esthrielle reached over towards the shower head - and, turning her wrist as though she were working a knob or dial, she compelled the water to begin its flow. Immediately, the outpouring water was warm nearly to the point of being scalding; not that EJ was unaccustomed to warm waters, but feeling such a deluge of instantaneous heat and wetness put some of the shower's mists within her own mind.

EJ stood there shell shocked, able to bear the heat only just; Purity skirted around the edges of the downpour, not even daring to broach the heated rains. Esthrielle, by contrast to the other two, hopped right in - benefits of synthetic skin, it would seem. She wetted her hair almost immediately, and there was something nearly humorous in her look: EJ, through her hazed perceptions, thought she was a bit reminiscent of a damp housepet, like a dog. It was kinda cute, that shock of spiky white hair, only an inch or so longer than a pixie cut, now clinging to her head and rich with damp. There was a brief, ill-conceived urge to pet the Italian.

Esthrielle wasn't dumb; at least, she wasn't dumb in this very moment. One glance at her lovers diagnosed the issue. Purity's well-meaning smile, nearly a grimace, was enough - EJ, pressed by the enormity of the heat into immobility, was icing on the realization cake. "Oh, fuck... Haha, sorry, ladies... I, uh, I like my showers hot. Here, lemme just, uhh..."

Another turn of an unseen dial was directed towards the shower's base. The steam rose with less thickness, then; the water came with less of a lobster-in-a-pot feeling. Purity dared to take a step forth, trusting the shorter girl's judgement, and a breath of relief signaled her own satisfaction with the new temperature. Esper James, too, found herself no longer choked by the miasma of superheated sterility that such a downfall brought. Her mouth broke into a smile - at first laced with trepidation, but growing in enthusiasm as seconds whiled away.

Pale arms were thrown wide, and suddenly, Purity and Esthrielle were both gathered up in the strongest, most loving hug the ghoul could muster. She pressed her face into the crevasse between the other two women's torsos, nuzzling in and letting out a giggle. Est's eyes snapped wide, and she made a surprised sound; Purity, though, just went with it, and joined in her petite playmate's grin and giggle. Est found herself the odd one out in an instant, not really hugging the other two, nor smiling at first - though it took mere seconds for her lips to split and spread in a spoiled, guilty smile, the kind you make when you get a treat you don't think you deserve.

Her own arms went about the other two women, and in that moment? Est didn't give a single fuck what the other nuns might have thought of the three of them. She didn't care usually, of course - those bitches were stuffy and uptight, and didn't care for Est's brash way of doing things. But right now? She cared even less; in a way, she wanted them to see her indulging in her love, allowing herself to be swept up in a wave of appreciation and carried out to sea. Maybe they'd finally realize what they were missing.

The hug lasted for longer than was necessary, but nothing close to past its welcome. The mechanized rainfall of hot, steam-wreathed water set each of their hair to slickness, and while they were mostly clean from their bath the day prior, the shower washed away more than filth and grime. Little by little, Esper James could feel the weight of stress and doubt being scoured from her very soul by the onslaught, replaced by a vigor and confidence shaped like Est and Purity.

God, it felt so fucking good, letting those thoughts slip from her grey matter to be whisked into the drain at her feet. Tsang? Fuck those guys; she had people to help deal with them, or at the very least, keep her safe from them. Her blood hunger? Purity and Est were right there, and both had become accustomed to helping her feed - they both had minute scars to prove it. Judas?

That one gave EJ a bit of pause, but her emboldened heart broke on through the vampiric mental wall. Judas left a stain, it was true - in some ways, Esper James would never be able to forgive or forget her old boss. Black hair, black tie, hiding in her wifi... Monitoring everything she did or said during work hours... Keeping track of her outside of work hours... three, nearly four, decades without reprieve? Her thought processes were far too molded by the demure dominatrix to ever be remedied in full.

But Judas couldn't, and wouldn't, touch her in a Knight stronghold like this. Even if she found the place, EJ didn't think Judas had the power or the authority to organize a kill squad large enough to feasibly assault it. And if this convent went down? Luca would get them in somewhere else, right? Surely. He was the doge of Venice, whatever that meant... He seemed to have power and authority in spades, more than enough to rival or outright out-rank Judas Alighieri.

Esper James drew in a great, deep breath, and let it roll from her in a satisfied sound. God, it felt fucking good to not be worrying for once. It felt kinda weird, too - like, wrong. It felt wrong and unnatural, having nothing on her mind that set her on constant edge - she had walked on eggshells for her entire unlife, and now she was simply freed of that? A part of her, a sliver inserted by hundreds and hundreds of romantic and erotic novels, yearned to think that maybe Est and Puri would teach her how to be normal. Maybe they'd even kiss her along the way.

Scandalous, EJ. Truly scandalous.

Her already wide smile spread even more taut for but a moment, another giggle escaping her chest. She gave one last nuzzle into the shared torsos she held before her, and then pulled her face free, looking up at the other two girls. Purity looked down at her and kissed the air, blowing it down to the blonde; then, the pinkette looked over to Est and had to put a hand over her mouth to muffle a hearty laugh.

Esthrielle's face was more richly-coloured than usual, the already gingerbread-toned girl's eyes lidded lazily with that same guilty-pleasure expression plastered firmly to her face. Her steel fangs seemed cute, in that smile: the jaws and maw of a predator, now bared in simple delight. Purity moved the hand from her own face to go about Est's waistline, palm resting on her hip; the club darling's other hand went back and around, up to the opposite shoulder of the dazed woman. The two met in the middle for a combination of a loving embrace, and a passionate, appreciative kiss.

Est felt fucking selfish, but in that most wonderful of ways. She barely had the wherewithal to form her lips into a mild pucker before Purity met them; when they did meet, there was an instinctual desire to swap spit, but the sound of a distant bather beginning to hum to herself reminded Est where the fuck they were. She restrained herself just enough to not start tangling tongues with the taller dame, instead allowing herself to drown in the rising tide that was Purity.

EJ was ecstatic. Her heart leaped and soared, watching the two women before her embrace and share a passionate, genuine kiss. Along with those other worries which had mucked up her brainpan, she could feel her trepidation about Est's participation melt away like chocolate under a hot sun. There had, of course, been some lingering doubt, and honest concern, that Est may have only gone along with this throuple thing because the other two wanted to. Now, seeing her heart as open as it had ever been, and reveling in it?

God, it felt so good. EJ had to hold herself back from wrapping the two women up in yet another hug, instead remaining content to just watch and admire the performance. Purity and Est continued to kiss, lip-lock breaking for a moment to reform time and time again, Purity's hold on the other girl becoming that much more amorous with every repetition. Est was a beachgoer caught in riptide, and she let herself get swept out to sea.

Eventually, they broke apart, to a chorus of one offering them a squeal of delight. EJ clapped her hands as the two parted, applauding the display; she didn't care if it was a dorky thing to do, she was too caught up in the moment to care. Purity chuckled at her ghoulish gal pal's excitement, arching her brows downward and giving a taunting look of superiority to the blonde. "Oh-h-h? EJ, you wanna be next, huh? C'mere, you little homo. C'mon, no take backs, you're mine now."

EJ yelped like a puppy as she was swaddled in girlflesh, Purity's arms and body threatening to drown her in soft and silken luxury. And then, their lips were touching - not that EJ would have protested in the first place, but there wasn't even a window provided for such a thing to go through. Instead, she simply let herself get carried up and away by Purity's love, mind in freefall only to be caught in a Puri-shaped net.

It was Est's turn to sit and watch, and truthfully, she was eating it up with both hands. There had been an... appreciation, she would say, for EJ ever since that first night they had met. Meeting a woman who had felt so similar to herself, to very fucking normal despite all the evil of Vitus, had charmed Est in a way. She had had fond remembrances of snuggling the blonde in that shared night, back in EJ's bed at Kehler Complex. Of course, she had felt badly about it, and never planned to pursue it.

Why would she? She was in Vitus, initially at least, to kill the undead, not kiss them. Two four-letter words, beginning with K, that held very different intent. And then... then the meeting at Judas's place had gone down. She realized she couldn't bring herself to go for a kill-shot on the little ghoulette, and that ate away at her even as she escaped, broken and battered, into the night. It was only after EJ hunted her down and let her live, despite it all, that the ice on Est's heart had cracked.

Once she was repaired... she had wanted to find the ghoul, just to give her proper thanks for not killing her. At least, that was what Est had told herself at the time, and it was mostly true. And then, once she had found her... well... one thing led to another, and now they were here. The three of them. Hands held, standing against the world - between West and East, a mingling of dichotomies dead-set on remaining apart.

Whereas EJ had been able to restrain herself from interfering with Est and Purity's comingling, Esthrielle wasn't so adept at burying her own emotional impulses. She threw herself to the other two women - not splitting them apart, but wrapping them up in a great big hug to help keep them together. She felt a wetness run down her cheekbones and drip from her chin, and convinced herself that it was just the water from the shower. EJ and Purity didn't look to her to try and scrutinize that, either; she was allowed to cope however she needed.

Once the blonde and bubblegum had finished their pairing, Purity turned to Esthrielle, expression still smug and self-satisfied. "Oooh, Est... So eager, huh? I think you should take my place... You two got to watch me mack on the other, but my popcorn's still untouched. I want a chance to watch the fireworks~" A coy little wink came and went, and Est felt her heart flutter with the wings of a butterfly. She looked down at EJ for permission, still just as excited, but wanting to ensure consent before making a further move.

Consent was freely, and immediately, given. EJ nodded, eyes bright and wide with delight; her arms slipped away from Purity and went about Esthrielle now, going to draw her in. The gesture was returned, and the two drew closer, chests touching... but neither one wanted to make the first move to kiss, it seemed. They simply drank in the moment, eyes locked as their lips should have been, living forever in that single moment.

"Oh, come on, love birds! Get busy!" Purity laughed, as light and twinkling as the stars in a rural sky; her hands went to the backs of the other two's heads, and firmly but carefully pressed their faces together. Lip met lip in an instant, and EJ let out a gentle 'mmmh~' that set Est's butterfly heart ablaze like never before. Any semblance of ice had long since thawed... and in its place, a roaring pyre of all her years of grief and isolation poured sweet smoke into the sky.

It was Purity's turn to sit and observe, though she wasn't quick to draw her hands away. She gulped down that amorous draught as quickly and eagerly as a woman lost in the desert swallows fresh water; it was healing for her, too, setting her sights upon such a scene. She didn't think nearly as much, nor as hard, about it - she had been healing herself ever since her first night with EJ, weeks ago now, and would like to think she'd been making good progress.

Every time she thought of that day with Kristoff and Alex, she regretted it. There wasn't a single part of that day she had to be proud of; even now, just letting her mind wander, she was burning with a shame that she was glad the other two couldn't see. Feeding EJ human meat had been... a bad decision, for so many reasons. It had been a terrible thing to do to those other girls, girls who even now were probably in desperate, dire need... Girls Purity would have to send a text once she was back in the trio's shared room.

But more than the human meat thing? She could have killed her past self for the other thing. She didn't even want to consider it enough to directly address it; it was the lowest of the low points in her life she could think of. Here and now, though? Knowing EJ, and now Est, genuinely liked her? They cared about her? They wanted to see her happy, see her flourish, see her live a peaceful, love-laden first life?

It was overwhelming to the pinkette; so overwhelming she could feel herself begin to slip, her measured grip on her own emotional state straining to hold it all in. She had to do something else, even if watching Est and EJ kiss was like an all-you-can-eat buffet for her own heart. Her head whipped over to the metal rack on the nearest partition, hands going to rifle through it immediately, trying to find whatever the hell Easterners passed off as shampoo. Surely they'd have the good stuff, right? This place was pretty ritzy...

As for Est and EJ, their bodies were as flush as their lips, and time felt slow for both of them. Twin hearts resonated with one another, chests thrumming with muffled euphoria, each still reeling from their time with Purity. Now, doubling down with one another? It was quite the experience, to say the least. EJ's hands yearned to explore, more out of instinct and training than desire for anything salacious. After all, this was a communal place; the sound of other showers reminded her that they may have an audience.

An audience other than Purity, that was. And so, she contented herself with just kissing the other woman, letting their hearts and bodies remain intertwined for as long as Est wanted - and, honestly, that could have been forever, and EJ wouldn't have minded at all. Just as EJ was about to break away to whisper some words of adoration, tongue aching to speak gentle praise to her Eastern amour, she felt Purity's hand return to her head. This time? It was soapy, and set about lathering her hair from tip to root.

"Keep kissing, cuties... I'm gonna do your hair while you smooch. I know we're not on a time limit, but, y'know... If I can't keep my hands to myself, might as well do something useful, right?" Another chuckle, soft and sweet, a lovingly-made nest for the two shorter girls to rest within. A renewed vigor was added to their kissing; Est seemed that much more impassioned as Purity began to lather up her hair, the angle of the kiss shifting as her head leaned instinctually towards Purity's touch.

After some further lip-lock, the two women broke their mouths from one another but remained close. Purity, in the meantime, washed their hair - and once their hair was washed, she took the absolute liberty of doing their body wash, and moisturizer, and conditioner... Everything she could get her hands on she used, cleaning the girlies up as best as she knew how.

Once she was done with Est and EJ, it was her turn to be cleaned - many hands make light work, and while she was more than eager to stand still and let herself be adored, the other two women quickly and emphatically set about cleaning every inch of the bubblegum bitch that they could. Eventually, all three women were spotless - both in heart and mind, and in body and soul. There was nothing quite like a good shower, really, and this shower was nothing if not good.

Each of them lost track of time once they stopped washing one another, focusing more on simply mingling and chatting and relaxing, letting the heated waters of the convent wash over them. However, as all baths and showers must, this one eventually came to an end: Est led the way back to the pseudo foyer, and showed the other two where to find towels. Toweled, dried, and re-dressed, they took a second to stand and look at one another before even thinking about what came next.

Est was the first to speak, then, daring to broach the next event on their checklist. "Okay. Quick nap, while we're all clean and cozy, and then... I'll contact Zofia. We'll make sure she doesn't do anything too weird, EJ; I'll sic Luca on her if she tries some real bullshit. Ok? Let's head out." Purity and EJ both nodded their assent, forming a vague pod as they strode out into the hallway.

A nap sounded nice, EJ thought. Just like everything else that had happened since she reached the convent, save for the blood stew, it sounded like exactly what she needed. Her hands slipped into Est's and Purity's as they walked, taking them palm to palm, and squeezed them tightly. Both squeezes were quickly, and emphatically, returned. She sighed with that kind of relaxed contentedness one has after a long, satisfying day - though a long, satisfying night may be more appropriate, as it were.

Next up, a brief nap. And then? Zofia's ambiguous mystery tests. Oh, how fun. But EJ felt like she'd be able to handle them - whatever they were.